<\/p>\n
When MTV Cribs<\/em> premiered 25 years ago, it promised to pull back the curtain on celebrity homes. The series followed in the mold of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous<\/em>, which aired from the mid-1980s to the mid-\u201990s and showcased how the wealthy lived. (It wished its viewers \u201cchampagne wishes and caviar dreams.<\/em>\u201d) But MTV\u2019s take had a distinctly informal air: A star welcomed viewers at the front door, then leisurely steered them from room to room, their chatter directed toward a Steadicam-secured camera. These extravagant, often eccentric displays involved living-room jacuzzis, shag carpets, and costly collections\u2014of lingerie, limited-edition sneakers, even tropical fish. The tours also featured more ordinary domestic details, such as unmade beds and the half-eaten contents of refrigerators. The goal, as David Sirulnick, one of the show\u2019s executive producers, said in a 2002 interview<\/a>, was to demonstrate that celebrities were \u201cjust people like everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n Sticking to this motto helped Cribs <\/em>walk the line between being relatable and aspirational\u2014an effort that, 25 years later, in an era of hyper-wealth on television<\/a>, seems almost quaint. Tales of wish fulfillment functioned accordingly: Usher bought the music producer L. A. Reid\u2019s old house, which he\u2019d admired as a child, and Blink-182\u2019s Travis Barker described how he had imagined his pool\u2014embellished with caves and a water slide\u2014in his youth. Through these stories, audiences learned to view extravagant dwellings as not just emblems of individual success but portals into a fantasy life. They served as evidence that, with enough hard work and talent, anyone could achieve their own version of the residential American dream. Across 17 seasons and a handful of spin-offs, Cribs<\/em> introduced a voyeuristic quality to the now-pervasive \u201clifestyle as entertainment\u201d genre.<\/p>\n