After nearly six years off the air, the fun and feisty cast of MTV's "Jersey Shore" reunited to bring us an all-new seventh season dubbed "Jersey Shore Family Vacation" that premiered in April 2018. The original reality series was all about the lives and loves of cast members Vinny Guadagnino, Angelina Pivarnick, Paul "Pauly D" DelVecchio, Jenni "JWoww" Farley, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino and Deena Cortese (not pictured). In honor of their return to the small screen, Wonderwall.com is taking a look at more of the best shows MTV has brought us over the years. Keep reading to see more…
Following the success of MTV's riveting docu-series "16 and Pregnant," the network brought us "Teen Mom" in 2009 starring Maci Bookout, Farrah Abraham, Catelynn Lowell and Amber Portwood (not pictured). The show focused on the young ladies' lives as they dealt with the realities of pregnancy and childbirth. Of course, the show was a huge hit, spawning seven seasons and offshoots like "Teen Mom 2."
It all started when Nev Schulman (right) discovered the woman he'd been dating online wasn't actually who she said she was. The experience led to the riveting 2010 documentary "Catfish," which was later turned into a powerful investigation series, "Catfish: The TV Show," in 2012 starring Nev and his cameraman buddy Max Joseph (left). Every season, the duo helps would-be lovers determine the true identity of the person on the other end of their romantic digital communications.
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Inspired by the 1985 hit film of the same name, MTV's "Teen Wolf" starred Tyler Posey as Scott McCall, a socially awkward high schooler who was bitten by a werewolf and forced to live his nights as a beast while also navigating life as a teenager. The show ran for seven seasons before being cancelled in 2017.
Long before we had "The Real Housewives" franchise on Bravo, MTV brought us "The Real World," a reality series that (at the time) was a completely new and foreign concept. The show, which debuted in 1992, delivered what its infamous opening line — "…the true story of seven strangers, picked to live in a house and have their lives taped, to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start being real" — promised, and did so with gusto. Today, the show is still on the air (clocking an impressive 32 seasons) and while there have been too many cast members to name, our favorites will always be from Season 3 (pictured) — Mohammed Bilal, Rachel Campos, Cory Murphy, Pam Ling, Judd Winick and Pedro Zamora, who was one of the first openly gay men with AIDS to ever be featured on a major TV series.
From 1997 to 2001, MTV aired the witty, sardonic animated series "Daria," a comedy about a brainy high school student (voiced by Tracy Grandstaff) who encountered daily annoyances from know-it-all adults and her less intellectually gifted classmates. While the '90s made goth cool, Daria made being smart even cooler.
The reason MTV's "My Super Sweet 16" was so good was because of how bad some of the stars of this indulgent docu-series could be. Based around ultra-rich teens whose parents were down to throw them the biggest, most expensive sweet 16 birthday parties imaginable, the show made every parent roll their eyes and everyday teen viewers fantasize about having it all. MTV announced in 2017 that the series is being rebooted and this time will include more celebrations like "quinceañeras, debutante balls and even a bro mitzvah" (whatever that is).
If "My Super Sweet 16" gave viewers parent envy, then "Pimp My Ride," hosted by rapper Xzibit, gave audiences faith in miracles. The reality series sent Xzibit around the country to surprise car owners with free upgrades and customizations that took their beaters from basic to completely bananas. (Seriously, one car got a coffin grill and another had a pool table installed!)
MTV has always been a trailblazing network, so it's no surprise that it was the first to imagine a reality series following the lives of Orange County, California's wealthiest back in 2004 — two years before Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Orange County" launched a massive franchise. The show, "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County," featured a cast of privileged (and good-looking) teens navigating interpersonal dramas, romances, rumors and pesky college applications.
Lauren Conrad (left) was so popular on "Laguna Beach" that she ended up getting her own equally scintillating spin-off series, "The Hills," in 2006. Focused on Lauren's life after high school as she left the safety of Laguna Beach for the opportunities of Los Angeles so she could study fashion, the series had all the romance and nail-biting drama that made "Laguna" so successful, plus it helped launch Lauren's future career as a lifestyle and fashion expert. Though neither Lauren nor Kristin Cavallari are returning for MTV's 2019 reboot of the series, "The Hills: New Beginnings," all the other major cast members including Audrina Patridge, Brody Jenner, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag — plus some newbies like "The O.C." alum Mischa Barton — are on board.
Although it only lasted for one season, MTV's "The Shannara Chronicles" was seriously cool. The series, which starred Austin Butler, Poppy Drayton and Ivana Baquero, was a sci-fi fantasy adventure about three brave teens who go on a quest to save their world from evil demons. Although Season 2 was picked up by Spike (now Paramount Network), the show is once again without a channel to call home.
Betting on our penchant for the weird and wonderful, MTV launched the Emmy-winning docu-series "True Life" in 1998. Each show of this now 20-year series focuses on people dealing with unique and sometimes mind-boggling issues (like adults who want to wear diapers or people who eat soap) while giving viewers an in-depth and sometimes uncomfortable look at their lives.
