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Book of the week

Cue the sun! : the invention of reality TV

By Emily Nussbaum

"The rollicking saga of reality television -- an ambitious cultural history of America's most influential, most divisive artistic phenomenon, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker writer. 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, The...

Last updated 04/30/2025 by S. Wilson
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University Archives & Digital Special Collections

Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection: Granville A. Richardson
Dichotomy: School of Architecture Student Journal
Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection: 1
University of Detroit Chorus Collection: Halloween 1962
University of Detroit Football Collection: University of Detroit vs. Villanova Program
University of Detroit Football Collection: University of Detroit vs. Marquette University Program
University of Detroit Yearbook Collection: 1951 Tower
Maurice Greenia, Jr. Collections: Poetic Express Volume 10 Number 7
University of Detroit Chorus Collection
University of Detroit Chorus Collection: Tawas
University of Detroit Football Collection: University of Detroit vs. University of Wichita Program
Dichotomy: School of Architecture Student Journal
Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection: William A. Amberg
Dichotomy: School of Architecture Student Journal
Maurice Greenia, Jr. Collections: Poetic Express Volume 14 Number 7
University of Detroit Yearbook Collection: The Red and White 1924
University of Detroit Yearbook Collection: The Tower '41
Maurice Greenia, Jr. Collections: Sneaky Beast

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