The reasons behind “Punk’d”’s success on MTV.

MTV’s “Punk’d” was a hidden-camera prank show from early 2000s which earned a huge name for itself in reality television. The pranks featured in it were creative, very elaborately planned and just sometimes went beyond the lines of safety. The show was hosted by Hollywood heartthrob Ashton Kutcher, who already had a huge fan following backing him then. It was an intense show that had everybody entertained and anticipating the next episode. The entire plot with the addition of Ashton Kutcher running out to surprise the pranked celebrity would cheer everyone up. Even when the episode was more on the risky side, it would still end on a fun note with everything done in good spirit. This show captured the real reactions of every pranked celebrity. This had the audience convinced that unlike other shows, it was completely genuine and not scripted. This had people hooked to the series. People would keenly wait to see their favorite artists being featured on it. 

This show was a fan favorite but then lost it’s inherent charm due to it becoming saturated and just a little too well known! Elaborate pranks were bound to get difficult to execute before the people from the industry caught on.

While prank videos are still extremely popular, most of the viewers prefer shorter episodes with them being available on online streaming services like YouTube or Tiktok. Back in the 2000s, reality television was the only source of such entertainment shows and people were sold on it! Now that they have many more options, things are much more complicated, which goes to show why the new season of “Punk’d” did not work out even after featuring flashy celebrities like Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.