Of Recent Vintage: Bully Beatdown (2009)

It was 2009. Mixed martial arts (MMA) was hotter than ever, with a reality competition show, The Ultimate Fighter, airing at the time on Spike TV (now Paramount Network; the series would later move to FS1 to finish its run). Empty-V, which had completely sold out its original mission statement as a music channel after nearly 30 years on the air in favor of spamming house produced reality shows into the ground, and had ended its association with the WWE a few years earlier, two years before Spike did, wanted back in the fight game.

Producer Mark Burnett (Survivor) gave them their ticket back in with the MMA-themed Bully Beatdown, which ran for 3 8-episode seasons (2009-12). The series aired in primetime as well as daytime repeats on weekends. MMA fighter Jason "Mayhem" Miller was the series host, and also stepped into the octagon in the season 3 opener. No major names from the MMA world, save maybe for Eddie Alvarez and former NFL player Brian Westbrook, fought for the bullied, usually teens and young adults.

Let's take a look at a sample with Alvarez:



Of course, Miller, and likely by extension, Burnett, had to deal with accusations that the show was fake. There are people who wished the series lasted longer than it did, but Empty-V suits were more interested in shows like Jersey Shore and its ilk, which were making them more money.

Rating: A.