If You Really Knew Me (MTV)

In MTV's docuseries IF YOU REALLY KNEW ME, high school students are asked to step out of their comfort zones and show their peers who they really are as part of an intensive, school-sponsored "Challenge Day" program that puts a whole new spin on reality TV. Each episode focuses on a different school's Challenge Day experience and shadows five diverse students as they go through the emotionally draining but eye-opening process. The result is a heart-wrenching yet ultimately rewarding journey for participants and viewers alike.

Effective without being overly manipulative, If You Really Knew Me is a stand-out series for teens that actually uses the reality genre for good instead of evil -- and that's a welcome change in a world that has too many reality dating shows to count. Even better, it succeeds in staying palatable to a teenage audience that desperately needs its positive takeaways. Here's hoping they eat it up.

Some students spring into action and make concrete plans to make things better at school or at home. But it's hard to see a few newly energized faces come out of the experience with a hearfelt desire to change, only to watch them collide with painful realities that don't quite meet their rosy expectations. For example, when a broken-down girl reaches out to her emotionally distant dad across the dinner table to tell him how much she appreciates him, we want them to embrace and connect. Instead, he looks down awkwardly as she clings to his hand, and we can feel the distance spreading between them.