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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

Dichotomy: School of Architecture Student Journal
Dichotomy: School of Architecture Student Journal
University of Detroit Yearbook Collection: The Tower 1928
University of Detroit Chorus Collection
University of Detroit Yearbook Collection: The Red and White 1924
University of Detroit Chorus Collection
Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection: William Edenborn
Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection: Robert W.E. Bunsen
Maurice Greenia, Jr. Collections: At Gordon Parks Photo Exhibit
Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection
University of Detroit Football Collection: University of Detroit vs. St. Louis University Program
University of Detroit Chorus Collection: Chorus Party 1964
Dichotomy: School of Architecture Student Journal
Maurice Greenia, Jr. Collections: Taken Aback
University of Detroit Football Collection: University of Detroit vs. Albion College Program
Maurice Greenia, Jr. Collections: Unfriendly Kiss
University of Detroit Yearbook Collection: The Red and White 1925
University of Detroit Football Collection: University of Detroit vs. Michigan State College Program

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