{
    "id": 529935,
    "slug": "cue-the-sun-emily-nussbaum",
    "nstc": null,
    "title": "Cue the Sun!",
    "subtitle": null,
    "collection_title": null,
    "collection_part_number": null,
    "annotation": null,
    "description": "he rollicking saga of reality television, a \u201csweeping\u201d (The Washington Post) cultural history of America\u2019s most influential, most divisive artistic phenomenon, from the Pulitzer Prize\u2013winning New Yorker writer\u2014\u201ca must-read for anyone interested in television or popular culture\u201d (NPR)\n\n\u201cPassionate, exquisitely told . . . With muscular prose and an exacting eye for detail . . . [Nussbaum] knits her talents for sharp analysis and telling reportage well.\u201d\u2014The New York Times (Editors\u2019 Choice)\n\nIn development as a docuseries from the studio behind Spencer and Spotlight\n\n**ONE OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE AND THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY\u2019S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR\nA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The Boston Globe\n\nFINALIST FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION**\n\nWho invented reality television, the world\u2019s most dangerous pop-culture genre? And why can\u2019t we look away? In this revelatory, deeply reported account of the rise of \u201cdirty documentary\u201d\u2014from its contentious roots in radio to the ascent of Donald Trump\u2014Emily 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.\n\nIn sharp, absorbing prose, Nussbaum traces the jagged fuses of experimentation that exploded with Survivor at the turn of the millennium. She introduces the genre\u2019s 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\u2014along 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\u2014like the Frankenbite, a deceptive editor\u2019s best friend\u2014and ugly tales of exploitation. But Cue the Sun! also celebrates reality\u2019s peculiar power: a jolt of emotion that could never have come from a script.\n\nWhat happened to the first reality stars, the Louds\u2014and why won\u2019t 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.",
    "imprint": null,
    "language_code": "eng",
    "original_language_code": null,
    "page_count": null,
    "duration_seconds": null,
    "publication_date_first": "2024-01-01",
    "publication_date_latest": "2024-01-01",
    "cover_url": null,
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    "created_at": "2025-09-19T14:41:20+00:00",
    "updated_at": "2025-10-29T00:43:59+00:00",
    "publisher": {
        "id": 4108,
        "slug": "random-house-us",
        "name": "Random House US",
        "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:07:56+00:00",
        "updated_at": "2025-09-19T15:10:09+00:00"
    },
    "contributors": [],
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    "subjects": []
}