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Cue the sun : the invention of reality TV / Emily Nussbaum.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Random House, [2024]Copyright date: ©2024Edition: First editionDescription: xix, 440 pages ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780525508991
  • 0525508996
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Better write that one fast -- Spaghetti against the wall: 1947-1989 -- The reveal: Queen for a Day and Candid Camera -- The gong: the filthy, farkakte Chuck Barris 1970s -- The betrayal: An American Family -- The clip: America's Funniest Home Videos and Cops -- The rev up: 1990-2000 -- The house: The Real World -- The con: the nihilistic Fox '90s -- The game: the invention of Survivor (and Mark Burnett) -- The island: Survivor: Borneo -- The feed: Big Brother -- Cue the sun: 2001-2007(ish) -- The explosion: reality blows up--and becomes industry -- The rose: The Bachelor and Joe Millionaire -- The wink: Bravo and the gentrification of reality TV -- The job: The Apprentice and the end of reality innocence -- Fake it till you make it.
Summary: "From beloved New Yorker TV critic Emily Nussbaum comes a groundbreaking narrative detailing the fights, egos, drama, and future presidents of reality television. Cue the Sun is a rollicking, deeply reported story about how the early reality TV business metastasized into an industry that now dominates entertainment in the United States. Starting in 1948, Nussbaum pulls back the curtain on the cultural meat grinder that created a generation-defining form of entertainment, examining shows from The Real World to Survivor to The Apprentice. Through extensive interviews, Nussbaum follows the reality TV industry from its inception with shows like Candid Camera to its 90s heyday and 00s aftermath. The book dives into some of the industry's most remarkable stories--for instance, the one where a serial killer on the run once appeared on The Dating Game"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 791.456 N975 Processing 33111011479256
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 791.456 N975 Processing 33111011372527
Adult Book Adult Book Northport Library NonFiction 791.456 N975 Processing 33111011163736
Total holds: 4

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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

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.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 399-419) and index.

Better write that one fast -- Spaghetti against the wall: 1947-1989 -- The reveal: Queen for a Day and Candid Camera -- The gong: the filthy, farkakte Chuck Barris 1970s -- The betrayal: An American Family -- The clip: America's Funniest Home Videos and Cops -- The rev up: 1990-2000 -- The house: The Real World -- The con: the nihilistic Fox '90s -- The game: the invention of Survivor (and Mark Burnett) -- The island: Survivor: Borneo -- The feed: Big Brother -- Cue the sun: 2001-2007(ish) -- The explosion: reality blows up--and becomes industry -- The rose: The Bachelor and Joe Millionaire -- The wink: Bravo and the gentrification of reality TV -- The job: The Apprentice and the end of reality innocence -- Fake it till you make it.

"From beloved New Yorker TV critic Emily Nussbaum comes a groundbreaking narrative detailing the fights, egos, drama, and future presidents of reality television. Cue the Sun is a rollicking, deeply reported story about how the early reality TV business metastasized into an industry that now dominates entertainment in the United States. Starting in 1948, Nussbaum pulls back the curtain on the cultural meat grinder that created a generation-defining form of entertainment, examining shows from The Real World to Survivor to The Apprentice. Through extensive interviews, Nussbaum follows the reality TV industry from its inception with shows like Candid Camera to its 90s heyday and 00s aftermath. The book dives into some of the industry's most remarkable stories--for instance, the one where a serial killer on the run once appeared on The Dating Game"-- Provided by publisher.

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