‘Catfish’ season 2: Nev Schulman talks impact, how popularity helps MTV show

When it comes to entertainment, we admit that there is still a part of us that does not get the enjoyment of “Catfish.” Maybe that’s because we have a terrible time imagining how someone finding out something as tragic as their significant other is fake can even appear on TV. We have too much sympathy for these folks. Are some of them ridiculous for never figuring out what in the world is happening around them? Sure, but they’re clearly in love and don’t know better. Just ask Manti Te’o, who will be chased by a catfish-sized shadow everywhere that he goes for the rest of his life.

Tonight, season 2 of the MTV hit kicks off, and it’s a different world that when it first started. People now know what the idea of being “catfished” is, which is far and away different than a year ago. Has that helped the show? Hurt it? Based on what Nev Schulman told Entertainment Weekly, it seems to be more the former since they don’t have to waste much time explaining the premise anymore:

“There’s a whole new element in how we interact with these people because they’ve seen the show … They know the things they can and should be doing to help themselves, and yet, for any number of reasons, they still need our assistance. So we have an ability now to sort of cut through the fat and really attack the issues without having to explain what we’re doing. It gives us a chance to dig deeper and hit a little harder when it comes to the questions we’re asking and the emotions we’re dealing with.”

Hopefully, this show will be able to do some good work at exposing these frauds … but will it be able to actually capture lightning in a bottle again? Well, we’ll find out when the show starts fishing tonight.

If you don’t like this show, don’t worry: “Teen Wolf” will still be airing new episodes Monday night.

Photo: MTV