4 very real stars
Emily Nussbaum writes a well-organized, extensively researched (more than 300 interviews) history of reality TV. She starts from the origins of reality radio.) Some of the shows covered are The Gong, An American Family, America’s Funniest Home Videos, Survivor, Big Brother, The Bachelor and the Apprentice. Detailed sources for each chapter are listed in the extensive bibliography.

The author uses strong imagery when writing. “As reality shows bubbled up like lava, the genre’s undercurrent of exploitation intensified…” “The Bachelor was a more immersive experience, like being trapped inside an erotic terrarium, lulled by floating rose petals. In a world of tacky, The Bachelor was a fancy show.” I hadn’t realized that the producers of The Bachelor encouraged excessive drinking with little food for the contestants. Nussbaum notes that because there were no porta-potties, a few contestants hiked up their ballgowns and peed on the side of the road.

Reality show editors made “Frankenbites,” using bits of dialog to fabricate entirely new sentences. Because ‘industry standards’ prohibited anyone from writing dialogue, crew members used “manipulation, getting people to say and do things without letting them know you were doing it.” No wonder I am not a big fan of reality TV. I don’t appreciate mean and humiliating.

I learned a lot about the tacky and raunchy genre. “”Casting a reality show had become a science, down to the thick contracts contestants signed, granting editors total control. There were dedicated hotels near the airport where new casts stayed, so they could go through the gauntlet of interviews and psych tests. …Swishy gay men got cast for comedy, or sometimes to ignite a clash with a homophobe. Producers would pick one or two Black players, but not more.”

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I learned a lot from this book. I think some of its attempts at sociology came across heavy-handed, but I still appreciated the context and trajectory and depth of research. Most of my "where are they know" questions were answered. I don't know if it was just because this was an ARC, but there were a lot of editing errors.

This is such a perfectly researched history of the reality television genre. My only gripe is that it isn’t longer. I hope Nussbaum will give us a part 2 in the years to come! If she does, I will be ready for it!

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

"Cue the Sun!" is a fascinating deep dive into the rise of reality television, exploring its origins and how it transformed media. Nussbaum’s research is impressively thorough, offering intriguing behind-the-scenes details on iconic shows like Survivor, The Real World, and The Apprentice. I found myself hooked, learning new things about familiar programs and even discovering how some lesser-known shows helped shape the genre. While the first half is packed with groundbreaking insights, the second half does get bogged down by repetitive details, but overall, it’s an eye-opening chronicle of how reality TV became the cultural force it is today. A must-read for any media enthusiast!

Cue the Sun! is an exhaustive and mostly fun ride through the history of reality TV. My favorite parts of the book were the beginning, especially the sections about reality on the radio and the transition to early TV. I did learn some new tidbits about contemporary reality TV (like why Big Brother is such a hit in Europe and an afterthought in the US), and I liked the few deep dives that Nussbaum did on Survivor and similarly huge shows. But the "exhaustive" adjective really does apply here: Nussbaum goes so into detail on all of the people involved in each show that it's easy to get overwhelmed as she jumps from topic to topic. For that reason, the latter half of the book suffers, and it doesn't feel like the book really has a thesis by the time you get to the end. Does it have to have a thesis? No, but ending with The Apprentice would suggest that you need one.

Despite all of this, the subject matter is so fascinating that this is a fun read. I'd recommend it for your next vacation, maybe to put you to sleep on the plane and then to give you conversation topics at the pool.

As someone who adores any form of reality television, I was so excited for Emily Nussbaum's Cue the Sun! to help tell me the history of the genre. While I really enjoy how in-depth Nussbaum's research takes the reader into how and why the genre was created, the first few chapters are a slog to get through. I didn't care as much about the history of reality television game shows or hidden camera shows or the stories of the lives of the founders of those shows.

It starts to become better closer to the new age of reality television starting with The Real World and going into Survivor and other reality competition shows, but the first quarter of the book is hard to get into.

Emily Nussbaum knows how to write TV. I don't watch many reality tv shows but I was endlessly invest in this book.

TL;DR: Nussbaum continues to deliver as one of my favorite authors writing about television today. And fans of reality tv will LOVE this book. As someone who grew up on a diet of THE REAL WORLD and SURVIVOR, this was an excellent behind-the-scenes look at some of my favorite tv shows.

Nussbaum is a genius and I always love hearing her takes. This book is no different! I forgot about so many of the early reality shows and it was fascinating to think about them in relation to the current state of media and online culture. This is a must read!

I loved this one so much! I actually ended up listening to the audiobook version, as it was the perfect choice for a long road trip. I am a reality TV fan, and I was in my early-mid 20s when the real current boom began. I'm still a Bachelor/Survivor viewer, so it was extremely fascinating to see the true origins of both of those shows. And that these shows didn't just pop up out of nowhere, fully formed. It is informative, interesting, and it doesn't make me feel old or stupid as a reality TV viewer :)

Many thanks to Random House and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A non-fiction book recounting the history and evolvement of reality TV? Sign me up!

Emily Nussbaum wove a very interesting and informative tale of all of the ins and outs of reality television. From the inception of reality programming on the radio to the powerhouse that reality TV became, Nussbaum takes a great approach to filling the reader in on all the details. I thought it was a great strategy to tell the story by time periods and/or decades so that the book naturally evolved and kept building up from decade to decade. I learned so much that I didn't know about from the "early days" of reality programming and how they contributed and shaped what would become modern reality TV. I also truly loved reading about all of the behind the scenes details that I never knew about of early reality shows like "The Real World" and "Survivor" that I watched during their very first seasons when I was a teenager. The nostalgia combined with the informative nature of the book combined for a compelling, educational and fascinating read about the rise of reality TV!

