Remember the early aughts, when weird situations were blamed on Ashton Kutcher pulling the strings on some crazy diabolical joke? Well, it’s 2020, and the mother of all prank shows has returned from TV limbo—“Punk’d” is making a comeback, and this time with Chance the Rapper at the helm.
The TV cult classic’s reboot was teased over the rapper’s Instagram post, with “Punk’d’s” latest unsuspecting celebrity Megan Thee Stallion screaming, “Is that a real gorilla?!”.
This isn’t “Punk’d’s” first take at a comeback, though. Back in 2012, the famous prank series returned for a 9th season featuring the likes of Justin Bieber as a guest host. Making us realize that stars are just like us—you know, prone to an odd situation every now and then—the original show brought us its greatest hits, from usually flawless Beyoncé tipping over a giant Christmas tree, to a panicky Justin Timberlake being investigated by the FBI.
Read more: This year’s reboots and remakes, ranked from least to most necessary
“‘Punk’d’ is one of MTV’s most iconic franchises,” Chance says. “I grew up watching the show so it’s surreal to be in the driver’s seat this time around on Quibi.” While 2020’s version keeps with the times by taking the streaming route, MTV Studios is still backing up the project. Chance’s “Punk’d” will be released in 10-minute segments starting Apr. 6 and will be made available on mobile short-form service Quibi,
Back in 2017, another MTV classic “Cribs” also returned as a short-form series. If MTV’s digging up its archives for reboots, I’m petitioning for a “Pimp My Ride” 2.0 for that extra dose of nostalgia—and hey, maybe they’ll even play music again.
Still from “Punk’d”