Entertainment

'Whose Line Is It Anyway' Returns Tonight: What Other Early 2000s Series Should Be Revived?

Sorry, 1990s nostalgia was soooo 2012. Instead, this year, we're finding ourselves embracing the early 2000s, which brought us Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the improv game show headed back to TV Tuesday with a special revival. But Whose Line — also known as the only TV show you could ever truly enjoy with your grandmother — is not the only 2000s series that needed comeback. Read on for some of the early decade's most under-appreciated game shows that need to return to TV faster than you can say "low-waisted jeans."

by Kate Ward

The 2000s are the new 1990s

Sorry, 1990s nostalgia was soooo 2012. Instead, this year, we're finding ourselves embracing the early 2000s, which brought us Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the improv game show headed back to TV Tuesday with a special revival. But Whose Line — also known as the only TV show you could ever truly enjoy with your grandmother — is not the only 2000s series that needed comeback. Read on for some of the early decade's most under-appreciated game shows that need to return to TV faster than you can say "low-waisted jeans."

'Next'

The MTV dating series was brilliant — bachelor and bachelorettes were approached one-by-one by a group of young women on a bus hoping to woo them. As soon as the episode's main subject tired of one of his dates, he'd deliver an emphatic "Next" and move on to, well, the next. But there truly was no greater Schadenfreude than watching the subject "Next" a date who wasn't conventionally pretty, only to discover his final option was so, so much worse. Can we start up the Next bus' engine once again?

'The Weakest Link'

A harsh female host lambasting contestants for their rampant stupidity? Who could ask for anything more? Of course, we would ask for a slight tweak — why bring back host Anne Robinson when the master of bitchface, Pete Campbell, is already heading to California?

'The Big Moment'

An unwatched gem, The Big Moment — hosted by Whose Line alum Brad Sherwood — gave contestants one week to learn a random skill (unicycling on a tightrope, learning the first 100 digits of Pi, etc.) and perform it in front of a live studio audience. Watching each contestant work was surprisingly inspiring — and made you wish you could deliver on your own personal goal to get off the couch and read one book in one week. (Nope, watching The Big Moment!)

Carlo Allegri/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

'The World Series of Pop Culture'

Because not only was it so much fun to realize you're not alone in your encyclopedic knowledge of American Idol, but because your No. 1 obtainable celebrity crush, Pat Kiernan, served as host.

'Cribs'

Okay, so it's not a game show. But we've gone years now without knowing what Ryan Gosling's house looks like, and that needs to be fixed.

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