Recommendation: Cue the Sun!

In Cue the Sun! — the title’s inspired by the 1998 film The Truman Show — Emily Nussbaum relies upon deep reporting and sharp societal observations to chronicle the creation, development, and explosion of reality TV. She begins with the genre’s humble and unexpected origins (e.g., Candid Microphone and Queen for a Day), details its early flirtations with proper cinéma vérité principles (e.g., An American Family and The Real World), and concludes with its consumption of American culture writ large (e.g., Survivor, The Bachelor, and the rise of Bravo).

What I loved: Nussbaum’s prose is witty, engaging, and conversational, which makes Cue the Sun! read less like a dry business book and more like you’re sitting at a bar while a loquacious friend regales you with sordid tales from their depraved and dysfunctional workplace. Throughout the narrative, Nussbaum does an excellent job contextualizing how the genre evolved in response to specific cultural and technological trends. For example, Bravo leveraged the early success of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy to “gentrify” the genre with campy, stylish shows aimed at the queer community (e.g., Project Runway) and wealthy [White] women (e.g., The Real Housewives franchise). The text is also loaded with pithy insights — every reality show is a “prank” show — and surreal factoids — a bona fide serial killer participated as a contestant on The Dating Game.

I wanted more: Data. Nussbaum’s critical analysis is on point, her reporting is second to none, and she makes a compelling qualitative case for why reality television might be humanity’s most influential form of media. That said, the book features zero tables, charts, or graphs and is generally light on numbers. I’m sure space constraints and style considerations played a role, but I would’ve loved to see some supportive figures (e.g., programs produced and dollars invested by decade, ad-buy rates by year, Nielsen ratings vs. television mainstays such as live sports and prestige TV, etc.).

I wanted less: POTUS 45. The book concludes with the development and production of The Apprentice and Nussbaum argues reality TV had become so influential by the mid-2010s the genre effectively elected a president. As a sane person who has never watched The Apprentice, I have no doubt the show reframed the once and possibly future POTUS as a genius businessman and helped said nepo-duncecap appeal to a significant portion of the electorate. Problem is, it’s impossible to quantify exactly how important the show was to his rise, and IMHO it’s too simplistic to suggest the program was a deciding factor. Decades of unchecked neoliberalism (e.g., trickle-down economics, outsourcing of “blue-collar” jobs, media deregulation, the opioid crisis) and geopolitical dumpster fires (e.g., the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq) have conspired with centuries of misogyny and bigotry to create our cultural, economic, and political malaise.

Final verdict: I really enjoyed this book and strongly recommend it. If you’re strapped for time, or cash, or possess but a cursory interest in reality TV, however, you can ascertain Cue the Sun!’s key takeaways from this excellent Forum interview.