How Did A Low-Budget Clip Show Like ‘Ridiculousness’ Swallow up MTV?

Earlier this month, MTV, the station that pretty much revolutionized pop culture, celebrated 40 years on air by… Airing a marathon of Generation Z’s answer to America’s Funniest Home Videos, Ridiculousness. In fact, the network didn’t even bother acknowledging such a milestone, a sorry state of affairs which once again suggests its schedule is now run entirely free of any human input.

This wasn’t the first time it had offered their audience –- which now seems to consist of channel surfers who can’t find anything else on -– such a stark choice of programming. Switch on MTV at any time of the day, any time of the year, and you’ll no doubt find former professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek guffawing at an epic fail you’ve already seen countless times on YouTube.

Yes, low-budget clip show Ridiculousness has continued to gradually swallow up the channel since premiering in the month of its thirtieth anniversary. During one particular week in July 2020, it accounted for an incredible 113 of MTV’s 168 hours on air. And when Dyrdek and his regular partners in crime, rapper Chanel West Coast and comedian Sterling “Steelo” Brim, aren’t taking center stage, then one of the show’s many spinoffs are likely to be filling in.

You have to take your hat off to Dyrdek, whose Superjacket Productions company has transformed a one-note concept into the kind of ever-expanding universe that Marvel would be proud of. Amazingness, a gonzo take on America’s Got Talent featuring everything from vape smoke artists to hand farters, got the ball rolling in 2017. Deliciousness, a clip show based on disasters in the kitchen hosted by Tiffani Thiessen, debuted three years later. Meanwhile, another ‘90s teen star, Alyson Hannigan, may have questioned her career choices after ending up on the panel of Adorableness, a 2021 addition in which cute pets and kids do the darndest things.

However, just when you thought MTV had surely milked the concept dry, along comes another offshoot designed for those who find the original’s array of Jackass-esque stunts and gross-out moments just a little too sophisticated. Presented by one of the station’s most notable reality TV graduates, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi of Jersey Shore fame, Messyness, which premiered last night (August 23), proudly vows to “cheer on and revel in the messiest behavior on camera yet.” Its trailer suggests this consists of projectile vomiting, frathouse pratfalls and drunken fried chicken-eating.

MTV isn’t the only cable station that has relied on a single format to keep it afloat, of course. The Impractical Jokers crew have basically taken up residence at truTV, for example. Nor does anyone expect it to start playing actual music videos again: the fact that pretty much every music promo recorded is only ever a mouse click away has made its original concept redundant. Plus, there’s still MTV Classic for anyone who prefers to indulge in nostalgia the old-school way.

Even though MTV hasn’t been a music station for decades, it’s still continually changed the game. Reality TV was practically invented by The Real World and then later reinvented by The Osbournes. Beavis and Butt-Head paved the way for a new breed of outrageous animated sitcoms, while before social media, Cribs granted us more access to the lives of the rich and famous than ever before. Even as recently as 2012 it was still making series that captured the zeitgeist. See the almost unrecognizable adaptation of Teen Wolf and documentary spinoff Catfish, the latter one of the very few shows that will occasionally break Ridiculousness’ stranglehold on the channel’s lineup.

You can’t say that MTV are chasing trends today, let alone setting them. It hasn’t produced a single scripted original since vigilante comedy Sweet/Vicious back in 2016! And out of the nine new reality shows that have emerged since, only Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club has made any significant impression, and, unsurprisingly, not always a positive one. Nowadays, its owners ViacomCBS seems content to offload anything outside the cheap and cheerful clip show category to its other platforms. The Real World New York’s recent reunion aired on Paramount+, with a revival of Yo! MTV Raps set to follow suit.

So why is MTV determined to position itself as the kind of channel that would gladly screen “Ow, My Balls”?

Well, according to executive Tanya Giles, viewership increases by as much as 21 percent whenever Ridiculousness dominates the schedules: a 2016 study by The New York Times found that it’s particularly popular in the red states, with only The Voice and Duck Dynasty attracting more eyeballs in the likes of New Mexico, Montana and Alaska.

It’s obviously cheaper to make and constantly re-run than any of the shows that have been culled in the 10 years and 22 (yes, 22!) seasons it’s been on air. Producers certainly never have to worry about running out of material, either. As Brim told CBS New York, “People will never stop doing stupid things and filming it.” Still, that doesn’t mean MTV has to screen them relentlessly.

Of course, you can understand why mindless escapism, particularly the type that has such a cross-generational appeal, has been such a hit over the past 18 months. But the Ridiculousness network has boxed itself into such a tight corner that when audiences start looking for something a little more substantial again, no one may be uttering: “I Want My MTV.”

Jon O’Brien (@jonobrien81) is a freelance entertainment and sports writer from the North West of England. His work has appeared in the likes of Vulture, Esquire, Billboard, Paste, i-D and The Guardian. 

Where to watch Ridiculousness