Today (March 15) is Bret Michaels’ birthday, and in addition to gifting us with some of the catchiest rock songs of the 1980s with Poison, Michaels also gave us one of the best pop culture gifts of the 2000s with the VH1 reality series Rock of Love.
Truth be told, VH1 was kind of a juggernaut of reality television in the 2000s. There was a show for everyone, and if we’re all completely honest, you definitely watched more than one series. In honor of Michaels’ birthday, here are five VH1 reality shows you definitely watched.
Rock of Love
The show lasted for three seasons and was a delightful hot mess every episode.
The Surreal Life
This show was the one that really got the ball rolling for VH1’s heavy reality programming of the 2000s. It lasted six seasons, and each cast was more bizarre than the next. (Seriously…go back and look at each cast listing. Talk about surreal!)
Flavor of Love
One of many spinoffs from The Surreal Life, Flavor of Love happened when Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielsen didn’t work out on their own spinoff Strange Love…and it was strange.
My Fair Brady
We told you there were many spinoffs from The Surreal Life! This one chronicled the relationship of Christopher Knight (Peter Brady from The Brady Bunch) and America’s Next Top Model winner Adrianne Curry who met when they were cast members on The Surreal Life.
Celebrity Fit Club
They really had a loose definition of celebrity on this show, but it was still a compelling watch, and it’s where we learn just how much of a jerk Dustin Diamond (Screech from Saved By The Bell) really is.
Erica Banas is a rock/classic rock blogger who once did a presentation in a college public speaking course about why The Rolling Stones were better than The Beatles. (She received an A.)