LOS ANGELES (AP) —  More than 8 million viewers watched Snooki and company return to “Jersey Shore.”

The third season premiere of the MTV reality TV series was the most watched series telecast in the cable network’s history, MTV announced Friday. The network said 8.45 million total viewers tuned in to the show, which chronicles the carryings-on of a group of hard-partying, 20- and 30-somethings at a beach house on the Seaside Heights, N.J., boardwalk.

The second season was set in Miami.

MTV announced last month that it signed a deal with Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio to star in his own spin-off series.

Of the more than 8 million who tuned in, one was decidely not actor James Gandolfini of “The Sopranos” fame. At a press conference in front of the Television Critic’s Association in Pasadena, the actor who made Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano famous, was asked if he watched “Jersey Shore.”

With a look of distate, he said, No, no, no, no.”

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