Snooki and the Gang Draw Biggest Audience Yet for 'Jersey Shore' Premiere

Jersey Shore cast Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino, Paul 'Pauly D' DelVecchio, Vinny Guadagnino, Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi, Jenni 'JWoww' Farley, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Sammi 'Sweetheart' Giancola and Deena Nicole Cortese go sightseeing in Florence. (Bauer Griffin)more pics » Nicole Polizzi (Bauer Griffin) LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The fourth season premiere of the hit reality television show Jersey Shore delivered a record 8.8 million viewers, making it MTV's third most-watched series telecast of all time, the network said on Friday.

The episode, which aired Thursday night and featured the usual antics between Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino -- this time while the New Jersey clan visits the family roots in Italy -- marked a four percent increase over last season's premiere.

The show will soon begin filming season five back on familiar ground in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.

With 'Jersey Shore' Back, What Do We Already Know About Season 4?

Jersey Shore returns to MTV this week, finally giving us a glimpse into the cast's already-infamous extended trip to Italy. Enough rumors emerged from Florence while the show was filming that even if we haven't seen the final... Read Full Story