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The Invention of Reality TV
by Emily Nussbaum
Who invented reality television, the world's most dangerous pop-culture genre? And why can't we look away?
In this revelatory, deeply reported account of the rise of "dirty documentary"—from its contentious roots in radio to the ascent of Donald Trump—Emily Nussbaum unearths the origin story of the genre that ate the world, as told through the lively voices of the people who built it. At once gimlet-eyed and empathetic, Cue the Sun! explores the morally charged, funny, and sometimes tragic consequences of the hunt for something real inside something fake.
In sharp, absorbing prose, Nussbaum traces the jagged fuses of experimentation that exploded with Survivor at the turn of the millennium. She introduces the genre's trickster pioneers, from the icy Allen Funt to the shambolic Chuck Barris; Cops auteur John Langley; cynical Bachelor ringmaster Mike Fleiss; and Jon Murray and Mary-Ellis Bunim, the visionaries behind The Real World—along with dozens of stars from An American Family, The Real World, Big Brother, Survivor, and The Bachelor. We learn about the tools of the trade—like the Frankenbite, a deceptive editor's best friend—and ugly tales of exploitation. But Cue the Sun! also celebrates reality's peculiar power: a jolt of emotion that could never have come from a script.
What happened to the first reality stars, the Louds—and why won't they speak to the couple who filmed them? Which serial killer won on The Dating Game? Nussbaum explores reality TV as a strike-breaker, the queer roots of Bravo, the dark truth behind The Apprentice, and more. A shrewd observer who adores television, Nussbaum is the ideal voice for the first substantive history of the genre that, for better or worse, made America what it is today.
"In this boisterous chronicle, Nussbaum charts unscripted television's evolution... . Detailed interviews with cast, crew, and producers provide juicy behind-the-scenes tidbits ... It's a rowdy and unsettling look at how reality conquered television... . Shocking." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A detailed, engaging focus, interpretation, and historical commentary on the evolution and reception of reality shows. A must-read for social scientists and reality TV aficionados." —Library Journal (starred review)
"Nussbaum brings her critical, compassionate, practiced eye to a subject that she infuses with the intensity recognizable to readers of her previous book and her work at the New Yorker. She is adept at drawing connections among pop-culture trends and painting big personalities with a broad stroke—though the text is sometimes overly detailed, which contributes to its prodigious length. A thoughtful and comprehensive history of a TV genre that shows no signs of disappearing." —Kirkus Reviews
"The finest kind of pop-cultural narrative history: inquisitive, discerning, surprising, thoughtful, informative, and lively; underpinned but not weighed down by its serious intent; and written with a storyteller's verve, a journalist's skepticism, a critic's astuteness, and a fan's loving eye." —Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
"Emily Nussbaum is an extraordinary navigator—she makes her way through the wilds of 'dirty documentary' with grace, humor, and an unerring sense of direction. As the first history of a phenomenon too few take seriously, Cue the Sun! is a blast to read whether you're a fan of the reality genre or not." —Ann Powers, author of Traveling
"Revelatory, insightful, precise, dark, and wildly entertaining, Emily Nussbaum's examination of reality television—starting before the term even existed—is also a radical reframing of the entire history of TV. Spanning seventy-five years, it's a thrilling alt-timeline of television as escapism and horror show, as funhouse mirror and forensic dissection, as aspiration and nightmare. This is essential cultural analysis." —Mark Harris, author of Pictures at a Revolution
This information about Cue the Sun! was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Emily Nussbaum is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where she's worked since 2011, originally as the magazine's television critic. In 2016, she won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism. Previously, she was the culture editor for New York, where she created the Approval Matrix. She is the author of I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution, which was a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Clive Thompson, and their two children.
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