Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum (Random House). In the introduction to Cue the Sun!, Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic Emily Nussbaum reveals that in 2003 she told a friend that she wanted to write a book about this new genre called ‘reality TV’. After all, Survivor was a smash hit.
I referenced the passing of Rip Taylor this morning on The Humble & Fred Radio show. Taylor being a much bigger deal in the ’70s, “Humble” Howard Glassman suggested I explain exactly who Taylor was. So here goes. Before Donald Trump, there was Rip Taylor. Trump stole Taylor’s act, right down to all the shouting
It always seemed to me that Arte Johnson should have been a much bigger TV star. As The New York Times notes in their obituary of Johnson, who died Wednesday in Los Angeles at 90, the actor/comedian was “a one-man ensemble.” I first became aware of Johnson, as did many others, as one of the
What are some of the highest rated programs this summer? Well, to be honest, there aren’t a lot of them. Only eight TV shows across Canada drew more than a million viewers in total viewership the week of July 3 — 9 according to the latest Numeris Canada Top 30. The Amazing Race Canada came
On Wednesday, there was a deadly attack in London on the House of Parliament. My head buried in a deadline that morning, I didn’t find out about it until I was on hold for Scott Thompson. I was waiting to talk to the CHML AM900 host, not about terrorism and world affairs, but about the death of Chuck Barris,
If you buy the premise that the ’70s was the Golden Age of inappropriate behaviour, the guy on the poster would be Chuck Barris. Barris, who died Tuesday at 87 (days after another famous Chuck named Berry), created the long-running TV game shows The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game in the ’60s. He hit the