After The Real World launched to insane viewing figures, MTV decided to take a chance on reality TV. They introduced growing numbers of reality TV shows and started phasing out music shows. As I Want My MTV’s Rob Tannenbaum told NPR “It’s very easy to trace the line from The Real World to Snooki…It’s an alcoholic, crooked line all the way there, but MTV quickly realized and learned that narrative television, even reality TV, rated better than music videos.
