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Cover of "Cue The Sun!" featuring videographers filming people lounging in backyard.

Time to Face Reality

Charting the history of a TV phenomenon.
by A. S. Hamrah via Bookforum on July 2, 2024
A collage of photographs of the cast and crew of "The Real World" over the show's logo.

How “The Real World” Created Modern Reality TV

The rules governing everything from “Big Brother” to “The Real Housewives” started three decades ago, with a radical experiment on MTV.
by Emily Nussbaum via The New Yorker on June 15, 2024
Handheld video camera.

Smile, You're on Jury Duty!

First came 'Candid Camera.' Then 'The Truman Show.' Now, a new swath of TV speaks to 21st-century voyeurism.
by Jackie Mansky via Zócalo Public Square on April 28, 2023
Anthony Scaramucci
partner

The Revolving Door Between Reality TV and the Trump Administration

Why Anthony Scaramucci’s turn on “Celebrity Big Brother” shouldn’t come as a surprise.
by Kathryn Cramer Brownell via Made by History on January 15, 2019

How Mark Burnett Resurrected Donald Trump as an Icon of American Success

With “The Apprentice,” the TV producer mythologized Trump as the ultimate titan, paving his way to the Presidency.
by Patrick Radden Keefe via The New Yorker on December 27, 2018

The TV That Created Donald Trump

Rewatching “The Apprentice,” the show that made his Presidency possible.
by Emily Nussbaum via The New Yorker on July 31, 2017
Pastoral scene of a family in their yard.

The Strange Death of Private Life

In the early 1970s, the idea that private life meant a right to be left alone – an idea forged over centuries – began to disappear. We should mourn its absence.
by Tiffany Jenkins via Engelsberg Ideas on November 21, 2023
Security guards separate guests on an episode of ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ titled ‘I am pregnant by my half-brother.’

Jerry Springer and the History of That [Bleeping] Bleep Sound

As ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ climbed the ratings ladder, the censorship bleep became a star of the show.
by Matthew F. Jordan via The Conversation on May 2, 2023

Bad Boys

How “Cops” became the most polarizing reality TV show in America.
by Tim Stelloh via The Marshall Project on January 22, 2018
partner

Ronald Reagan, the First Reality TV Star President

Ronald Reagan is at the heart of the modern American politics of advertising, public relations, and a television in every home.
by Matthew Wills, Tim Raphael via JSTOR Daily on June 5, 2017

Ronald Reagan Was Once Donald Trump

The Trump candidacy looks a lot more like Reagan's than anyone might care to notice.
by Frank Rich via Intelligencer on June 1, 2016
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in a scene from the 1966 film “Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?”

The Drama of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” Spilled Into Real Life

After "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," the nightmare of American familyhood was the only game in town.
by Scott Bradfield via The New Republic on February 13, 2024
Alcorn State University's Origional Golden Girls.

Sass And Shimmer: The Dazzling History Of Black Majorettes And Dance Lines

Beginning in the 1960s, young Black majorettes and dance troupes created a fascinating culture. This is the story of how they did it.
by Alecia Taylor, Brooklyn White via Essence on October 10, 2022
Illustration of Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

Sex, Scandal, and Sisterhood: Fifty Years of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

They’re global icons who have left a lasting imprint on American culture. But do recent controversies threaten the squad’s future?
by Sarah Hepola via Texas Monthly on August 15, 2022
The full chart of television genres from 1945 to present.

Television Genres Over Time

Here’s how the distribution of genres has changed since 1945 up to present.
by Nathan Yau via FlowingData on October 26, 2021

Rambo Politics from Reagan to Trump

Trump links the assassination of Iranian General Soleimani to the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, positioning himself as Rambo, avenging American humiliation abroad.
by Bonnie Honig via Boston Review on January 6, 2020
Trump through a television camera.

How TV Paved America’s Road to Trump

“A brand mascot that jumped off the cereal box”: a TV critic explains the multimedia character Trump created.
by Sean Illing, James Poniewozik via Vox on November 7, 2019

In America's Panopticon

Sarah Igo’s "The Known Citizen" examines the linked histories of privacy and surveillance in the United States.
by Katie Fitzpatrick via The Nation on December 6, 2018

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