Viacom's (VIA.B) B shares sold off on Thursday following the distribution of the media conglomerate's fiscal Q1 numbers. It's a shame. The stock has been doing really well, as can be seen by this chart. It would have been good if the shares had rallied with the data. That's all right. Even though the equity closed down almost 1% to $43.55 on active volume, it's still not too far away from the 52-week high of $45.29.

Is the price action a signal to sell? Well, I can't say I was blown away by the earnings news. According to the corporate release, adjusted profit from continuing businesses went down 11% to $1.02 per share. Okay, fine, a drop was already on the radar. In fact, the Associated Press says that the bottom line was four pennies ahead of the forecast.

Viacom (VIA.B) is seeing a bid today. The B shares are up, at the time of this writing, by 3.4% to $39.40. The 52-week high is currently set at $39.76, and it was hit during the intraday session. A look at the chart shows a stock that has been breaking through new trading levels.

Will it continue to do so? Well, the third-quarter numbers show something of a mixed bag, in my opinion. Adjusted earnings from continuing businesses increased a mere 6% to 75 cents per share. That was enough to beat the estimate of 70 cents per share, as indicated in this Associated Press article.

Viacom (VIA.B) issued a press release at the beginning of the month touting MTV's excellent summer. The cable asset is apparently very satisfied with the ratings generated by some of its famous franchises.

Management said MTV's performance from June through August was the best in three years. Ratings increased 16% on a year-over-year basis during that time period. Without checking, can you guess what was highlighted near the top of the release? I'm sure Jersey Shore immediately came to your mind. The show engaged 5.8 million total viewers at its series high.

I've been thinking about the whole Jersey Shore zeitgeist. You know the show. It's on Viacom's (VIA) MTV. It's a huge hit, everyone is talking about it and its stars (Snooki, The Situation, etc.). It also was mentioned in a recent conference call the media company had with investors.

It was reported that the cast was able to significantly increase its salary for the reality series. When I first heard about the demands, I mused to myself that this was a grand opportunity for Hollywood to say no to minor celebrities. After all, it's just a reality show, folks. Even though Snooki is immensely popular, there are many more Snooki-type individuals out there. Dime-a-dozen comes to mind when thinking of the goofy girl with the poofy coif.