MTV
23 shows, 23 sequences, oldest first.
3 of these moved between networks during their run and appear under each one.
1 sequenceMTV Unplugged
1989–MTVDocumentary
Sixteen seconds and an acoustic guitar — a format whose whole argument is in the title card.
- Season 1
1 sequenceÆon Flux
1991–1995MTVAnimation
Peter Chung's assassin, drawn in a style nothing else on television had, and killed off at the end of most early episodes.
- Season 1
1 sequenceThe Real World
1992–2019MTVDocumentary
"This is the true story of seven strangers" — the narration that invented the reality format, and the one every parody since has copied.
- Season 1
1 sequenceBeavis and Butt-Head
1993–MTVAnimation
Two teenagers on a sofa, and a guitar riff played about as well as they would play it.
- Season 1
1 sequenceThe Maxx
1995MTVAnimation
Sam Kieth's comic animated almost panel for panel, about a homeless man who is a superhero in another world.
- Season 1
1 sequenceDaria
1997–2002MTVAnimation
The cast doing ordinary things badly while the lead refuses to participate, over Splendora's 'You're Standing on My Neck'.
- Season 1
1 sequenceCelebrity Deathmatch
1998–2007MTVAnimation
Claymation celebrities fighting to the death in a wrestling ring, with commentary played completely straight.
- Season 1
1 sequenceTotal Request Live
1998–2008MTVDocumentary
MTV's daily video countdown, broadcast from a studio above Times Square with the crowd outside kept in shot.
- Season 5
1 sequenceClone High
2002–2023MTV / MaxAnimation
A theme that introduces the entire premise as a shouted list of historical figures, which remains the fastest exposition in animation.
- Season 1
1 sequenceThe Osbournes
2002–2005MTVDocumentary
Ozzy Osbourne singing Crazy Train as a lounge number over a title card done in gold leaf, which is the joke the whole series runs on.
- Season 1
1 sequencePunk'd
2003–2015MTVComedy
Ashton Kutcher's hidden-camera show, and Candid Camera restaged for people with publicists.
- Season 4
1 sequenceSpider-Man: The New Animated Series
2003MTV / YTVAnimation
MTV's computer-animated Spider-Man, set between the first two films and cancelled after thirteen episodes.
- Season 1
1 sequenceViva La Bam
2003–2005MTVComedy
Bam Margera staging elaborate stunts against his own parents, in the Jackass spin-off MTV built around a single house in Pennsylvania.
- Season 1
1 sequenceLaguna Beach
2004–2006MTVDocumentary
Real teenagers filmed like a drama, and the format most of MTV's next decade was built on.
- Season 1
1 sequenceWild 'n Out
2005–MTVComedy
Improvised comedy played as a team sport, and the longest-running programme MTV has.
- Season 16
1 sequenceThe Hills
2006–2010MTVDocumentary
The Laguna Beach spin-off that moved to Los Angeles, and the show that made the word scripted an argument.
- Season 1
1 sequenceJersey Shore
2009–2012MTVDocumentary
Eight housemates in Seaside Heights, and the most watched series MTV has ever had.
- Season 1
1 sequenceRuPaul's Drag Race
2009–Logo / VH1 / MTVDocumentary
Eighteen seconds that get remade every season — new logo treatment, new track, new set of queens.
- Season 1
1 sequenceAwkward
2011–2016MTVComedy
A high-school accident mistaken for a suicide attempt, and the reputation that follows.
- Season 1
1 sequenceGeordie Shore
2011–2025MTVDocumentary
Jersey Shore relocated to Newcastle, and the format that gave British reality its next decade.
- Season 1
1 sequenceTeen Wolf
2011–2017MTVHorror
Transformation rendered as anatomy — claws, teeth and eyes, in a sequence rebuilt several times across six seasons.
- Season 6
1 sequenceFaking It
2014–2016MTVComedy
Two friends mistaken for a couple who decide not to correct anyone.
- Season 1
1 sequenceScream
2015–2016MTVHorror
The film franchise remade as a weekly series, with a new mask of its own.
- Season 1