Starred review from April 29, 2024
In this boisterous chronicle, television critic Nussbaum (I Like to Watch) charts unscripted television’s evolution from Candid Camera’s 1948 premier through the first season of The Apprentice in 2003. Shedding light on the genre’s progenitors, Nussbaum argues that the cinema verité PBS documentary series An American Family (1973), which chronicled the foibles of an affluent California family of seven, established the reality soap opera format that MTV’s The Real World (1992–present) later popularized. Nussbaum profiles the “amateur sociologists, gleeful manipulators and shameless voyeurs” who pioneered the genre, describing The Newlywed Game creator Chuck Barris as a braggadocious P.T. Barnum–esque figure with a tenuous allegiance to truth (one of his memoirs implausibly claimed he’d been an assassin for the CIA). Detailed interviews with cast, crew, and producers provide juicy behind-the-scenes tidbits about the making of such shows as Big Brother, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and Survivor, whose inaugural season almost collapsed amid allegations that a camera operator attempted to tip the competition by dropping a Clif Bar for a contestant to find. The most shocking stories reveal the ethically dubious strategies producers use to gin up drama. For instance, one Bachelor producer recalls needling a bachelorette about her eating disorder until she cried, and then editing the footage to “make her look like a hysterical stalker.” It’s a rowdy and unsettling look at how reality conquered television.
September 13, 2024
Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic Nussbaum (I Like To Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution) offers a comprehensive chronological investigation of the evolution of reality television, reaching as far back as radio call-in shows and 1948's Candid Camera. Nussbaum examines reality television's impact on entertainment history from the perspective of industry professionals, divulging the industry's best-kept secrets and analyzing its trends and significant milestones over the years. From the very beginning, with a precarious start in radio and a dramatic climb to popularity with The Real World and Survivor, reality television was always a polarizing form of entertainment. Audiences have been fascinated, even as creators struggled to get the shows into production; the stars indelibly impacted the future of television. Narrator Gabra Zackman skillfully navigates interviews with crew members, producers, and the participants. Her confident, matter-of-fact tone creates an engaging listening experience, making this detailed, descriptive breakdown read like a gossip magazine. VERDICT Nussbaum's well-researched and philosophical discussion of the impact of reality television reveals the influence that it has had, not only on the entertainment industry but on society as a whole. Insightful, unsettling, and thought-provoking.--Autumn Wyatt
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.