'Jersey Shore' cast reunited five years later

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Two weeks into a monthlong stay for filming of “Jersey Shore Family Vacation,” the reunited roommates of the original MTV series had settled into a comfortable routine.

On a warm February evening, Vinny, Ronnie, Pauly D and the Situation were in town buying groceries. On the upper level of their Spanish colonial waterfront home, Snooki was showering. Downstairs, JWoww and Deena were preparing chicken parmigiana and splitting a bottle of wine.

JWoww was predicting that it would take her and Deena “about seven glasses of wine each” to finish cooking.

“We’re trying to keep it classy,” Deena said. “We’re older now.”

Just more than five years ago, the curtain fell on “Jersey Shore,” the reality series that tracked a group of lovably loutish young men and women at their vacation house in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, and in the bars, gyms and tanning salons of the world beyond.

In its six seasons (2009-12), the show became a phenomenon, drawing as many as 9 million viewers an episode, giving MTV cachet and making unlikely cultural icons of the series’ proudly unrefined leads.

Since then, life has changed.

Jenni Farley (JWoww), Nicole Polizzi (Snooki) and Deena Cortese all found husbands; Farley and Polizzi have two young children each; and Paul DelVecchio (Pauly D) has a young daughter.

Michael Sorrentino (The Situation) got sober, and, in January, pleaded guilty to a federal charge of tax evasion, for which he faces sentencing this spring.

MTV has had its own drama, turning over executives and never finding another show to match the viewership or influence of “Jersey Shore” at its peak.

Now the network is readying “Jersey Shore Family Vacation” — which will debut tonight. A second season of the series has already been ordered.

“I’m super-excited, but also I’m nervous,” Polizzi said, “because what if no one cares, no one watches? This is our family.”

SallyAnn Salsano, the creator and executive producer of the “Jersey Shore” series, stepped outside the darkened guesthouse that serves as the “Family Vacation” control room to explain that she’d been baffled by the show’s cancellation.

“I always felt like it ended before its time,” said Salsano, who was previously responsible for MTV reality franchises such as “A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila.”

Returning to the “Jersey Shore” series brought up a range of anxious and existential feelings for its cast members, who wonder whether viewers will still want to see them settle their differences with calm consideration and less head-butting and fisticuffs.

Polizzi said she worried about being away from her young children — until her husband told her to do the show.

But others were less eager to relive the past.

Sammi Giancola, known as Sammi Sweetheart on “Jersey Shore,” declined to be part of “Family Vacation.”

“I am extremely happy in every aspect of my life," Giancola said in a statement, "and want to avoid potentially toxic situations."