
There's a wonderful YouTube channel I've discovered recently.
It's called MTV Vault, and as the youngest child in my family, at 20 years old, I feel like I can finally get in on the joke.
From America's Next Top Model to Room Raiders, reality TV aimed at teens in the early 2000s just hit different. (Meaning it was often rogue... and slightly problematic).
But enough of that! Because this week, MTV Vault introduced me to a little old show called Parental Control and we really need to talk about it, thank you.
Side note: Check out the trailer for Room Raiders. Post continues below.
In essence, Parental Control invites parents who hate (and I don't use that word lightly) their child's partner to select two people for their son or daughter to go on a date with.
Then the child picks whether they'd like to continue dating their current partner, or start a new relationship with one of the people their parents chose.
And of the few episodes I've binged so far, it seems like their current partner is, well, never really in the running.
Now, it goes without saying, this show is completely scripted.
But indulge me, because this sh*t is insane, and there's a lot to unpack.
I decided to start off with an episode titled: 'Our Son Wants a Girlfriend, Not a Boss' Kirk & Sarah | Parental Control, and let me tell you, it was the perfect introduction to the series.
In this episode, we meet Kirk and his girlfriend-hating parents, Richie and Carol.
"Our son Kirk is the kind of guy that you brag to your friends about," Richie says of his frankly mediocre looking son, "but there's just one problem."
It's here that we learn that Kirk's parents see his girlfriend, Sarah, as a "total snob".
Reasons for their passionate hatred include:
- She says 'like' too much.
- She asks Kirk to take care of her "every need".
- She owns too many shoes (???).
- And she wants to change Kirk's fashion sense. (I would too, girlfriend.)
Kirk, please. Image: MTV.