So Emily Nussbaum won a Pulitzer Prize, and not for writing books but television criticism. That seems like an easy job to me but I don’t even have cable TV. Just stop watching it.

The book covers the history of reality TV shows, which started with Candid Camera and antagonist style of filming that was perfected by Sacha Baron Cohen. The problem for me with this book I don’t watch reality TV. Although Chuck Barris’ story is interesting just because he is such a strange person (see the film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), I have never had an attention span for this genre. Not Survivor, not The Housewives, not the Kardashians. If it’s your favorite entertainment then you will probably enjoy the book.

I read this over the course of just a couple days and have recommended it to everyone since I finished it. Nussbaum nailed both a super readable nonfiction style and mixing in a super well-researched wealth of information.

As a recent lover of the genre, who grew up steeped in the stigma, I really loved this historical look at the evolution and cultural impact of what we know today as reality tv. I've read a lot of the newer books on the genre, especially those on the Bachelor universe, but Cue the Sun stands out amongst those tomes for its thorough examination of how reality tv came to be, the forces that drive it and the ways in which it reflects our society.

Would recommend for fans of…
📺 Reality TV
📺 Television history
📺 Social commentary

Emily Nussbaum is one of my favorite entertainment journalists and I’m not kidding when I say that I’ve been waiting forever for her to write this book!!!! Seriously, I remember her tweeting about it in 2019 and then being devastated when I realized it would be years before I could read this book.

The premise is simple as Nussbaum chronicles the history of reality TV starting from the early days of game shows and ending with the present day boom of docusoaps and dating competition series. She provides broad context about the genre in general, but also includes in-depth chapters covering specific franchises like Survivor, The Bachelor, and Big Brother. It’s incredibly informative, but never veers into dry textbook territory. In other words, it’s the perfect nonfiction read.

My favorite thing about this book is how Nussbaum treats the genre. It’s easy to tell from her writing that she’s a fan. She never discounts it, and instead works to emphasize just how much of an impact reality TV has had on society and culture, which I appreciated as a massive fan myself.

Whether you’re an obsessive Love Island viewer or you’ve just wondered what the appeal of Vanderpump Rules is, you need to add this to your TBR immediately!

Cue the Sun is available now. Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you’re like me, you probably never thought you’d find yourself engrossed in a book about reality TV. Yet, here we are, and Emily Nussbaum has somehow managed to turn what could have been a deep dive into the shallow end of television into a fascinating page-turner.

I’ll be honest: After reading "Cue the Sun!," I now have a full-blown literary crush on Nussbaum. Her ability to make even the most mundane aspects of reality TV interesting is nothing short of magic. Whether she’s explaining the rise of "Cops" or taking us through the history of “The Bachelor” it’s hard not to be drawn in, even if you’re not particularly excited about the subject matter.

Nussbaum’s book is essentially a time capsule of reality TV, tracing its journey from cultural pariah to a staple of modern media. It’s wild to think that reality TV was once considered the outcast of the TV world, and now, we've elected reality TV stars as presidents. Reality TV itself is an ever-shifting medium with no clear end in sight, and Nussbaum captures that sense of perpetual motion beautifully.

For anyone with even a minor interest in reality TV—be it "Survivor," the Bravo Network, or those cringe-worthy early game shows—this book is a must-read. It’s smart, engaging, and will likely leave you re-evaluating how you view those late-night reality TV marathons. Who knew the origins of trash TV could be so enlightening?

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this advanced reader's copy in exchange for a thoughtful and honest review.

Cue the Sun! was a really interesting read on reality television. I thought the author was very thorough but still kept me engaged with the writing.

An utterly absorbing look at the history of reality television, Emily Nussbaum peels back the curtain on what we, as television viewers, see to reveal a juicy world of behind-the-scenes drama, badly behaving producers, and oft-mistreated stars. I was interested in, and looking forward to reading, this book, but I was quickly hooked (far beyond my expectations). Nussbaum's talented reporting is balanced by her trademark wit and prose, and she has gifted us with the definitive tell-all I never realized this genre needed.

Cue the Sun is a book that is an entertaining and enlightening read. I loved the discussions about how early reality television started and the concept that since media was created, people just enjoyed stories about other people even if they were sensationalized. I think it shows that while reality television can be decisive, it is something that helps people feel like they are part of a community. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be recommending it to others.

Emily Nussbaum's "Cue the Sun!" really is the most comprehensive history of reality television that I have ever read and that may be on shelves today. Nussbaum takes the reader back decades to the mid-twentieth century and explains how the nascent period of reality programming set the stage for a cultural shift from modest to anything goes. She discusses the beginnings of major tv studios investing large amounts of money to document the lives of those who are both the same and more outrageous than us, especially if it exposes people at their low points. The book ends with how the Mark Burnett empire gave the unfortunate rise to a maniacal, washed-up businessman who has shifted the political landscape. It is clear that tons of research went into this book, but despite how much cultural history is presented here, the book felt really long at times. Still, I'm glad I read "Cue the Sun!" and recommend it.