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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.
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Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A detailed entertaining history
Review: Iâve been a longtime fan of Nussbaumâs work, and I was really looking forward to this book. She did not disappoint. A detailed, thoughtful critique of a controversial genre of television. At the end of the day however, the book tended to reinforce, rather than challenge, my belief that reality television is a morally and intellectually bankrupt medium created for the tastes of the morally and intellectually bankrupt.
Reviewer: Deborah Currie
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Delivery was super fast!
Review: Stay tuned, just getting into itâ¦.itâs wordy but interesting.
Reviewer: DCThunder
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Interesting History of Realty TV, then Succumbs to TDS
Review: I have long been interested in “reality TV” and this book provides a very good overview of the early days of the genre, tracing it all the way back to its origins on radio in the late 1940s. All of this was very interesting, and I learned a lot. I have memories of watching “Queen for a Day” when home from school sick and I was a big “The Gong Show” fan during its hey-day. The background on “An American Family” and “The Real World” was also fascinating. I’m a huge “Survivor” fan and reading again about the Borneo season was like a return to Summer 2000. Even the takedowns of the Bravo! shows and the “Bachelor/Bachelorette” were well done.But all through the early parts of the book, there was foreshadowing about the last chapter on “The Apprentice” and Donald Trump. And Ms. Nussbaum certainly lived up to the foreshadowing with that chapter. The TDS showed as brightly as the “cued Sun” of her title. But reading her Wiki bio, it couldn’t have been anything else.While a chapter on “The Apprentice” and Mr. Trump is appropriate for a book of this type, I felt it diminished the overall product to be as much of a polemic as it was.I read the entire book before I realized that the author was the TV critic for “The New Yorker” although I did say to myself at several points that the book read like it was a LOOOONG New Yorker article. So I’m happy to see that my belief was justified.I’d have like to read more about other reality TV genres such as the entire HGTV empire or shows such as “Trading Spaces”. A chapter on such shows as “Deadliest Catch” or the entire set of Discovery Network shows set in Alaska would have been appreciated. But perhaps shows set in Waco, TX or Dutch Harbor, AK is too far afield for the bicoastal elite audience of the author.If you’re interested in how Reality TV became what it is, then read this book, but beware the biases of the author.
Reviewer: P. Golum
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Fabulous, informative read
Review: Cue the Sun is a must read not just for television and reality fans, but for our society as a whole. Intelligent, educational and in impeccable look inside the world of reality television. Highly recommended.
Reviewer: tea lover
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Read it donât listen to it
Review: Emily Nussbaum is, to me, the best TV observer around. This book is both a straight history and a critical appraisal of reality tv. It gets only four stars because I listened to the audiobook. The narrator inflects way too much emotion into the straightforward prose. Her intonation is also offâthe words she stressesâare too-often wrong to my ear. I donât want to hear a narratorâs personality in a non-fiction book.
Reviewer: clevergirl
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Well Researched
Review: From Candid Microphone to The Apprentice, the author has given detailed information about many different reality shows and managed to keep it interesting. This includes both the inspiration behind the shows and a look at behind-the-scenes happenings.I actually found talking about some of them. (Did you know there were reality shows before there was television. Or that the first Bachelorette is still happily married.)Perfect book for a trivia lover or anyone who just likes to know more about things.Spoiler; The last chapter about Donald Trump really has nothing good to say about him, so some might want to skip that chapter.(Thanks to GoodReads for my copy of this book.)
Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Whether you love or hate reality TV, you will love this book!
Review: If you, like myself, grew up in the 90s and early aughts, reality tv has been playing in the background on that chunky box of a television our entire lives. Itâs the tv genre everyone loves to hate and hates to love.In Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum, we are walked through the history of reality television, from the Newlywed Game all the way to The Real Housewives of whatever city is currently on.Throughout the book, Nussbaum dives into some of our most iconic reality shows chronologically to demonstrate not only how the genre came to be, but how each show shaped the future of television. (All while being the black sheep of the TV world.)For myself, someone who has loved reality tv their whole life while also complaining about it (keeping up the kardashians irks me) this book is everything. Not only is Cue the Sun! packed with information, itâs told like a tell all full of industry gossip. Not only did I gobble this up, I found myself down memory lane watching old favorites like The Real World and Big Brother. Say what you will about reality tv, but itâs definitely a cultural time capsule that is readily available to everyone everywhere. It deserves its time in the sun, and luckily for us, Emily Nussbaum shined a light on it for us!
Reviewer: Harriet Mearns-Thomas
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: An academic examination of reality tv and its ripple effects; pacey, entertaining, and full of fascinating anecdotes, well worth the time.
