~ Hardcover
~ New Release - 2024
Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV
Unearthing the surprising origin story of the genre that ate the world, Cue the Sun! tells is tale through the lively voices of the people who created it to explore the morally charged, funny, and sometimes tragic consequences of the hunt for something real inside something fake.
An ambitious cultural history, Cue the Sun! is the rollicking saga of reality television (game shows, prank shows, soap operas, and clip shows) through seven tumultuous decades to discover the truth behind America's most influential and most divisive artistic phenomenon.
“Nussbaum serves as a helpful guide to reality TV’s past and present, peppering Cue the Sun! with well-researched details, lively anecdotes, and primary-source accounts of the genre’s checkered development across decades.” -- Los Angeles Review of Books