Love it or hate it, reality TV isn’t going anywhere. It’s also probably not going to stop being divisive any time soon, either. So maybe it’s time we take seriously a genre so many people dismiss as silly. That’s the central argument of Emily Nussbaum’s deeply reported warts-and-all history “Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV,” which she succeeds at making in the most compelling and engaging prose. From Candid Camera to the Apprentice — from “The Real World” to the Kardashians — it’s a “dirty documentary” world and we can’t stop watching.

 

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