'Jersey Shore': Washed up after the coming season

[August 31, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- MTV gave the last call for "Jersey Shore" on Thursday, saying the raucous reality show will conclude after its upcoming sixth season, which begins Oct. 4.

The series, whose roots lay in a party house in Seaside Heights, N.J., has given rise to stars such as Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, just two from a cast of characters who were over-tanned, over-loud and always pumped up. It popularized the terms "guido" and "guidette" and the mantra "Gym, tan, laundry" while trying the patience of local residents with its party-hearty antics.

"Jersey Shore" became a pop-culture sensation and one of MTV's biggest hits with its premiere in December 2009. It drew as many as 8 million viewers while spawning the spinoffs "Snooki & JWoww" and "The Pauly D Project." But ratings have eroded in recent seasons.

The show strayed from Jersey during its run. In Season 2, the housemates fled winter for Miami Beach. The fourth season took them to Italy.

But you could never take the Jersey out of "Jersey Shore" -- or at least a certain Jersey stereotype the show made sport of riotously.

Meanwhile, certain Jersey locals made no secret of their disdain for the show.

Two years ago, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called it "negative for New Jersey," telling a TV interviewer the show "takes a bunch of New Yorkers, drops them at the Jersey Shore and tries to make America feel like this is New Jersey."

Most of the cast members are from New York.

But all that really mattered was, every one of them was from "Jersey Shore," and as such, kept themselves defiantly in the public eye. (Just this past Sunday, Snooki grabbed headlines with the birth of her first child.)

On Sept. 6, MTV will launch its season-spanning cavalcade of farewell "Jersey" fare with a retrospective special, "Gym, Tan, Look Back." The party isn't over yet.

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Online:

http://www.mtv.com/

[Associated Press; By FRAZIER MOORE]

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