MTV has had its share of reality TV flops, and among them is Wilmer Valderrama’s short lived trash talking competition show Yo Mama. The star of That 70s Show would tour the country and invite contestants onto the show, who would then engage in a rap battle style “joke off” where they would go back and forth trading roasts and jabs against each other, the focus being on “Yo Mama” jokes, of course. The show endured a brief hype when it first aired, but it soon flopped and barely squeaked past 3 seasons in the year and a half that it originally aired.

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The show aired shortly after Ashton Kutcher’s immensely popular hidden camera prank show Punk'd came to its conclusion, so MTV must have thought that another show by another member of the That 70s Show cast was needed to fill the void. Their viewers disagreed.

6 'Yo Momma' Lasted 3 Seasons

The show was filmed from April 2006 to December 2007, which resulted in 3 seasons worth of material. The show had plenty going for it: a celebrity host, guest appearances by rappers as judges and commentators, and a theme song recorded by legendary rap group The Pharcyde. 64 episodes were produced in total.

5 'Yo Momma' Got Mixed Reviews

While fans of the show, especially young people, gave it high marks for being fun and entertaining, parents were not exactly excited that their kids were being taught how to insult and bully each other. Common Sense Media, a parent-led media-watchdog group, panned the show, giving only 1 star. It has an incredibly low IMDB score as well, a measly 4.3 out of 10, and a pathetic 2-star rating. So then why did a show with such a playful concept do so poorly? Why didn’t it generate the same kind of excitement that Punk’d had?

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4 Fans Got Tired Of The 'Yo Momma' Concept Quickly

Well, a simple explanation for the show's ultimate failure was the fact that it was cashing in on a fad, and fads change faster than showrunners can predict. "Yo Momma" jabs and roasts were a trend among teens and young people when the show was made in the mid to late 00s, but as the audience matured, so did their taste in humor. It wasn’t long before Yo Momma competitions were as played out and as tired as Chuck Norris references, another popular social fad of the 00s.

3 'Yo Momma' Tried Too Hard To Cash In On ‘Punk’d’

Just because one actor from That 70s Show had a good idea for a show, does not mean they all had good ideas. MTV seemed to think that the popularity of Punkd, the name recognition of Wilmer Valderrama, and his proximity to Ashton Kutcher, were all enough to make the show work. It wasn’t. It was also very blatant that the network was trying to cash in on Ashton Kutcher’s Punk’d clout by choosing another That 70s Show cast member to be a showrunner. Then again, subtly was never MTVs strength when it came to their reality shows, which are often called “corny” and “over the top” by critics.

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2 'Yo Momma' Was Accused Of Encouraging Bullying

In addition to the show's quickly tiring concept and poor reviews, some were not happy about a show that was teaching kids how to insult one another. As the end of the early 2000s approached, anti-bullying campaigns began to pick up steam, and those campaigns carried on well throughout the 2010s. Although the show was meant to be a playful roast between the competitors, the playfulness was lost on some people and some believed the show was encouraging gaslighting in a way. For example, some thought it encouraged people to make horribly mean comments as long as they pretend it’s all in the spirit of a playful joke. This kind of humor easily can lead to gaslighting individuals who were not exactly interested in trading jabs.

1 The Ratings For 'Yo Momma' Were Never As Good As For 'Punk'd' Or 'Pimp My Ride'

The mid to late 00s was the heyday of MTV's corny reality TV offerings. Next, Pimp My Ride, and Punk’d were all huge hits with viewers. Although Yo Momma had a decent audience when it first aired, it never received the level of public hype that revolved around shows like Pimp My Ride or Punk’d, both of which were not just hits, but cultural sensations that were referenced and parodied in several other shows and films. Ask any diehard MTV fan about Punk’d and they will talk your ear off, ask them about Yo Momma, and they will probably need to be reminded that Wilmer Valderrama once had another show.

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