For five delicious years, MTV made our lives a little less dreary with the hilarious dramedy "Awkward," which debuted in 2011. It followed unpopular 15-year-old Jenna (played by Ashley Rickards, left), who receives an anonymous letter criticizing her, causing her to accidentally fall and injure herself. Assuming her accident was actually a suicide attempt, Jenna suddenly becomes one of the cool kids at school, which, as the title suggests, makes things super-awkward.
So what happens when the coolest kids at school assume you and your best friend are a lesbian couple? You go along with it, of course. That's the premise of MTV's "Faking It" starring Katie Stevens (second from right) and Rita Volk (center). The series, which ran from 2014 to 2016, was a hilarious and at times poignant look at teen romance (both gay and straight) while navigating the personal dramas of high school life.
When MTV finally got the memo that rap music was here to stay, they jumped on board with the music video series "Yo! MTV Raps," which was originally hosted by Fab 5 Freddy (not pictured) and, later, by Ed Lover (left) and Dr. Dré (not to be confused with former NWA rapper Dr. Dre), who hosted the show during the week (while Freddy stayed on to cover the weekend shows). Playing a hit list of the most popular rap videos of the time, the series eventually included interviews with artists as well as live studio performances, becoming an important show for a generation of rap fans until its cancellation in 1995.
Jumping on the serialized anthology train, MTV brought us "Scream" in 2015, which is based on the horror film franchise of the same name. Starring Willa Fitzgerald as Emma Duval, a popular teenager who's connected to a mysterious murder in her town 20 years earlier, the series takes us for a terrifying ride each season to find out who's trying to kill a group of teenagers and how Emma's at the center of it all.
Although short-lived, MTV's "Finding Carter" was an incredible dramatic series starring Kathryn Prescott as Carter Stevens, a teen who discovers she was abducted as a toddler and raised by her kidnapper. The show ran for two seasons before ultimately going off the air in 2015.
Remember the gag-inducing competition series "Fear Factor" that first aired on NBC in 2001? After the network cancelled, rebooted and re-cancelled the series for good in 2012, MTV picked it up and gave it a new home in 2017. This time, the show — which creates challenges forcing contestants to face their deepest fears — is hosted by rapper Ludacris. Season 2 began airing in early 2018.
For a decade, MTV's "Total Request Live" was the show to watch if you wanted to see the hottest new music videos, watch live interviews and see performances by your favorite music stars. Originally hosted by Carson Daly when it launched 1998, "TRL" — which was later hosted by Vanessa Minnillo (pictured) — ran until 2008. In 2017, the network revived the show, hoping to make it fresh and exciting for a new generation of music fans.
From 2003 to 2012, Ashton Kutcher had us laughing till we cried with his reality series "Punk'd." The show featured celebrity prank victims in a "Candid Camera"-type set-up with Ashton behind the scenes, orchestrating the entire joke. It was hilarious to see some of Hollywood's biggest stars (like Halle Berry) tricked into bizarre scenarios purely for our entertainment. The show was briefly revived in 2015 without Ashton but failed to match previous ratings.
Forget the improvisational sketch-comedy shows you've seen in the past because no show does impromptu hilarity like Nick Cannon's "Wild 'N Out." Celebrity guest stars (like Rick Ross, right) join Nick on stage to perform nonsensical and totally hysterical bits that make us laugh so hard it hurts. The series began in 2005 and was cancelled in 2007. Thankfully, MTV rebooted it in 2013 and it's been a hit ever since.
There's a reason MTV's "The Osbournes" was nominated for an Emmy, and it's not because the main star was heavy-metal legend Ozzy Osbourne. The show was one of the first family-centric reality series featuring a noted celebrity. It was also filled to the brim with jaw-dropping antics, attitude and humor, making the entire clan (including Sharon Osbourne, Kelly Osbourne and Jack Osbourne) some of the most provocative stars on TV. The series ran from 2002 to 2005 and helped launch Sharon and Kelly's future careers as TV hosts.
Whether you loved them or hated them, MTV's animated series "Beavis and Butt-Head" spoke to a generation (although its message is up for debate). The show followed teenage boys Butt-Head (left) and Beavis as they indulged their appetites for whatever was "cool" while arguing over what "sucked." The series ran from 1993 to 1997 and spawned the animated feature film "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America." The show was briefly rebooted in 2011 for an eighth and final season.
In 2000 when MTV debuted "Jackass" starring Johnny Knoxville and his tribe of daredevil friends, the nation did a double-take. At first, the mind-boggling stunts (like Johnny's bee-kini bottoms) were hilarious, but some led to viewers imitating what they saw on TV (and getting hurt in the process). The series was so popular, it was greenlighted for a few movies (and a lot of emergency room visits). In 2003, the show was cancelled when Johnny quit to pursue a career in film as a writer, producer and actor.
Picking up where mentor Johnny Knoxville left off, Bam Margera landed his own MTV stunt series, "Viva La Bam," in 2003. The popular skateboarder continued the antics that were so popular on "Jackass," adding in frequent pranks (usually targeting his own family). The series ran until 2006.