The Best TV Shows on MTV

Every MTV Show Ranked From Best To Worst

As of September 2025, our compilation of MTV’s top-rated series boasts over 20 unique shows. For top-tier entertainment, MTV delivered MTV Video Music Awards and Æon Flux in 1984 and 1991. A broadcaster of distinction, MTV has aired more than 20 shows between 1984 and 2018.

  • Teen Wolf
    Teen Wolf (2011)8.5

    Scott McCall, a high school student living in the town of Beacon Hills has his life drastically changed when he's bitten by a werewolf, becoming one himself. He must henceforth learn to balance his problematic new identity with his day-to-day teenage life. The following characters are instrumental to his struggle: Stiles, his best friend; Allison, his love interest who comes from a family of werewolf hunters; and Derek, a mysterious werewolf with a dark past. Throughout the series, he strives to keep his loved ones safe while maintaining normal relationships with them.

  • Daria
    Daria (1997)8.2

    After moving to a new town with her stressed-out parents and relentlessly popular little sister, Daria uses her acerbic wit and keen powers of observation to contend with the mind-numbingly ridiculous world of Lawndale High.

  • Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out
    Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out (2005)8.1

    Nick Cannon and an A-list celebrity lead a team of improv comedians as they compete against each other.

  • MTV Video Music Awards
    MTV Video Music Awards (1984)7.7

    An annual award ceremony presented by MTV to honor the best in the music video medium.

  • Æon Flux
    Æon Flux (1991)7.6

    Æon Flux is set in a bizarre, dystopian future world. The title character is a tall, leather-clad secret agent from the nation of Monica, skilled in assassination and acrobatics. Her mission is to infiltrate the strongholds of the neighboring country of Bregna, which is led by her sometimes-nemesis and sometimes-lover Trevor Goodchild. Monica represents a dynamic anarchist society, while Bregna embodies a police state.

  • Undressed
    Undressed (1999)7.5

    A peek behind closed doors at the intricacies of modern relationships. Each episode features three different fictional stories and follows various characters to see what happened during their most intimate moments. No subject is too taboo. All the stories have one very important thing in common, though: someone inevitably gets undressed.

  • RuPaul's Drag Race
    RuPaul's Drag Race (2009)7.5

    Join RuPaul, the world's most famous drag queen, as the host, mentor and judge for the ultimate in drag queen competitions. The top drag queens in the U.S. will vie for drag stardom as RuPaul, in full glamazon drag, will reign supreme in all judging and eliminations while helping guide the contestants as they prepare for each challenge.

  • Awkward.
    Awkward. (2011)7.4

    An irreverent look at the conflict, chaos and humor that defines teenage life through the eyes of 15-year-old Jenna Hamilton whose life begins to change when a simple accident becomes an epic misunderstanding and is blown way out of proportion. Narration in the first-person voice of Jenna's blog posts captures the humor within the struggles and experiences everyone can relate to from their formative years.

  • The Challenge
    The Challenge (1998)7.3

    Each Challenge pits numerous cast members from past seasons of reality shows against each other, dividing them into two separate teams according to different criteria, such as gender, which show they first appeared on, whether or not they're veterans or rookies on the show, etc. The two teams compete in numerous missions in order to win prizes and advance in the overall game.

  • Jersey Shore: Family Vacation
    Jersey Shore: Family Vacation (2018)7.2

    The cast of Jersey Shore swore they would always do a vacation together. Now, five years, five kids, three marriages, and who knows how many GTL sessions later, the gang is back together and on vacation in a swanky house in Miami Beach.

  • Beavis and Butt-Head
    Beavis and Butt-Head (1993)7.1

    Two dimwitted teenagers discuss TV, heavy-metal music, nachos, and trying to "score with chicks." When the duo aren't sitting on the couch, they try to pick up girls at the local convenience store, slack off at school, or wreak havoc while working at a burger joint.

  • The Shannara Chronicles
    The Shannara Chronicles (2016)7.0

    A young Healer armed with an unpredictable magic guides a runaway Elf in her perilous quest to save the peoples of the Four Lands from an age-old Demon scourge.

  • Road Rules
    Road Rules (1995)6.8

    "Road Rules" documents the lives of five to six strangers as a mysterious voice sends them across various regions of the world, tackling a series of adventures. If they can successfully make it to the end of the adventure, they will receive a handsome reward.

  • Ridiculousness
    Ridiculousness (2011)6.8

    Rob Dyrdek takes the funniest amateur internet videos and builds them into an episode of edgy, funny, and most importantly, timeless television.

  • RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked
    RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked (2010)6.2

    The access-all-areas pass to the drama that you didn't see on the runway—the backstage bitchiness, the catfights, the struggles, the tears and the secrets. See what happens behind the scenes of RuPaul's Drag Race when the queens let their tucks breathe... and let their emotions flow.

  • The Real World
    The Real World (1992)5.7

    Each year, seven strangers in their twenties, from different backgrounds and countries, are chosen to come live together in a major city.

  • WWE Heat
    WWE Heat (1998)5.1

    Feel the heat of the Attitude Era as WWE Superstars such as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock compete in exclusive matches.

  • TRL
    TRL (1998)5.1

    Total Request Live was a television series on MTV that featured popular music videos. TRL was MTV's prime outlet for music videos as the network continued to concentrate on reality-based programming. In addition to music videos, TRL featured daily guests. The show was a popular promotion tool used by musicians, actors, and other celebrities to promote their newest works to the show's target teen demographic. TRL played the top ten most requested videos of the day, as requested by viewers who voted online for their favorite video. The countdown started with the tenth most requested video and ended with the most requested. As of October 22, 2007, TRL's countdown was based on votes, charts, ringtones, download, radio airplay, and streams, meaning that the most user requested video might not have been the number 1 video. The show generally aired Monday through Thursday for one hour, though the scheduling and length of the show fluctuated over the years. Despite the word "Live" in the title of the show, many episodes were actually pre-recorded. It was announced on September 15, 2008 that TRL would be shut down and replaced with FNMTV. The special three-hour finale aired on November 16, 2008, at 8 p.m.

  • Punk'd
    Punk'd (2003)5.0

    What happens when the biggest stars in the world get too high on the Hollywood hog? When their bank accounts start swelling bigger than their heads? Master prankster Ashton Kutcher is there to punk 'em down to earth.

  • Jersey Shore
    Jersey Shore (2009)4.3

    Eight people live together as housemates in a vacation home, party, work in the area and compete with each other to win the grand prize.