Created by: Tara Cole

AwesomenessTV has been a big innovator in the Gen Z content creation scene since 2014, known for leveraging online talent to create buzz for their wide variety of series. Awesomeness TV's Next Influencer continues this trend by taking up-and-coming content creators, placing them in a house together, and putting them through challenges to prove they’re worthy of becoming the next big internet sensation. Whether intentional or not, Next Influencer gives viewers a peek into the pressures and emotional toll that striving to be an influencer can put on a young content creator. The show is the perfect split between The Real World and Hype House, with all the drama that comes with a group of twentysomethings living in one place while trying to land on top of the pile.

Created by: John de Mol, Ron Diesel

Based on the Dutch reality series that also borrows its name from the George Orwell novel, Big Brother is a reality competition that launched a thousand clones over the last two decades. The series is one of the first of its kind that isolates the contestants from the outside world in a single location, where they are monitored by cameras and hidden mics throughout and compete to be the last one standing. If you start at the very beginning, it’s quite a journey watching the show evolve beyond the original format and find new ways to keep the “HouseGuests” on their toes and at each other’s throats. However, the show is welcoming to all fans, new and old, no matter where you jump in, and is always dripping with the chaotic and tentative team-ups followed by brutal betrayals that these shows thrive on.

Created by: Aaron Saidman

MTV’s Emmy-winning documentary series True Life is an impressively grounded dive into an array of topics that range from social phenomena like backyard wrestling to the harrowing reality of drug addiction. Each episode zeroes in on a topic and closely follows a group of individuals either participating in or affected by the subject of the week. The focus on the personal aspect of each theme really humanizes topics like sex work, racism, and addiction to plastic surgery in a way that helps viewers reframe their perspectives on generally taboo subjects. Each episode is a fresh experience, with some stories that are heartbreaking and tragic and others that inspire and inform.

Created by: RuPaul Charles, Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato

World-renowned drag queen RuPaul (The RuPaul Show) is joined by a panel of judges to find the next big drag superstar in this Emmy-winning competition series. RuPaul’s Drag Race selects a group of drag queens who compete in challenges that test their skills in different aspects of drag performance. Beyond the way the show makes the world of drag accessible and relatable, it also pays homage to the decades-long traditions of drag that go as far back as the late 1800s. With all the compelling stories and big personalities, it’s no wonder why Drag Race has become a worldwide phenomenon with dozens of spin-offs.

Created by: Autumn deVitry

Originally a web series from AwesomenessTV, My Dream Quinceañera gets a brand-new revival following three SoCal teens as they get ready for their coming-of-age ceremony. In the same vein as shows like My Super Sweet 16, the series documents the preparations and emotional journeys associated with these big cultural celebrations while diving into the Latin American traditions and rituals of the ceremony. The show is wholesome and has some real tear-jerker moments as viewers watch these young women step into adulthood through a wedding-level party that they get to plan from top to bottom — all while trying to manage the stress of making their dreams come true.

Created by: Angie Day

Some people dream of becoming a cheerleader, others want to sing opera, and there are people who just want to graduate high school. Made is a fascinating and often inspiring MTV series that focuses on giving teens and young adults a chance to overcome their obstacles and become something they’ve always wanted to be. In each episode, the aspiring individual is teamed up with a coach in the specific field they want to enter and is pushed to achieve the thing they feel is impossible. The best episodes are a grueling odyssey where you get to watch someone grow before your eyes and triumph against all odds. But not everyone reaches the mountaintop, and the fall is just as engaging — not to mention heartbreaking.

Executive Producers: Steven Weinstock, Glenda Hersh, Andrea Richter

Jane’s Addiction guitarist and tattooed man Dave Navarro hosts this fierce and colorful competition where tattoo artists from around the country fight to leave their mark and win the $100,000 prize. Ink Master puts the contestants’ skills to the test by taking them outside of their comfort zone and challenging them to excel in other forms of art like wall graffiti, 3D body paint, and airbrushing before getting to use their needles on skin. Having gathered so many amazingly talented artists in one place, each season treats its viewers to an endless stream of beautiful masterworks of art set against a human canvas.

