Picture This: You’re on the school bus on your way home from a “stressful” day. You learned algebra equations, were forced to read To Kill a Mocking Bird, and on top of that you witnessed your crush making googly eyes with your BFF; WTF?! So you arrive home, grab a Sunny D from the fridge and plop yourself down on the couch. You flip on the TV and you’ve reached the Holy Grail…MTV original shows. No I’m not talking about Teen Mom or Ridiculousness, I’m talking about the shows that made us want our moms to pick our future boyfriend and speed date with the strangest guys. These show taught us how to date, to always trust our parents’ instincts, and what the poster on your boyfriend’s wall really means. So without further ado here are the top shows that made middle school somewhat tolerable and taught us lessons that we couldn’t learn in the classroom.
Date my Mom:
Unfortunately this piece of reality gold was only on air for two years, but it definitely is one to remember. So if you have never seen this show, the premise is a male goes out on a date with 3 moms, and those moms need to convince the suiter to date their son or daughter. Seems strange? Yes. Amazing? Yes. The mom and the suiter go on a very awkward date, try to throw in some corny one liners, and the winner is announced in a dramatic finale. Talk about putting all your trust in your mom, huh?
Lesson Learned: HOPEFULLY you got it from yo’ mama
Parental Control:
I guess MTV really wanted to solidify the relationship between parents and children. In this show, the parents are sick and tired of their child’s bf/gf and take it into their own hands to find them another one. The parents interview a bunch of possible suitors, mostly cocky and weird, but with all things there are some diamonds in the rough. Once the parents pick three suitors, the children’s dates are broadcast live in front of the parents and the current “evil boyfriend”. This part is just straight up awkward. The “evil” boyfriend and the parents argue, the “evil” bf would say something super inappropriate, the dad would threaten him and so on and so on. Once the child goes on the three (MOST AWKWARD!) dates, there is an elimination where the new boyfriend is chosen. Ten to one, the “evil” boyfriend would be chosen and the parents would try their best to disown their child.
Lesson Learned: The heart wants what it wants, sorry mom and dad!
Room Raiders:
You know the phrase, “don’t judge a book by its cover”? In this case it’s okay to judge a book by its room. Room Raiders allowed one person to “raid” three different rooms belonging to three different singles. Based off of the look of the room and what they found inside, the “raider” chose a possible suitor to go on a date with. Some typical things the raider would find was dirty clothes, suspicious pictures, condoms, or old childhood stuffed animals. This show was great because the people who were getting their room raided watched live as the raider went through their room; talk about an invasion of privacy.
Lesson Learned: Always keep your room clean OR hide anything that you wouldn’t want broadcasted on television. PS hide it REALLY good!
Next:
This was one of the longer running ridiculous “reality” shows and I can see why. On this show the contestant is set up on five different blind dates and can end the date they are on by screaming “NEXT”. Each minute the “blind dater” lasts, they receive $1. One of the best parts of this show was seeing the strange facts each of the blind dates shared about themselves… and trust me they were strange. Some for example were, “Lit her house on fire when she was six”, “Pooped in a box and mailed it to her ex-boyfriend” and “Has a chronic sweating problem”. This was yet another show that made middle schoolers scared of dating in the future.
Lesson Learned: Just stay single…people are weird. Also, first impressions are EVERYTHING.
MTV Cribs:
This show gave me FOMO at a very young age. From the moment I saw Missy Elliot’s house, I knew I had to be famous. I don’t know if it was just me, but I used to walk around my house when I was younger and pretend I was filming an episode… just me? Cool. This show gave viewers an inside look into a celebrity’s life before social networking; Instagram hadn’t blessed us with its presence yet. Every celebrity that was a celebrity had an episode of Cribs, and they all tried to compete with each other for the flashiest and most glamorous house… and they did NOT disappoint. From cars, to pools, to secret rooms, MTV Cribs made owning a mansion a number one goal of life.
Lesson Learned: No it’s never a bookshelf, it’s always a secret room.
Laguna Beach:
MTV struck gold when they discovered this group of teenagers. They were all beautiful, dramatic, and had daddies with fat wallets. The love triangle between LC, Kristin, and Stephen will always be one for the books. The cast of Laguna Beach soon became our own group of friends and we patiently waited for our invitation to Cabo.
Lesson Learned: Good girls don’t always win (Sorry LC ): )
The next time your parents nag at you for watching mindless television shows, remind them that there is a lesson to be learned in all of them!