Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV

I’ve been a longtime fan of Nussbaum’s 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.

Stay tuned, just getting into it….it’s wordy but interesting.

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.

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.

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.”

Nussbaum did an absolutely marvelous Job melting thoroughly researched subject with anecdotes and private, behind-the-scenes tales, all the while peppering in exclusive soundbites she garnered during her interview process. If you absolutely love reality television, this is a must read because it takes you to places you never realized existed, and it ties together shows that you had no idea were related. If you hate reality TV, well then why in the world would you research this book and read my review? Truth be told, if you made it this far, you don't hate reality TV, it is your secret guilty pleasure; this is the book for you!

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 off—the words she stresses—are too-often wrong to my ear. I don’t want to hear a narrator’s personality in a non-fiction book.

An academic examination of reality tv and its ripple effects; pacey, entertaining, and full of fascinating anecdotes, well worth the time.