‘Jersey Shore’ season 6: Exec talks The Situation’s return to form

While not every moment on the “Jersey Shore” two-hour premiere on Thursday night was necessarily worth jumping up and down in celebration over, there was one aspect of it that we really enjoyed above all else: seeing a version of Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino that was still fun, but also grounded in some sort of reality. He no longer had the same sort of “me against the world” sort of mentality, and he allowed his opportunities for redemption to come naturally rather than for them to just come thanks to his own pouting and pleading.

It’s also nice to know that this transformation for the guy was not just evident to us. As a matter of fact, executive producer SallyAnn Salsano tells Wetpaint that there was one moment in particular with the reality star that really helped to show just how far the man has come compared to where he was a year or two ago:

“It was so nice for us. There’s this moment at the end of Episode 3 [Season 6, Episode 3: “Toxic Shots Syndrome,” airing October 18] that I was actually showing [my co-workers] from the hospital. Snooki was giving birth, we were watching edits from Jersey Shore. It’s so nice because the old Mike is back. The guy you fell in love with and all that stuff. And I think it’s really awesome.”

For those curious, Salsano said that we will see more of The Situation and Snooki’s relationship evolve moving forward this season, and we may also finally get the answer to the question as to whether or not these two are going to get along moving forward. In speaking of Snooki, she also added that season 2 of “Snooki & JWoww” is officially in the can, and it was both funnier and more dramatic than the first season as it deals with everything from the birth of her baby boy Lorenzo to her early days as a mom.

Have you enjoyed this version of Mike more than the one we saw for the past few seasons?