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.

A lot of well-trodden territory here, but nothing that I didn’t mind revisiting again. A few surprises but I found myself skimming a bit too if it was a show I didn’t care about.

Well researched, gripping, and thought provoking. Through Nussbaum's lens, it's easy to see how reality TV formed and continued to morph into the giant that it is today, which she manages to represent as both insidious and innovative at the same time. She describes a genre that is influenced by both corporate entities and bottom lines and by artists on the margin, whose work wasn't accessible to the mainstream. Thank you for letting me read this!

Entertaining, well researched investigation on entertaining subject (despite itself), At times it slogged a bit, taking its time, but that is just further evidence of how deeply Nussbaum went into her subject.

Reality TV is a way of life and has been since before many of us can remember. Taking a look at the origins of reality TV to the end of the Apprentice on NBC, Emily Nussbaum offers a glimpse into how this genre has changed the landscape of television. From its origins in radio shows its interesting that we've also started to shift to podcasts for some reality show elements. Whether you love it or hate it, Emily shows reality television is here to stay.

I wish there would have been at look at the boom of reality shows on streaming networks as I think that has changed the landscape of television too. I do understand why she stopped the story where she did. I found my reading experience to be eventful and full of information I didn't know about. It even has led me down a rabbit hole of Survivor, which I haven't watched since its first couple season over 20 years ago. I can see how much research and the number of years Emily spent working on this book.

It's the perfect book for everyone because love it or hate it, you'll definitely learn something about the most popular (current) genre of television.

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

Happy to include this title in “Dive In,” a recent round-up highlighting a variety of summer reads, in the Books section of Canadian national culture and lifestyle magazine Zoomer. (see column and mini-review at link)

Another fabulous book by Pulitzer-Prize winning author Nussbaum. Even if you don't watch the shows she profiled, you'll be mesmerized.

Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum
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. It’s 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, it’s 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 it’s 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!