The show has evolved quite a lot from its early 21st century roots, though. As the contestants grow more self-aware about the fact they’re on TV, it brings new dynamics into an already unlikely scenario for finding true love. Who’s there for the “right reasons” and who’s there to launch a lifestyle brand? This show was for the kids and was one of Disney Channel’s finest in the 90s, viewers got to witness the start of friendships, first-time crushes, and it even brought on the drama when a camper was kicked out. This show stood out because it was the only reality television show on the Disney Channel, but also no other children’s network had a series like Bug Juice.

Average Joe (2003–

Fresh out of the controversy of the Kim Kardashian sex tape, Ray J was enjoying the hype around him. Obviously, he wasn’t able to find love with Kim, so why not try a dating show? While Ray J did get more than one season to find love, his show just never had that same appeal as VH1’s other love competitions.

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Comedians and personalities shared their witty and sometimes bad advice with viewers. The show was a countdown of the top music videos of the day, and was hosted by VJs including Carson Daly and Vanessa Milano, as well as some of the hottest artists of the moment. When Rob Dyrdek’s showRidiculousnesspremiered in 2011, audiences were instantly hooked on the video-viewing program. For 13 seasons, and still counting, Rob has showed us some of the most absurd videos on the internet.

The show follows the veterinarians at the Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in Denver, Colorado. Candid Camera is the first reality TV show with a creative concept from the start. On the air in the late ’90s and early 2000s, FANatic featured an average person going somewhere only to be surprised when their celebrity idol was there to meet them. Focused on a set of high schoolers, the show would have to star new people and we’d be interested to meet a new cast from Orange County.

The show was filled with drama but exposed the stars to new audiences that may not have known who they were outside the show. Currently, VH1 continues its “celebreality” programming with shows like Love & Hip Hopand Basketball Wives, but fans of early reality television still talk about these wild shows that changed 2000s pop culture forever. Fans have taken to IMDb to rank the shows from the best of the best to the most forgettable and unsavory. When MTV started, the network was all music programs , butRemote Controlwas the first non-music show. It was a game show about TV-related trivia, ran from 1987 to 1990, and is considered the start of MTV’s aforementioned reality programs. Pro skateboarder Ryan Sheckler took center stage in this show that somehow lasted 3 seasons (how?).

Too many memes to count were spawned from the high-drama moments on this show. The most popular meme of 2019, Woman Yelling at Cat, wouldn’t even exist without the 2011 meltdown of Taylor Armstrong on Beverly Hills. The Gordon Ramsay of the 2000s was embodied by Hell’s Kitchen, but MasterChef has revealed a softer side to the British chef. The MasterChef franchise provides hope that perhaps there is a sentimental and caring personat the heart of every red-faced, abusive boss in the world. This totally bananas export from South Korea seemed like an unlikely success, but the 2010s were just bonkers enough to lay fertile ground for such a series.

Chelsea Escamilla is a reader, writer, and editor based in Las Vegas, Nevada. A graduate from Liberty University’s English & Writing program, she enjoys watching movies with her husband and playing with her golden retriever. Hidden-camera prank series Punk’d put celebrities into unforgettable situations thanks to Ashton Kutcher. Though the series has been rebooted multiple times with various hosts including Justin Bieber and Chance the Rapper, the hilarious pranks on Punk’d will go down in history. Get a pair of shower shoes for those communal showers typical of first-year residence halls; shower floors can and will be gross when you share them with around 30 other people on your floor. If you are able to stand on public transportation, let someone else who might have a heavier load take your seat.

A collection of celebrities don elaborate costumes and have their voices distorted in a singing competition-slash-guessing game that we can’t get enough of. As trans visibility and acceptance has grown, many youths have been coming out as nonbinary or transgender earlier in life because there is less fear their families will reject or ostracize them. Jazz Jennings and her family, in particular, have helped set a shining example for how parents can accept and affirm their children’s gender identity. If you doubt their influence, go to a couple dozen open houses this weekend and count how many homes feature shiplap, clawfoot tubs, and reclaimed wood features. This was pure TV gold because, not only were fans entertained by the show, but they also got to play along and see if they knew the answers to the multiple-choice questions.

Luckily, there are plenty of reality dating shows like The Bachelor to fulfill all your TV needs. Following the success ofNext, MTV came out withExposed, a reality dating show that forced contestants to tell the truth. Dates are hooked up to a lie detector, while the suitor asks them hot-seat style questions and is told if their date is telling the truth or lying by their best friend through an earpiece.

However, Kid Nation set off the outrage police , who claimed the producers were endangering the children for ratings. But now there are plenty of shows featuring kids, including one on which they get yelled at by Gordon Ramsay . Surely with some more robust safety precautions in place, we can give the kids another shot. Abby Lee Miller’s dance studio gave us a ton of cultural moments on its own, but it also resulted in the discovery of dancers Maddie Ziegler and Jojo Siwa, who have become breakout stars in their own right.

VH1 canceled the series early after police wanted contestant Ryan Jenkins for murder. The scandal led VH1 to distance itself from the show, hoping fans would forget the contestant and the case. Something that makes Dating Around a lot different than the rest of the shows on this list is the fact that the individuals seeking love in these episodes aren’t in bikinis and swimwear.

Seriously, we live in the world of the Try Guys and two different Paul brothers and we can’t find a group of 20-something dudes willing to perform ridiculous and scatological stunts on television? Surely we can recruit a new slate of Johnny Knoxvilles and Steve-Os, and maybe even have them test out the original stunts that made this show so outrageous and hilarious all at once. Helpful site And if MTV isn’t interested, maybe YouTube can take its original content experiment to the next level and invest in the next generation of jackass-ery. The CBS show took 40 kids, aged 8 to 15, put them in a Wild West ghost town, and told them they had to create a functioning society. The results were often fascinating and not nearly as Lord-of-the-Flies as one might expect.

Could never end in love, as the premise involved parents trying to break up their offspring’s relationship by throwing two different suitors at the kid. The mom and dad hated their child’s partner so much they were willing to go on TV to throw romantic alternatives at their child. To watch an incredibly ancient Hugh Hefner frolic around with a bunch of women half his age in the Playboy Mansion. Okay, fine, maybe some people asked for it, but either way, 2005 delivered. The ongoing show features two main daters, a man and a woman, who are introduced to new contestants every week. At the end of each week, the main daters get to pick one person to stay for the next week.

Since MTV stands for Music Television, it makes sense that one of the oldest and most popular shows on the network isMTV Unplugged—a show that let’s artists perform acoustic versions of their songs for an audience. Many musicians, from Paul McCartney to Mariah Carey, have appeared on the show. Plain Janepremiered on the CW, but after not getting renewed, it made its way over to MTV for season 2. The show followed the stylish British fashionista, Louise Roe, as she transformed the life of a “plain Jane” by giving them a makeover and confidence boost. Only on MTV.The Cityfollowed Whitney Port fromThe Hillsas she navigated New York City over the course of two seasons.