The cast may have relocated to Italy for their fourth season, but if you tuned randomly into points in the middle of this Season Premiere of 'Jersey Shore' (Thu., 10PM ET on MTV) you would have never known it.

There they were, dancing in a club, grinding on strangers, getting drunk and generally carousing about.

Some things don't need to change, though Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino seems to be confusing Italy with Las Vegas. What happens in Italy, and on the top-rated show on MTV, most definitely does not stay in Italy.

So he'd better be careful how close he's getting to Snooki. The other cast members seem as put-off and surprised by his sudden interest in his diminutive roommate as we are.

Italy might be safe from a 'Jersey Shore' invasion after all.

According to E! Online, production troubles might cause the MTV series' planned season abroad to turn into a short-term vacation. Though E! reports there have been difficulties getting the proper filming permits, an Italian Film Commission rep said nobody from MTV has applied for any yet.

The real delay? Probably contract negotiations, as several cast members have not yet signed deals for the new season.

In other TV news ...

• 'Desperate Housewives' star Brenda Strong will play Ann Ewing, wife to Patrick Duffy's Bobby, on TNT's 'Dallas' reboot. The show will start shooting in Texas next month. [TV Guide]

• 'Mad Men' might be on hiatus until 2012, but we'll still be able to see the show this summer. Netflix announced that the show will be available to stream on its Watch Instantly service starting July 27. [Variety]

• Eleven new shows apparently weren't enough for Bravo. The network is developing two scripted and five new reality series, including 'Women of Wall Street' (about, well, the women of Wall Street), 'Gallery Girls' (about 20-something art gallery workers), 'The Annabel Tollman Project' (about a fashion editor–turned–celebrity stylist), 'Jason of Beverly Hills' (about a jeweler), 'The Kristoffer Winters Project' (about a house-flipper) and 'Face Down' (about a makeup artist). [THR]

Maybe the Mayans were onto something.

In a recent interview with E! Online, new author Jenni 'JWoww' Farley said she thinks 'Jersey Shore' will end after next season. With the way MTV schedules its shows, you know what that means? The final episodes will likely air in 2012. The apocalypse really is nigh!

After the cast travels to Italy to shoot season 4 (or 3, depending on whom you're talking to), they'll travel back to Seaside Heights for a few weeks and wrap filming there.

"If it ends, it has to end at the Jersey Shore," JWoww told E!. "I think we would have done it all by then. What else could we do? ... I just feel like after Italy and going back to Jersey one more time we probably accomplished it all."

The Macaroni Rascals of 'Jersey Shore' are heading to the homeland. That's right: They're going to Italy ... b*tch!

According to TMZ, the next season of the ratings smash will take place in Italy. The network is currently scouting Italian shooting locations, and the cast will visit Vinny Guadagnino's relatives for some authentic Italian eats.

The trip abroad has apparently been in the works for two months -- that's how long ago execs began working on obtaining visas for the cast and crew, TMZ reports.

(S03E08) "You don't kiss boys, boys kiss you." - Betty, to Sally

I think my favorite episodes of Mad Men are the ones that have a nice balance of Draper household drama and Sterling Cooper advertising drama. It seemed that this episode was going to tilt a lot - too much - towards the former, but about 20 minutes in, both worlds came together in unexpected ways -- Betty going on the business trip to Rome with Don and Pete running into ... well, someone at the department store. We'll talk about that more after the jump.

Some actors from The Sopranos have won awards, Emmys, Golden Globes, et. al. At least one has achieved another kind of infamy. Federico Castelluccio, who played the Italian hit man Furio, has sold a painting inspired by the show for $175,000. The image, a variation on the famous 15th century dual portrait, Duke and Duchess of Urbino, is called The Duke and Duchess of North Caldwell. That would be Tony and Carmela Soprano of Caldwell, New Jersey.

Federico, who has no less that eight film roles to his credit for release this year, doesn't need to paint to pay the rent. He paints because he's an artist and -- clearly -- a good one. This original work was created after his appearance on the show. As Furio Giunta, the Italian made the mistake of becoming a wee bit too enamored with his boss's wife. Rather than stay in Jersey and potentially have an affair with Carmela, Furio returned to Italy and never came back -- as far as we know. David Chase may have a whole other story that was written and never filmed involving Furio. Chase is funny that way.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily: Reality TV is taking over!

• China's super-strict, guys-only version of American Idol debuts next month.
  
• Italy's new reality show has Italian mamma's picking brides for their sons, who are afflicted with too many girlfriends.
  
