Catfish: The TV Show is over and that has us wondering about the future of broadcast television. Earlier this week, Variety reported that MTV was choosing to let Catfish go out to pasture. The beloved reality dating series chronicled different hopefuls looking for love and getting fooled by faceless people on the Internet that they mistakenly trusted. For so many seasons on the basic cable network, fans were tuned-in to see Nav Schulman and the rest of the crew uncover the truth about long term relationships.
One of the funniest things about Catfish: The TV Show is how tightly the concept is married to the rise of cable TV networks in the early 2000s. Catfish: The TV Show comes along at a time when things were getting ready to kick into overdrive over on MTV. In the late Aughts, Jersey Shore is cresting, True Life is having extended day in the sun due to more people never having access to the network time up while favorites like Real World and Road Rules come to define the reality component of America’s entertainment appetite. It’s not hyperbole to say that this is a perfect storm for everyone involved.
