![]() ![]() Just this past winter, Logan Paul caught serious flack for a blatantly insensitive prank in Japan’s “suicide forest.” The producers behind Punk’d found themselves on the wrong side of a lawsuit in 2002, when they locked a couple in a room with “dead” body at a Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. And those pranks were just as entertaining, at least to a young audience spending more and more time online.Īnother notion to consider: would these high profile pranks sit well in our current climate? Would we even find them funny? Both then and now, these kinds of publicized pranks can go beyond entertaining levels of discomfort. All of a sudden, Ashton Kutcher’s pranks were going up against any entrepreneurial kid with a smartphone and high-speed internet access. Pranks don’t need an elaborate production budget to work (although, as with Punk'd, it can make them much grander) the DIY productions that populated the early years of YouTube were perfect for hidden camera mischief and unsuspecting prank victims. It’s a genre that in its purest form is simply the result of tweens with too much time on their hands and a desire to rebel. The platform launched in 2005 and grew rapidly in 2006, right around the time we saw all of these pranking shows go off air. ![]() Logan and Jake Paul, Joey Salad, Improv Everywhere and countless less recognizable (though heavily subscribed to) channels are still churning out enough content to make any parent fear for their child's mental/cultural health and well-being. Many of today's most infamous pranksters are setting up shop on YouTube. One answer is that they haven't disappeared, they've just migrated to a different platform. What happened to these merry pranksters? Wherefore art thou, Johnny Knoxville of the Trump era? Currently, TruTV has Impractical Jokers, a fine program, but aside from that show, the pranking landscape is barren. Boiling Points was on MTV from just 2004 to 2005. Candid Camera, the ur-prank show (and reality show, in some respects), ended its 54-year run in 2004, and Jackass ended after three seasons in 2002. When Ashton Kutcher went off the air, so did Comedy Central's classic Crank Yankers and The WB's less classic Jamie Kennedy Experiment. The original Punk’d aired from 2003- 2007. Unfortunately (or not), the tweens of today won't be: prank TV has all but disappeared. And as someone who was in 7th grade that year, I was hooked on them. But the hosts, from Punk’d to Boiling Points, all possessed the same boyish (never girlish, might I emphasize) rascal energy that would get you into trouble in 7th grade and onto a TV show in 2003. Some shows from the genre have remained active in our lexicon (“You just got Punk’d!”), while others have faded to whatever mental storage room we’re hiding chunky highlights and asymmetrical skirts in. Sandwiched between the dwindling grunge era of the '90s and peak reality TV, prank shows were the perfect bridge for two types of beloved chaos. TV fans, if you love reality television shows, check out these lists of the best reality competition shows and reality dramas, and paranormal reality shows ever.In the early aughts, conditions were ripe for prank television. Several of MTV's best original shows could, arguably, be listed among the best TV shows of recent memory - depending on how you define that, of course. ![]() Examples, you say? How about the animated TV series Beavis and Butt-head (which returned with new episodes in 2011) or the spinoff Daria, which aired for five seasons? MTV also has a hit on its hands with the original drama series Teen Wolf, starring Tyler Posey as Scott McCall, a full-time high school student/werewolf.Īnimated original MTV programming are also extremely popular. Other well-known current MTV original shows include Teen Mom, 16 and Pregnant, Made and True Life. A spinoff, 'Snooki & JWoww,' began airing in June of 2012 as well. This show made household names out of it's stars, especially Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino and Jennifer "JWoww" Farley. Among them: The wildly popular Jersey Shore, which will conclude after six seasons. Some of the most popular MTV original programs are, not surprisingly, reality shows. Which one is the best? That's for you to decide, with your votes. That being said, viewers have no doubt enjoyed a lot of MTV's original shows. These days, it's tough to find an actual music show on the network. MTV started out as "Music Television" in 1981, but over the years, the programming has greatly expanded. The best MTV original shows include reality shows, music series, comedies, and dramas, as well as animated series. ![]()
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