1.28k reviews for:

Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV

Emily Nussbaum

4.07 AVERAGE

emily_b's review

4.0

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This was my "lunch book" at work -- I slowly made my way through the entire thing over the course of my lunch breaks the past few months. I was fascinated to learn more about the roots of reality television and the transformations it's gone through to be the reality tv we know and love (or love to hate) today.

As a super fan of both Survivor and Big Brother, I only wish the author had gone a bit more in-depth with later seasons, rather than focusing just on the first seasons. While their first seasons were each groundbreaking in their own way, they are so far removed with how the shows look today. It would've been neat to hear more about that evolution. I also wish that The Amazing Race had been more prominent as well, beyond some quick mentions.

This is well worth a read if you are a fan of reality tv. And if you're anything like me, you might end up with a list of vintage or forgotten reality shows that you want to track down and watch -- Murder in Small Town X, I'm looking at you.

grato's review against another edition

2.75

funny informative

highcaliberlady's review

3.75

informative reflective medium-paced

lizreaderhold's review against another edition

3.5

dark informative reflective medium-paced

bronwyn_bryan's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

lorenelizabeth's review

4.0

challenging funny informative slow-paced

bauncehaus's review against another edition

4.0

funny informative reflective medium-paced

yvonne_yvonne's review

4.25

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

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A well organized and thorough history, the genre of reality TV has roots much older than I expected. The writing was slow in some areas, and there are a LOT of names, many people were researched and interviewed for the book. 
Overall an interesting read!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide, Alcohol

agw11588's review

3.75

informative medium-paced

beccazoe3's review against another edition

4.0

informative reflective