• American Idol's songwriting contest is back on, so the winner's first single might actually be good this time!
  

The video's embedded below, or you can download the file directly (Quicktime required). You can also subscribe to this podcast via our feed.

This is an interesting bit of yin yang for y'all*:

It seems that all the reasons given by Claudio Petruccioli, president of the Italian state broadcaster RAI, not to have reality programming on his channel are the exact reasons why American broadcasters want to have more reality programming:

• "unreasonable if not degrading behaviour"
• "[putting] people into environments that are both unrealistic and coercive"

Funny series of screen caps over at TV Newser. I guess MSNBC went "Breaking News" crazy over the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes wedding, and actually had a whole series of neverending stories at the bottom of their screen all day long. Hopefully they covered other news that day too.

Did they cover other celebrity stories like this too? "Breaking News: Bob Barker to retire," or "Breaking News: Ben Affleck buys a Mocha Frappucino at L.A. Starbucks."

Maybe - maybe - they could have had one "Breaking News" report at the bottom of the screen, when the couple were actually married. But did they actually have to go add "Breaking News: Tom Cruise arrives at castle" or "Breaking News: Ex Penelope Cruz sends white roses"? Jeez. They could have had a bunch more. "Breaking News: MSNBC puts up a Breaking News logo about Tom/Kate wedding" and "Breaking News: Jennifer Lopez and Brooke Shields among invited guests."

Oh, wait, they actually did have that last one.

No, no, no, not as a contestant, though wouldn't that be a twist?

No, actually, the producers of the current version of the show have wanted the Pope involved in the project since the beginning, since the show features an Italian Prince. Producer Mike Fleiss thinks it would be cool if Prince Borghese could talk to the Pope before handing out to the woman he's going to leave in six months once the hype for the show is over who he will live with forever and ever.

Somehow I don't see this happening.

Fleiss has even put in a request to the Vatican. But it all depends on the Pope's schedule. He's already slated to be on MTV's Total Request Live, so he might not be able to make it.

ABC's latest Bachelor candidate is starting to sound a little slimy. Sure, Lorenzo Borghese is a member of Italy's royal family who grew up in the United States. But apparently he couldn't speak a lick of Italian so the producers signed him up for an intensive Italian course before the show started, according to Radar online. And, even though his bio says he was raised in Connecticut, Radar can only find addresses for his family in New Jersey, dating back to 1979. Plus, the Radar reporters say there's no way Rome is Lorenzo's "second home", as he claims in the promos. Members of the Borghese family in Rome say the prince has never come to their city. And, quite frankly, they're embarrassed that he's doing the show as a member of the family.

[Via TV Tattle]

A movie created through a partnership between HBO and RAI, the Italian state broadcaster about Albert Einstein may feature Sean Penn playing the role of the acclaimed physicist. Penn has apparently expressed interest in both the script and in working with Italian director Liliana Cavani. The TV movie is obviously still in the early stages, so who knows what to expect, but I can easily picture Penn playing this role. The kid's got range, I'm telling you. Hopefully he can affect a decent German accent, too, or at the very least grasp the concept of an accelerating universe. What do you folks think? Could Penn handle this role? Who else would make a good Einstein?

The last weekend in June is apparently a good time to get married if you're a celebrity. All the focus was on Nicole and Keith down in Australia while television stars Marcia Cross and Patricia Arquette quietly married. Arquette and her longtime boyfriend, actor Thomas Jane, married in Italy over the weekend. A rep for Arquette tells People magazine that it was a small affair with close family but didn't elaborate on whether that included David Arquette and Courtney Cox-Arquette (probably, eh?). Arquette and Jane have a 3-year-old daughter, Harlow Olivia Calliope, together. Previously, Arquette was married to Nicolas Cage.

The Olympics are obviously coming to an end. NBC is the only channel airing Olympic coverage today and it's devoting much of that coverage to two Olympians who have been hyped but have yet to win a gold medal.

Apolo Anton Ohno has two sprints, in the 500m and the men's relay races on the short track. So far during these games, Apolo has won a bronze medal.

Also, we may finally hear the last of Bode Miller after he races in the slalom:

Whatever will we do now that the figure skating competition is over? Oh, nevermind. There's the Champions Gala tonight where nobody is expected to fall (or win).

Actual competition continues on NBC in the form of speed skating, a six-mile marathon race that features American Chad Hedrick. Also, the women compete in the alpine giant slalom and four men climb into a bobsled and race down an icy track at break-neck speeds. Plus, more curling!

Check it out: