Getting Real About TV with Emily Nussbaum

For Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Emily Nussbaum ’88, it all started with a TV show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. When the cult hit first aired in 1997, Nussbaum, then a literature doctoral student, watched it like anyone else. However, it was love at first bite: Buffy would consequently alter her entire career trajectory.  

“I wanted to abandon the old method of you can only praise TV in the most condescending possible way, by sort of patting it on the head and saying, “Good for you, TV. You did something good.” I actually wanted to have high standards,” says Nussbaum. 

With an English major and creative writing minor from Oberlin, Nussbaum has written for the New York Times, New York Magazine, and The New Yorker. Her latest book, Cue The Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV, chronicles the history of reality TV and explores the genre’s vast sociopolitical implications — from how The Apprentice led to Trump’s presidency to the questionable ethics of the dating show.

Ahead of the book’s June release, Nussbaum joined host and Oberlin College and Conservatory President Carmen Twillie Ambar to discuss reality TV’s complex history and its complicated role in our culture, and why Nussbaum fell in love with television.  

Running to the Noise is a production of Oberlin College and Conservatory and is produced by University FM.

Episode Links:

• Emily’s website
• Author page at The New Yorker
• Is “Love Is Blind” a Toxic Workplace?