Nick And Jessica Show Really Ending

Say goodbye to "The Newlyweds." The MTV reality show airs its last episode after three seasons that revived the career of former boy band member and Cincinnatian Nick Lachey, and helped make the career of his wife, Jessica Simpson.

If one believes the tabloids these days, the show and marriage are really over, but that is a real reality story still to play out.

All we know is, last June Simpson told The Post the couple had agreed to do one last MTV season and seemed content that the public aspect of their life be over, having served its marketing purposes.

"That's it. After that, no more cameras," she said at the time.

The MTV show has followed the couple through 30 episodes documenting the first 2 years of their marriage.

This season, the two acted more like a settled married couple, moving on with their lives together and separately. We saw them romantically touring Napa Valley wine country, Jessica starting a movie career in "Dukes of Hazzard," and Nick getting back to recording.

There was the Christmas in New York with Nick's Cincinnati family and a recent cute episode about limiting what they spend on Valentines Day.

Nick proposed $10, Jessica argued she is worth $20. Nick came in at $16, Jessica barely held herself to $90.

And there was the lost boys wild weekend in Cabo where Nick and his friends manage to trash a Baja car with a minor $10,000 in damages. But we also saw Nick and Jessica pine for each other as their work schedules kept them apart. In short, it was a cozy fun season befitting an "old married couple" and didn't make for especially great TV. There were few Jessica-isms like the infamous "chicken or tuna" remark. Simpson's impulses were probably right: The show needs to end.

Of course, through it all, we never really know what is reality - - the cuddly TV show documenting the couple's comings and goings or the recent tabloid headlines suggesting a divorce is imminent.

As usual, the truth is likely somewhere in between.

Viewers will next see Nick trying to revive his music career in what's tentatively being called "The Nick Lachey Project," a new reality series tracking his recording and marketing a new album.

MTV has not yet announced an air date for the project, possibly debuting in June.