When CBS airs the 2011 People’s Choice Awards on Jan. 5, the guilty pleasure category will be filled with reality TV series such as “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” and “Jersey Shore.”
The latter is MTV’s show about a group of eight Italian-Americans, four guys and four girls. By day, they’re in the gym, tanning and working at an ice cream shop. By night, they’re getting drunk and ruling the club scene of Miami.
According to Nielsen TV ratings, the finale for “Jersey Shore’s” second season attracted about 6.1 million viewers. They tuned in to watch the lovable gang, led by people nick-named “Snooki” and “The Situation,” say their goodbyes to Miami Beach, where the show had been relocated after the first season, which was set in Seaside Heights, N.J.
Those numbers were up more than 400 percent from the show’s first episode, which aired Dec. 3, 2009 and attracted about 1.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Among 12-34 year olds, the second season finale earned a rating of 6.1, a 27 percent increase over the first season’s finale.
The characters on the show have no special talents or abilities. They weren’t famous prior to the show.