12 Forgotten Reality Shows That Deserve A Second Chance

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Though they weren't all Top Chefs and American Idols, unscripted shows were inescapable in the early 2000s... and still are! Luckily for TV fans, the reality rage left us with some unsung gems we can now shine a much-deserved light on. While our picks may have fallen into obscurity, they are more than deserving of a second chance.

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FEAR, 2 Seasons (2000-2002)

If horror and reality TV are both your jam, MTV's Fear was a one-stop shop. A group of five or more was left at a presumedly haunted location (such as Philly's Eastern State Penitentiary) and given a series of dares to complete over two nights to confirm whether the place was truly haunted. If they survived both nights, players received a $5,000 prize. Dares included reinactements of horrific events, and even creepy seances and spirit channelings. Watching its participants lose their s–t on national television never got old — cue the Godsmack track!

Select episodes available on YouTube.

THE GLASS HOUSE, 1 Season (2012)

Addicted to creeping on strangers while they eat and sleep? Us, too! (Kidding.) While it's essentially a Big Brother knock-off, The Glass House was more like BB's overseas counterparts. Viewers decided where contestants slept, what they wore and what they consumed, and voted on who would be eliminated from the house each week. If the pandemic prevents Big Brother 22 from going into production, allow these 14 "houseguests" to be your replacement hamsters for the summer.

Available to purchase on Amazon Prime Video.

LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL: THE SEARCH FOR ELLE WOODS, 1 Season (2008)

As its exhausting title suggests, this MTV competition series pitted 15 actresses against one another for the chance to land the role of Elle Woods in the then-running Broadway production of Legally Blonde: The Musical. Tears! Tantrums! Triumph! Sure, bringing this show back would also require someone to revive Legally Blonde on Broadway — but aren't we overdue for that, anyway?

Select episodes available on YouTube.

MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL, 2 Seasons (2008-2009)

Bravo's attempt at its own America's Next Top Model smartly had female and male contestants competing against each other long before Tyra Banks thought to do the same. As a result, the series — which was hosted by Tyson Beckford and Niki Taylor — was immensely watchable, thanks to its plethora of eye candy and a bromance for the ages (Ben and Ronnie 4eva!). So while Make Me a Supermodel didn't go on to become an ANTM-like franchise, we still have fond memories of its all-too-brief run.

Available to purchase on Amazon Prime Video.

PROJECT RUNWAY JUNIOR, 2 Seasons (2015–2017)

We don't even have any jokes to make about this one. It was genuinely inspiring to watch young designers with completely original perspectives turn out incredible looks, offering an exciting glimpse into the future of fashion. And given the success of Bravo's recently rebooted Project Runway, we can't help but think that a junior edition would make for an excellent pairing.

Available to purchase on Amazon Prime Video.

THE ASSISTANT, 1 Season (2004)

A too-real parody of other reality-competition shows, this MTV gem found 12 eager beavers battling to become the assistant to Hollywood megastar... Andy Dick. Tasks included breaking up with his girlfriend, attempting to land him a star on the Walk of Fame and, of course, delivering coffee — while walking across a balance beam over a swimming pool. And if any of the contestants looked like they needed a proper night's rest, that's probably because Dick made them sleep in his garage for the duration of the competition.

Available to stream on YouTube.

THE MOLE, 5 Seasons (2001-2004, 2008)

Before Anderson Cooper became CNN's anchor extraordinaire, he hosted this ABC reality game show that kept its audience and contestants alike guessing. Players worked together to complete missions that would add money to their group pot, but among them was "the mole," a player pre-chosen to sabotage their earning efforts. Episodes ended with a quiz, and the person knowing the least about the mole's identity was eliminated. The show mixed reality-TV drama and extreme stunts, with heaps of mystery sprinkled in, making it one of the early aughts' most compelling reality spectacles.

Buy Season 1 and Season 3 DVDs.

THE PICKUP ARTIST, 2 Seasons (2007-08)

Need some luck with the ladies? A self-proclaimed "pickup artist" named Mystery took dateless dudes and trained them in the art of seduction in this VH1 oddity. OK, so its aggressively predatory approach to romance probably wouldn't fly these days, but we still remember it fondly, both as unintentional comedy — again, the guy's name was Mystery, and his "wingmen" were J-Dog and Matador — and as genuine voyeuristic delight, letting us watch along via hidden camera as the wannabe Romeos honed their skills in the L.A. bar scene.

Season 2 available for purchase on Amazon Prime Video.

SCREAM QUEENS, 2 Seasons (2008-10)

No, this is not the campy Ryan Murphy horror comedy that aired on Fox; this is the VH1 reality show that set out to find the next horror movie starlet. Aspiring actresses competed in a series of challenges — yes, they had to demonstrate their most blood-curdling scream — to win a role in the latest Saw movie. It was a fun mash-up of Hollywood glitz and slasher-flick gore... and hey, Station 19's Jaina Lee Ortiz was Season 2's runner-up, so it can lead to actual stardom!

Available to stream on The Roku Channel.

BECOMING, 5 Seasons (2001–2003)

Remember music videos? Remember the dream of starring in music videos? That was the whole thrust of MTV's early-2000s docuseries in which superfans were made over to look like their favorite pop artists, then lip-synced and danced their way through a recreation of one of that artist's vids. (Translation for our younger readers: Think TikTok, but with a bigger budget.)

Select episodes available on YouTube.

PROJECT GREENLIGHT, 4 Seasons (2001-05, 2015)

The movies that came out of HBO's filmmaking competition weren't always award-worthy, we admit — anybody seen the Shia LaBeouf classic The Battle of Shaker Heights lately? — but the behind-the-curtain look it gave us into the nuts and bolts of producing an indie movie was never less than fascinating. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon acted as fairy godfathers, granting one lucky director each season a chance to make their first feature film, and we followed along with every agonizing step, from frantic script rewrites to battles over the final cut. It was reality TV as film school, for a fraction of the price.

Seasons 1 and 2 available on Hoopla; Season 4 available on HBO.

AVERAGE JOE, 4 Seasons (2003-2005)

The premise was laudable: A conventionally attractive woman was led to believe she will have her pick of conventionally handsome fellas, Bachelorette-style, only to instead be presented with an array of non-chiseled and/or nerdy Average Joes. In practice, however, both of its first two seasons saw the woman pair up with one of the hunka-hunka hunks that were bussed in as a midseason twist. To this day, we cheer on Season 1 runner-up Adam Mesh, a true mensch who even got his self-redeeming offshoot, Average Joe: Adam Returns.

Stream all four seasons on NBC.