Look, once you tell everyone your fake prince is fake, nobody's falling for it again. And how many
times can you really watch a cat get rescued from a tree? Spoiler: the answer is "10."
Following close behind the premiere of "The Bachelor," Fox's "Joe Millionaire" is one of many
reality dating shows that helped shape the popular subgenre. It ran for two seasons, with the first
season finale being the most-watched entertainment program in Fox history at the time, as reported by
The New York Times. The second season, titled "The Next Joe Millionaire" — not so much.
The premise is simple: 20 women compete for the love of one bachelor. The twist?
They've been fooled into believing the man is a millionaire when in reality,
he's a construction worker. The idea of lying to women to then turn around and demean them
as gold diggers brought on well-warranted criticism towards "Joe Millionaire." However,
criticism alone will almost never be enough to kick a show off the air. Instead, it was the
faulty premise that did this one in. Described as "a one-time stunt" by the then Fox chief,
once the gig was up for "Joe Millionaire," there's no more fooling contestants or viewers.
The creators of the show must've forgotten the only way to build healthy,
long-lasting relationships is with trust. Except — not so fast — the show came back
in 2022 with its revival titled "Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer." A
little tweaking to the premise now has the show featuring 18 women dating two men,
not knowing which is a millionaire and which is not. Over a decade later,
"Joe Millionaire" figured out a way to reel in viewers without lying to its contestants.
What now feels like a distant fever-dream was the 2010s fascination with home-renovation series that
starred former music sensations, like "Rev Run's Renovation." Vanilla Ice got in on the popular
trend with his own home renovation series "The Vanilla Ice Project." It may have seemed like
a strange direction for the rapper, but it was nothing compared to what came next. In "Vanilla
Ice Goes Amish, he left the mansions in the rearview mirror. Well, in a manner of speaking.
"They don't even have mirrors in their house."
As much as viewers enjoyed seeing Vanilla Ice get down and dirty with his handy work, the premise of
adjusting to traditional craftsmanship and the Amish lifestyle wasn't suited for longevity.
The show ran for two seasons from October 12, 2013, to November 15, 2014, including
episodes where Vanilla Ice assists a cow in giving birth and "ices out" an Amish buggy.
Mostly, Vanilla Ice would take on renovation projects within the Amish community. However,
judging by the show's abrupt and unceremonious ending, it seems that there simply just weren't
enough Amish construction projects that needed a Vanilla makeover.
Tommy Lee is the epitome of the rock star lifestyle, so sending him off to college,
where many young people learn about real-life responsibilities,
is a recipe for peak entertainment.
The Mötley Crüe drummer attended the University of Nebraska,
not to get a degree, but to entertain viewers at home. From August 16 to September 13, 2005,
Lee filled the shoes of a real-life student by finding a roommate,
trying out for extra circulars, attending parties, and studying for classes.
"Uh, Tommy, rad is a measure of angle in physics."
However, as we're all aware, college is only temporary,
leaving the show with little room to grow and ending after a six-episode run. Lee
did get to promote his second solo album "Tommyland: The Ride" by using the album's
single "Good Times" as the theme song for the show. So all-in-all, not a complete flop.
Appealing to a similar music-loving audience, VH1's "Bands Reunited" may
have bitten off more than they could chew. The premise of reuniting former
musical groups using elaborate schemes proved to be more difficult in execution. Turns out,
ex-band members aren't usually keen on reunions for the sake of a reality show's success.
"So the question to you is, are you up for it?"
"No." "You're not? Oh no!"
The show managed to run for two seasons from 2004 to 2006, and many viewers witnessed some
of their favorite bands coming back together to perform past hits. Not every episode was
a success, with either one or all band members refusing to reunite or perform.
The only way to keep the show going was to up the antics by going for higher-profile
bands. Their attempt to reunite the legendary band "The Smiths" resulted in their biggest
failure yet when they couldn't get the attention of band member Morrissey. It
was a long shot from the beginning, but these were the shortcomings that left
them with little to go on, and there was no encore for "Bands Reunited."
No one could replace Cassandra Peterson as Elvira,
the late-night horror cult movie host from the 1980s horror movie program, "Elvira's
Movie Macabre." But that didn't stop them from trying with "The Search for the Next Elvira."
"Get ready for the most shocking reality show of all time."
Running for four episodes on Fox,
contestants dubbed the "unlucky 13" competed in various challenges, including acting auditions,
a dinner date with a reality TV star, and selling Elvira-branded coffee to
tourists. Cassandra Peterson was featured as a judge along with other guest judges.
"Wait, honey, can I ask you a question? What is the name of the show?"
"Mah…macabree?"
"How 'bout macabre."
"Macabre. Macabre."
Would you be surprised to learn the series winner did not, in fact, become the next
Elvira? Peterson went on to revive her character in 2010. She returned as a horror hostess in 2014
with Hulu's "13 Nights of Elvira" and again in 2021 for a one-night movie marathon on
Shudder titled "Elvira's 40th Anniversary, Very Scary, Very Special Special." Suffice it to say,
there was no real search for a new Elvira, making this series one and done with a single season.
This controversy-ridden reality dating show had a short-lived premise from the
beginning. A group of men and women battle it out for a chance at romance with social media
personality Tila Tequila. The two groups are unaware of each other and Tila's bisexuality
until the final two contestants are chosen. Can you think of anything more romantic?