Created by: Sharp Entertainment

From the producers of MTV’s Catfish, Ghosted: Love Gone Missing is a docuseries hosted by Rachel Lindsay (The Bachelorette) and Travis Mills (Wild 'n Out), where they speak to jilted lovers and try to find out why they were ghosted. On its face, the premise is pretty wild, but the most interesting aspect of the show is how personal the stories are and getting to understand how devastating it can be when someone is robbed of closure in a relationship they thought was going well. Tracing the beats of a relationship that ultimately led to one person getting cut off leaves a lot of room for drama as the other side of the story unfolds, and the show does a great job pacing out the information to keep you sucked in.

Created by: Charlie Parsons

An American adaptation of the Swedish reality series Expedition Robinson, Survivor has grown far beyond its roots into a juggernaut in the reality competition show space, inspiring spin-offs and imitators all around the world. Each season places a new group of strangers in a secluded area, where they are forced to fend for themselves while trying to survive each week by making alliances and competing in physical challenges. While the survivalist aspect is entertaining on its own, the vote for elimination is where the claws really come out. Alliances break down, and your favorites are constantly at risk of being sent home as contestants fight to be the sole survivor of the show.

Created by: Rob LaPlante, Jeff Spangler

Finding the perfect match can feel impossible these days, but Are You the One? uses top-of-the-line algorithms to pair up 22 singles from around the world and place them in a Hawaii resort for the chance to win cash and the love of their life. The main obstacle is that they’re not told who their match is among the competitors, so they have to score dates with their prospective matches to get closer to finding the one. The series has all the tenets you expect from reality dating shows that put a bunch of hot singles in one house together, but the real fun is trying to guess the matches and yelling at the show’s algorithm when it tanks your ship. This makes viewers feel just as much a part of the show as the contestants as they invest in pairings that may or may not be destined.

Created by: Dave Grohl

From Cradle to Stage is a delightful documentary series created by Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl that examines the relationship between famous rockstars and their mothers before they were famous musicians. Each episode features an interview with the mom of a different musical artist and highlights stories of them growing up with videos and pictures from their childhoods. Featured artists include Miranda Lambert, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, and Geddy Lee of Rush. The series is a wonderful reminder that the artists we love weren’t born stars but rather were nurtured and supported by loving parents who pushed them to greatness.

Created by: Howard Schultz

They say that if public speaking makes you nervous, you should picture the crowd naked… well, Dating Naked applies this logic to the nerve-wracking concept of courtship. The series pairs a man and a woman together in an exotic location where they bare it all while new love interests are thrown into the mix to try to win their affection. The nudity gimmick is awkward for a bit, but once you settle in and get to know the contestants, it becomes an intimate dating show that focuses less on the sexual aspect of dating and lets the couples go on cute little excursions where they connect beyond the boobs, butts, and balls.

Created by: Mary-Ellis Bunim, Jonathan Murray

Since the launch of the original competition of MTV in 1998, The Challenge has expanded across the globe to countries like Argentina, Australia, and the UK. Now, after 38 seasons in the US, The Challenge: World Championship takes the best of the best from each of the shows and pits them against one another to see who will be the world champion of the series. Whether you’re a long-time fan of The Challenge from back in the Real World/Road Rules days or you’re jumping in for the first time, you’re gonna love this wild ride filled with backbreaking physical challenges, heart-pumping stunts, and big, chaotic clashes between even bigger personalities.

Created by: Jeff Gaspin, Gay Rosenthal

Seven years after VH-1 ended the original series, Paramount has revived one of the best music documentary shows to ever grace our televisions. Behind the Music has been a staple for music lovers who crave every morsel of knowledge about their favorite bands and musical artists, providing in-depth breakdowns of their career highs and lows accompanied by first-hand accounts and top-tier research. The revival maintains the same level of professionalism and finely crafted storytelling for the new subjects of each episode and even takes the time to remaster some old favorites. Anyone looking to plunge into music history will find this show to be their jam!

Executive Producers: Alex Ferrer, Susan Zirinsky, Ted Eccles

Whistleblower is a true crime series that showcases real stories of people who saw corruption, fraud, and injuries taking place in the shadows and stood up to expose it to the light of day. Each episode features a new story following the person who risked their lives and livelihoods to fight against large corporations by creating paper trails, working with law enforcement, and going undercover to take down these big operations. This series is a wonderfully inspiring account of people willing to fight for justice at the expense of their own well-being and gives hope in a world that can often feel hopeless.