Should MTV Cancel Buckwild After Shain's Death?

Yesterday morning, the body of Buckwild star Shain Gandee was found inside an SUV alongside two others. The men reportedly went off-roading in the middle of the night, and while we won’t know what happened to them for weeks or even months, early rumors are placing the blame on carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of the exhaust pipe getting engulfed in mud.

Ordinarily, the decision of whether or not to continue a reality show after a death would have more to do with whether everyone else wanted to continue and whether the show would still work without the departed castmember, but in this case, it might wind up having more to do with how much backlash MTV receives. Since practically the first moment the network announced it would replace the departing Jersey Shore, Buckwild has been shrouded in an incredible amount of controversy. Numerous local residents, including a Senator, publically fretted about how the show would likely forward negative stereotypes about West Virginia. The show premiered to very good ratings, but the content itself did little to stifle any of the loud voices. And off the air, well, that’s been the biggest fiasco of all.

In addition to Gandee’s death, another dude who appeared on the show was pulled over for driving under the influence and one of the main female cast members was arrested during a drug raid and charged with multiple felonies.

To be perfectly honest, I thought Buckwild was really entertaining, but maybe it really would be better if MTV bailed right now. The network has already announced it will suspend production in the short-term, but the long-term future is unclear.

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Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.