"I am attracted to each of you all for very different reasons."
In theory, the show featured bi-representation in mainstream media at a time when it was
severely lacking. However, tabloids broadcasted their speculations about
Tila's true sexuality and intentions. In 2007, a source close to the show claimed:
"Tila has and has had a boyfriend for over a year, and she's not really bi."
Tila denied the allegations at the time but later
seemingly confirmed the claims in a now removed 2018 YouTube video.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the reality series was MTV's second
highest-rated series premiere in 2007. But Season 2 didn't live up
to its Season 1 success. "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" proves that
it's difficult to keep a reality dating show running when your main love interest
is rumored to already be in a relationship and shows no interest in her chosen winner.
"You could say they're way out of my league, but for who I'm pretending to be, it's perfect."
It takes a special kind of someone to genuinely mix up Matthew Hicks with Prince Harry,
yet the show "I Wanna Marry 'Harry'" managed to fool 12 contestants into
thinking they were competing for a shot at love with the real prince.
And "I Wanna Marry Harry" really went to extremes to keep the lie alive.
Winner Kimberly Birch recounted some of the producer's elaborate
stunts in an interview with Splinter saying,
"They actually had a therapist come on set at one point and talk to a few
of us who were saying it wasn't him. We found out later that it wasn't a real,
licensed therapist. It was just someone from the production team."
In the same vein as "Joe Millionaire," once the show aired, there was no chance
of fooling another set of contestants or audiences for Season 2. In fact,
according to Deadline, the series was pulled from schedule halfway through Season 1,
dumping the rest of the episodes onto Fox On Demand and other services.
The highly popular MTV reality series following the lives of a group of good-looking, sun-kissed
teens from Laguna Beach High School, "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County" was left with
few options for continuing the series once the original cast graduated. By Season 3,
the entire cast had been replaced. This didn't work out as far as ratings were concerned.
Viewers grew connected to the characters through watching their love triangles, drama,
and the usual stressors of senior year play out.
"Am I supposed to be really happy to see you or something?"
"Uh, no, that's not what I'm saying."
It was never going to be the same with a new group of students. Unless,
of course, you attempt a spin-off. Premiering in 2007, "Newport Harbor:
The Real Orange County," following the same format. However, the show unsurprisingly
failed to live up to the success of "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County."
From 2003 to 2012, Mike Rowe graced our TV screens with the most filthy,
disgusting occupations that go underappreciated in our society by featuring them on "Dirty Jobs."
"Ah, see? How did that cow crap on me three feet away?"
With his eagerness to get in the mix and try these jobs out himself, Rowe spotlighted the skills and
tenacity of essential workers from all around the country. Airing for more than 170 episodes,
it was just a matter of time before the list of dirty jobs waned thin and sent the
series into a "permanent hiatus," as Mike Rowe described it in a 2012 guest column on HuffPost.
"And I've personally done some things to turkeys and sheep that
I'm not comfortable talking about." Can we fix the aspect ratio on this please?
Still, Hollywood's obsession with reboots has made way for the 2022 revival of
"Dirty Jobs." After a ten-year hiatus, host Mike Rowe admitted to TV Insider,
"The challenge now is not to get dirty and work hard;
the challenge is to apply it to jobs that we haven't done."
After all, you don't just let a five-time Emmy-nominated series end without a spin-off
or revival. In this case, Discovery did both with the spin-off "Dirty Jobs:
Rowe'd Trip" and the 2022 revival of "Dirty Jobs."
Not all reality shows that have run out of things to do are complete failures. In fact,
Animal Planet's "River Monsters" ran for nine successful seasons. However,
after years of catching the most vicious predators lurking in our
freshwater and saltwater rivers, host Jeremy Wade revealed in a press release:
"Some shows can run forever, but our subject matter is finite. Ten years ago,
I had a list in my head, which seemed impossibly ambitious at the time,
but everything has now been ticked off — and then some."
Guided by biologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade, the series took
viewers around the globe to explore fearsome creatures living in the depths of rivers and
lakes. Both thrilling and educational, Wade's episodic quests would consist of
catching the fish in question and teaching viewers about the misunderstood specimen.
Fans were disappointed to see the show go, and surely,
executives were even more so after losing one of their best-performing shows.
A reality TV series dedicated to saving cats stuck in trees. What could possibly
get repetitive about a premise like that? Airing for a total of 10 episodes in 2015,
Shaun Sears and Tom Otto of Canopy Cat Rescue took their rescue efforts to Hollywood with
their Animal Planet reality show titled "Treetop Cat Rescue." Now,
instead of exclusively watching cat videos on Facebook, viewers could
tune in to half-hour-long episodes starring our favorite felines in sticky situations.
According to The Seattle Times, after the premiere of the show, the nonprofit rescue team went from
saving 250 cats a year to upwards of 750. The sweet relief of witnessing distressed strays
and missing pets meet a happy ending seemingly would have lasted years on end, but upping the
ante for television wasn't a viable option for this serious team of cat rescuers. Unfortunately,
one season was all it took to scratch out all the cat rescue-related ideas. And since there's
been no revival of this particular series, we can only assume it's off the air fur-ever.