15 Best MTV Shows, Ranked

It’s always nice to get a glimpse of what life is like for members of the upper crust, and Cribs gave viewers a chance to do just that, bringing Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and pop celebs together. The original show aired for 17 seasons from 2000 to 2010 and gave celebrities the chance to show off their lavish homes, cars, and more.

True Life was one of MTV’s most successful documentary shows. It was on for 20 seasons from 1998 to 2017 and told the real-life stories of wide-ranging topics from drug use to money issues, and so much more. With every episode, there was a likelihood that viewers were either experiencing what they were watching themselves or knew someone who was, making the show relatable, fascinating, and eye-opening.

Teen Mom may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s no denying that the show was groundbreaking. Teen Mom OG premiered in 2009 as a spinoff of 16 and Pregnant. It followed four of the teen moms (Farrah Abraham, Maci Bookout, Catelynn Lowell, and Amber Portwood) as they navigated life after having their babies as teenagers. The show ran for four seasons until 2012 before returning in 2015 for another five seasons.

Now, Bookout, Lowell, and Portwood are all still MTV stars on Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, which also features stars from later Teen Mom spinoffs. The franchise totally blew up and still has fans watching today. That success must be celebrated!

Ashton Kutcher truly hit a goldmine when he created Punk’d, which originally aired from 2003 to 2007. Watching a recognizable face like Kutcher play pranks on other celebrities was top-tier television. To this day, people still ask, “Am I being punk’d?” when they’re in a situation that seems unlikely.

MTV has tried to bring the show back in more recent years, but nothing will ever hold a candle to the OG run.

We’re coming a bit out of left field with this one, but let’s not sleep on Awkward. Five seasons of the scripted comedy series aired on MTV from 2011 to 2016. The show had everything: a relatable main character (Ashley Rickards‘ Jenna Hamilton), a love triangle (between Jenna, Matty (Beau Mirchoff) and Jake (Brett Davern)), high school drama, laughs, and more.

MTV hasn’t had too much luck with scripted television over the years, but Teen Wolf was an exception. The fandom for this show was unmatched. It aired for six seasons from 2011 to 2017, during the peak days of Twitter, and its social media following was intense. Remakes don’t always work, but in this case, it’s safe to say the show was a success.

Laguna Beach centered around the pretty and popular high school students at Laguna Beach High School in Orange County and aired for three seasons from 2004 to 2006.

With The O.C. at its peak popularity in the early 2000s, there was nothing young adults wanted more than to see how the real kids in Orange County lived their lives. MTV pulled through and delivered just that with LB. Give this casting team all the accolades for showing up to the high school and finding Lauren Conrad, Kristin Cavallari, Stephen Colletti, and the rest of the cast members that wound up making up the first two seasons (we won’t talk about Season 3).

This show could probably never be made today. After all, putting high school students on television and manipulating their personal lives to create storylines would be highly frowned upon these days. But that’s what makes this show so iconic — there will simply never be anything like it again.

Beavis and Butt-head was the OG MTV animated series, but Daria is an all-timer. Airing for five seasons from 1997 to 2001, the show was a satire on adolescence told through the eyes of its titular character (voiced by Tracy Grandstaff).

From Daria to her best friend, Jane (Wendy Hoopes), younger sister, Quinn (also Wendy Hoopes), and parents, the dynamic of the characters was perfect and it’s no surprise that this show was so beloved by teens during its run.

MTV started as a network for music videos, and Total Request Live was THE place to watch them. It premiered in 1998 and ran for 10 years (although it was later revived from 2014 to 2016 and again in 2019). The show’s format gave fans the power to vote for their favorite music videos, airing a daily countdown that pitted the biggest songs of the moment against each other.

Celebrity guests added to the appeal of the show, and the video jockeys (VJs) themselves became famous in their own right (Carson Daly, Vanessa Lachey, and more got their starts on TRL). Crowds gathered outside of the MTV studio in Times Square for hours to try and get a glimpse of what was going on inside.

TRL‘s run was before DVR and streaming, so you had to literally be seated on your couch every day to catch up with the countdown. Truly brilliant. So fun. Take us back!

There are countless celebrities who have aired their dirty laundry on reality shows these days, but Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson were among the first to do it. After the success of The Osbournes in 2002, MTV launched Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica to document Lachey and Simpson’s short-lived marriage.

The show only aired for three seasons from 2003 to 2005 (Lachey and Simpson were married for less than four years), but it was such an important part of pop culture at the time. Let’s just say that if memes existed at the time, Simpson would’ve been all over social media with her ditzy quotes, which the show played into big-time.

Who doesn’t want to watch extremely gorgeous, rich celebrities live their lives? It was truly the perfect formula and paved the way for dozens of reality shows about celebrity relationships that followed.

Road Rules began as the sister show to The Real World and ran for 14 seasons from 1995 to 2007. Although it fizzled out when The Challenge was introduced to the network, there’s no denying that Road Rules was groundbreaking TV. It took competition television to a new level. Watching young, hot people attempt dangerous stunts is always a good time!

Love ’em or hate ’em, the cast of Jersey Shore sure has staying power. The original series aired for six seasons from 2009 to 2012, and a revival (Jersey Shore: Family Vacation) has been airing since 2018. As the cast themselves have said, they were able to turn 15 minutes into 15 years, and they don’t seem to be slowing down.

Viewers have watched the OG cast members go through so many ups and downs over the years. Cameras have been there for some of their biggest life moments, including weddings, babies, and more.

The original Jersey Shore was truly unhinged and is still fun to watch back to this day. While the stars have their lives together now (for the most part), they were the definition of messy in their 20s, and much of that was captured for the MTV cameras. Perfect reality television, truly.

If you need proof that The Challenge is an iconic television show, just look at the fact that it’s now in its 41st season and has produced several spinoffs that have even spanned to other networks. Bringing back familiar faces from The Real World and Road Rules (and, eventually, dozens of other shows) gave fans a reason to tune in, and the show has majorly evolved over the years.

At its root, though, it’s still the same as it was from day one: Reality television stars living under the same roof and competing against each other for a cash prize. Every season brings competition, romance, drama, and SO much more.

The Hills was an imperative part of pop culture when it aired its six seasons from 2006 to 2010. Lauren Conrad was a fashion icon for teens and 20-somethings at the time, and there was never a shortage of drama. Whether that drama was real or fake was a constant question from fans, but that only added to the allure of the series.

Watching Conrad and her friends hit the club scene in L.A. while also figuring out their careers and professional lives was somehow relatable, while also being extremely out of reach. Although the show is a bit jumbled and hard to watch back today, there’s no doubt that it took reality television up several notches and set the standard for what reality stars need to bring to the table today.

Reality television was changed forever when The Real World first premiered on MTV in 1993. It originated the format of putting strangers together in a shared living environment and is one of the longest-running programs in MTV history. The Real World aired for 32 seasons on MTV from 1992 to 2017 and featured “strangers picked to live in a house” in various locations across the world.

The Real World inspired plenty of other similar shows in the years that followed its premiere, but there will never be another series that has its influence.