You might be familiar with Teens React, the massively popular YouTube channel where today's teens take on issues of the world, and also bizarre trends from the past.
But you may not know that in 2005, MTV helped pioneer the "teens react" format with a one-season wonder reality show, The '70s House.
The show sought to test the limits of young people raised on modern conveniences such as cell phones and laptops by forcing them to "be the most '70s." The catch: the contestants thought they were cast in a Real World-type show.
Comics Natasha Leggero (who played Dawn) and Bil Dwyer (as Bert Van Styles) walked these poor, unlucky millennials through the disco decade.
First, they had to learn the lingo.
Then they had to give up their electronic devices and contemporary beauty products.
And of course they got new threads.
The contestants were not amused.
Then they were trapped through 10 episodes of humiliation. They had to learn the Hustle...
...and were forced to perform it at all hours of the day or face penalties.
And they were only allowed to eat gross, Nixon-era foods.
Fondue? More like fon-don't!
They were not amused.
There was nothing to do in the house except play board games, read old magazines, and experience the world of Pong.
And their only form of communication was — gasp! — a landline!
They were not amused.
And the challenges let the contestants leave the house, but they were not allowed to leave the '70s. There was basketball and dodgeball:
They had to be disco car washers and perform publicly in embarrassing Jackson 5/Osmonds-style coordinating jumpsuits.
They were roller boogie dancers and Tiger Beat models.
And they were contestants in a '70s-style beauty pageant with Erik Estrada.
They were not amused.
Like, at all.
For all that, the "most '70s" contestant won some 2005-era electronics and the new Bug. But was it worth it?
Probably as much as being Gallagher's watermelon.
