Visiting my sister last night, I found her and her husband watching professional wrestling on USA. Apparently they have rotating hosts, and last night’s was a person named Snooki, a reality television show everyone but me already knows about. 
I was somewhat confused, as I did not see anything in this young woman that was remotely compelling: she was neither hot nor funny nor witty nor beautiful.
But apparently she’s a star.
That’s just me. Whose success/fame do you find utterly mystifying?
Any of the interchangeable blond bimbettes, who seem to be mostly famous for going to jail while having nice racks. Paris Lohan-Spears? Lindsey Hilton? Brittany Something-or-other?
Lindsay Lohan, at least, was amusing as a child actress and turned in a good performance in Mad Girls (probably the wrong title – Tina Fey was in it) before going off the rails and becoming a self-parody. Hilton, I’m fairly sure, benefits from her grandfather’s deal with Mephistopheles. Or perhaps is a consequence of said bargain.
Kim Kardashian. If you look at her Wikipedia page to see what things she’s done, you just get a bunch of things like Dancing with the Stars. Which, of course, she was only on because she was famous already.
Snookie :rolleyes:
Brittany
Rob Schneider (ruins anything he touches)
Will Forte (ditto)
Piers Morgan
Oh, just saw Kardashian, form Chronos. Absolutely. Any of them. And I’ll add all of the Osbournes onto the list, as well.
By Brittany, do you mean Britney Spears, or someone else? (Googling just brings up the region of France and info about spaniels.) Because Spears at least is very easy on the eyes and released some over-produced-but-understandably-successful albums.
Paris Hilton
Katie Price (Jordan)
Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Amusing little anecdote: I was at a dollar store a couple weeks ago and there was a young teenage girl in line behind me. She was peering at one of the tabloids and there was a horrid picture of Zsa Zsa. The girl asked me who she was. After thinking about for a few seconds, I said she was Paris Hilton’s grandmother.
Not quite the truth, but pretty close as technically Zsa Zsa would have been Paris’s grandfather’s ex-step-mother. (but that is a mouthful)
Joan Rivers. A decades long career in comedy despite never saying anything funny.
Yes, I’m sorry. Now I have one more reason to hate her. And I don’t find her attractive at all.
Mean Girls. Not a bad movie.
I thought of Snooki before even reading the OP.
Whether you like them or not, at least Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan have actually accomplished things in the entertainment world. In other words, they’re famous for having done something.
Whereas folks like Snooki and her Jersey pals, and those awful Kardashian sisters, are famous for being famous. I find it difficult to wrap my head around that whole concept.
Snooki is famous if you watch Jersey Shore, tho. She is not famous because she’s an actress that has had many roles or has been in Hollywood for 30 years. I suspect her show appeals to the same demographic as pro wrestling, and very few pro wrestling fans are pondering why Snooki would be there.
Now, you might wonder why Jersey Shore is popular. But wondering why Snooki is famous is like wondering why a kid would have an Abby Cadabby doll when you haven’t watched Sesame Street in 20 years.
The answer is “She’s on a popular television show, which apparently does not appeal to you.”
Snooki is famous for being in a successful show. Sure it was just luck of the draw that it was her and not some other cute girl. The Kardashians are a little harder to understand as the show seemed to be about them from the beginning. Which is different from other reality shows that have some gimick to get you to care about the people in the show.
Not quite. I understand that she’s on a popular TV show; I just don’t understand why the show itself is popular.
I mean, I dislike pro wrestling. But I can understand why my brother-in-law, my father, and Oakminster like it. I don’t like Britney Spears’ singing, but her success is comprehensible to me as well.
But Snooki? I just don’t get it. She’s not even hot, at least not to my eyes. It’s like someone saying, in all serious, “My favorite food is booger casserole.” My only response can be, “Wait…what? Are you serious? And are you nuts?”
Except the copy guy. Makes up for a lot.
Every one of the people mentioned here was hired by someone because that someone thought they could make money off of them. In the case of Snooki, Britney, and the Kardashians, they were right!
So, on some fundamental level, I do understand…they are successful or famous because a large enough number of people want to watch them.
But, others - like Rob Schnieder - I truly do not understand. I don’t believe they make anybody any money, really. Because there is not a large enough number of people who want to watch them. It seems that Adam Sandler likes to keep him around, but that’s about it.
She, along with Agnes Gallin, wrote the 1973 TV movie, The Girl Most Likely To, which starred Stockard Channing, in the ultimate revenge movie.
That alone qualifies her for success 
Speaking of which I never understood, Joey Heatherton or Charo, except for the fact men like curvy women in skimpy outfits 
I thought one of the classic definitions of “celebrity” is someone who is famous for being famous. They may have had a career at one point, but now they’re famous because they were once famous.
To me, the person who best symbolizes this concept is Elizabeth Taylor - her last movie was in 1980, her last good movie was likely a decade prior, but still… everyone seemingly knows who she is.
ETA: She doesn’t fit the OP, though, of course.
I can figure most of them regardless if I like them or not. Britney was a teen singer, Lindsey was a child actor, Snooki was cast on a reality show about Jersey teens, Paris was the daughter of the Hliton empire, etc. etc.
But someone please explain the Kardashians to me. How did anyone know who they were to begin with? Robert Kardashian, one of OJs lawyers? 70s olympian Bruce Jenner? These are their links to getting a show named after them? How does this happen?