Cue the Sun!

The Invention of Reality TV

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Pub Date Jun 25 2024 | Archive Date Aug 25 2024

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Description

The rollicking saga of reality television, a “sweeping” (The Washington Post) cultural history of America’s most influential, most divisive artistic phenomenon, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning New Yorker writer—“a must-read for anyone interested in television or popular culture” (NPR)

“Passionate, exquisitely told . . . With muscular prose and an exacting eye for detail . . . [Nussbaum] knits her talents for sharp analysis and telling reportage well.”—The New York Times (Editors’ Choice)

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.
The rollicking saga of reality television, a “sweeping” (The Washington Post) cultural history of America’s most influential, most divisive artistic phenomenon, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning New...

Advance Praise

"Only Emily Nussbaum could get me to read, and love, a book about reality TV rather than just watch it. Cue the Sun! somehow manages to be incredibly fun while taking its subject seriously. It is the definitive exploration of the only good and important genre of television. I’m calling it: Emily Nussbaum is the only reality TV judge who matters *bangs gavel*."

—Samantha Irby, author of Wow, No Thank You

“It’s rare for a book to feel alive but this one does. It brims with wonder and wit, with backstage drama and genuine pathos. Nussbaum shows that, behind the lens of reality TV, lies the most fascinating reality of all.”

—David Grann, New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon

“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 thrilling and essential cultural analysis.”

—Mark Harris, author of Pictures at a Revolution

“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


"Only Emily Nussbaum could get me to read, and love, a book about reality TV rather than just watch it. Cue the Sun! somehow manages to be incredibly fun while taking its subject seriously. It is the...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9780525508991
PRICE $30.00 (USD)
PAGES 448

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