'Jersey Shore' Will Officially End After 6 Seasons

Say your goodbyes to the GTL lifestyle: "Jersey Shore" will end after six seasons.

MTV made the official announcement today, stating that the successful reality show will end after the show's upcoming sixth season. To commemorate the show's past five seasons, MTV will air a retrospective titled "Gym, Tan, Look Back" before the MTV Video Music Awards on September 6.

We can speculate plenty as to the reason why the show is being canceled: after all, ratings have still been very high for the show considering it's a cable program, and predictably it does well in the right demographics. But the stars of the show have been negotiating for higher and higher pay, and you have to assume that there comes a point where it becomes financially unfeasible.

But there's also the stars' personal lives to get in the way of the continuation of the show: Snooki just gave birth after all, and since the whole show pretty much revolves around watching Snooki get blackout drunk, things are probably going to get a bit dull. The Situation also had to take a trip to rehab in the offseason, so you have to wonder if he has become a liability.

Then there's the fact that the show has just gotten a bit boring over the past few years. It seems that drama has been in short supply, so much of it is manufactured by the producers. We can only watch Sam and Ronnie or Snooki and Sitch argue for so long before it becomes repetitive.

Really, the show may have been done after the first season, thanks to the realization of fame for the cast. When the show started, it was these guidos and guidettes just being themselves, and that's why they were instantly so fascinating. Once they saw how famous they were and learned what people liked, though, they started becoming more like actors, playing a bigger version of their own characters in an effort to appease us. It happens to all reality shows.

Or perhaps it was fatigue: you got the sense, especially in Italy for season 4, that the cast was getting a little weary of the grind.

As of yet, there has been no announcement that the show will continue with a different cast, like "Laguna Beach" did. However, Pauly D, Snooki and JWOWW have had spin-offs that could potentially continue. Let's just hope we don't end up with a spin-off called "Sammi Loves Ronnie."

The sixth and final season of "Jersey Shore" will premiere on October 4.