As we've previously reported, MTV has already optioned a Season 6 of Jersey Shore, so it's highly unlikely that the guido-licious reality show won't return in some form. However, as of a month ago, MTV still hadn't decided if the cast we know would be back. What's the status now?

Recently, Sammi and Deena made an appearance on Live! With Kelly, where Sammi admitted "we haven’t heard anything [about the new season]," hopefully adding, "we would love to [film another one].”

Deena jumped in with even stronger phrasing: "I'm down. I pray we film again. I would love to film. I love filming."

Will Deena's prayers be answered? There's still no word from MTV, but Jersey Shore's recent ratings might give us a clue — and it's not a good sign for Sammi and Deena.

The show's ratings have recently taken a steep plunge. According to TV by the Numbers, two weeks ago the show pulled in 5.6 million viewers and a 3.2 in the coveted 18-49 demo, down from 6.5 million and a 3.9 the week before that. Last week it was down even more, with 5.4 million viewers and a 3.0.

Now, these numbers are still great relative to the competition — Jersey Shore easily beats all other cable shows on Thursdays and still stacks up well against the major broadcast shows. It remains one of the most popular cable shows overall (last week it was topped only by Pawn Starsand American Pickers. Ah, the power of memorabilia). That said, this is a far cry from the days when Jersey routinely got 7+ million viewers per week.

The falling ratings plus teh cast's exponentially increasing salary has to make the idea of starting over with a new group of guidos appealing to the MTV Powers that Be. It would give them a chance to shake up the formula that is clearly starting to get stale, and they could pay the newbies significantly less.

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Don't forget to watch The Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 9: Triggerfinger online free! It is being reported that Tony Moore (artist for the first 6 issues of The Walking Dead) is suing Robert Kirkman because Moore says that he was “duped” into assigning his interest in the material over to Kirkman, who has since gone on to fame and fortune. Moore, on the other hand, has received very little compensation and has not be able to access profit statements from properties including Walking Dead. The Hollywood reporter attained a copy of the suit and the complaint states that:

“Each of these works was prepared by [Moore] and Kirkman with the intention that their contributions be merged into inseparable or independent parts of a unitary whole,” the complaint states. “[Moore] and Kirkman were thus joint authors and co-owners of the copyrights in these works.”

In response to the accusations from Moore, Robert Kirkman’s attorney Allen Grodzky told The Hollywood Reporter that:

“totally frivolous. Mr. Moore is owed no money at all. And Mr. Moore’s contract has an attorneys’ fees clause in it so we will be going after him to collect attorneys’ fees. We are taking this matter very seriously.”

Kirkman and Moore apparently were childhood friends who frequently collaborated with one another on various projects before Kirkman hit it big with The Walking Dead TV show. And now, Moore is saying that in 2005 Kirkman and his agents devised a scheme to fraudulently induce him to assign his copyright interests over to Kirkman’s company. Moore also claims that he signed a deal granting him 60 percent of “Comic Publishing Net Proceeds” in connection with Walking Dead and another project called Brit; 20 percent of “motion picture net proceeds” in connection with Walking Dead and Brit; and 50 percent of “motion picture net proceeds” from another project called Battle Pope but Moore says that he hasn’t received much revenue or profit statements from Kirkman or his company.

“Indeed, they have not issued a single statement or allowed access to their books and records in accordance with the reporting obligations of the agreement,”

Moore goes on to say that a big tv deal was on the table back in 2005 but “Kirkman would not be able to complete the deal unless [Moore] assigned all of his interest in The Walking Dead and other works to Kirkman.” So, thinking that the deal would fall apart Moore signed all of his aforementioned interest in The Walking Dead over to Kirkman which he says allowed Kirkman to “swindle” him out of his 50% interest in the copyright, intending to never compensate Moore.