While some might view reality television as low-brow media, to me, reality television has always represented casual entertainment. It was something fun that I could watch without having to overly analyze and search to find clues about the next episode (can you tell I was a former Pretty Little Liars watcher?). There is something freeing about being able to watch a show mindlessly. There was even a short period of time when TLC was embarrassingly one of my favourite channels. Reality shows, whether you like them or not, will always be part of pop culture and will continue to take over people’s lives. I feel as though I have earned the right to list four iconic reality shows from the past through years of mindlessly watching them.
The Simple Life
The Simple Life followed the iconic duo, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, as the two best friends embarked on adventures across America working minimum wage jobs and experiencing life outside of their socialite world. The show’s premise was to have the two wealthy socialites live with an average working-class family and have them adopt a “normal” lifestyle by doing manual labour and live on a dairy farm. The episodes included Paris and Nicole working on a farm, at a fast-food restaurant, becoming servers, and even working as camp counselors. The two always found a way to lose every job they took up and faced criticism from their host family. What made The Simple Life iconic was Paris and Nicole’s ability to find humour in every predicaments. Their big personalities were the driving force behind why the show was picked up for 4 more seasons after its initial release in 2003. Ultimately, the show saw its end when the two best friends unfortunately had a falling out.
Flavor of Love
Flavor of Love was a dating reality show with 20 different women competing for rapper Flavor Flav’s heart. The 20 women were to compete through a series of different competitions with the main objective spending time with Flavor Flav and impressing him. At the end of each episode a contestant would be sent home, and those that survived elimination received a clock necklace from Flav that indicated they were safe. Flavor of Love has a ton of iconic and hilarious moments that helped mark the show’s place in pop culture history. From launching the career of one of the most famous and iconic faces of reality television, New York AKA Tiffany Pollard, to all the many petty fights. As well as the iconic “My friends tell me I look like Beyonce” moment to the ridiculously strange and somewhat fitting nicknames each contestant but one were given by Flavor Flav who claimed that nicknames helped him remember people better. While Flavor of Love only ran for 3 seasons, it captured the hearts of its audience and will forever be remembered for the memorable quotes and moments it gave pop culture.
Fun fact – this show inspired 3 spin offs including I Love New York, Rock of Love, and Real Chance of Love.
Bad Girls Club
You can’t complete a list of iconic reality shows from the past without mentioning Bad Girls Club. This show was a gem of the past, running for 17 seasons. It followed a group of girls from different backgrounds that deemed themselves ‘bad girls’, and these young women had to learn to coexist with each other and learn to follow rules. The girls enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle for three months and the everyday lives of these women, inside and outside of the house were all recorded. Problems would quickly rise every season when the baddies would eventually butt heads. The show had a strict rule against fighting and any bad girl that broke that rule was evicted, and in the early seasons replaced by a new bad girl. What made Bad Girls Club iconic was how unpredictable it was. Every season hot headed women with big personalities would come together, form cliques and plot against one another in order to survive their stay in the mansion. Bad Girls Club could honestly be used as a psychology study on cliques and behaviorism. The show was dramatic and truly one of a kind.
Jersey Shore
If you know me, then you know just how much I love Jersey Shore. To me Jersey Shore perfectly embodies the culture of the late 2000s and early 2010s. The show’s format followed the lives of 8 self-proclaimed Guido and Guidettes who meet for the first time and must live and work alongside each other. The series showcases the rise and fame of regular Italian Americans that quickly became household names. What made Jersey Shore iconic was the fact that no other show was really like it. The audience was able to watch a group of strangers grow up but also form their relationships. The show was beloved by all for its often drama-filled episodes and memorable moments. Despite the binge drinking, the poor treatment of women, and the toxic on-screen relationship between Ron and Sammie, at its heart Jersey Shore was a show about friendship and found family. There is no show quite like it.