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Emily Nussbaum

Emily Nussbaum (born 1966) is an American television critic and author known for her work at The New Yorker, where she serves as a staff writer. Her incisive reviews of television programming, covering series such as The Good Wife, Girls, Mad Men, and Scandal, earned her the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Nussbaum's career also includes creating the "Approval Matrix" feature at New York magazine in 2004, which categorizes cultural products by highbrow/lowbrow and vital/deserving of death metrics. Nussbaum's writing emphasizes television's cultural evolution, arguing for its artistic legitimacy amid the shift from network dominance to cable and streaming fragmentation. She has authored two notable books: (2019), a collection of essays defending television's complexity and influence, and Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV (2024), which traces the genre's origins from early unscripted formats to modern exploitative spectacles. Her criticism often contextualizes shows historically, highlighting innovations in narrative and social representation while critiquing formulaic tendencies in prestige television. Nussbaum graduated from in 1988.

Early life and education

Family background and upbringing

Emily Nussbaum was raised in , an affluent suburb north of known for its high median household income and strong public schools. Her family was Jewish, and she grew up in a household shaped by her father's legal career. Her father, Bernard W. Nussbaum (1937–2022), was a prominent corporate lawyer who served as to President from August 1993 to March 1994, resigning amid scrutiny over the White House travel office firings and other matters. Nussbaum had previously practiced law at firms including and held academic positions, such as dean of . She has two brothers, Peter and Frank, from her parents' marriage. Little public detail exists on her mother's background or role in the family, though Bernard Nussbaum's obituaries reference his first marriage as the source of his three children. Nussbaum's early years in Scarsdale involved immersion in television viewing, a habit she later described as unanalytical during her childhood, when TV was treated as disposable entertainment rather than cultural artifact. This environment, in a stable upper-middle-class setting, fostered her eventual interest in media criticism, though specific family dynamics beyond her father's professional prominence remain sparsely documented in reliable accounts.

Academic pursuits and influences

Nussbaum earned a degree in English from in 1988, complementing her major with a minor in . She then pursued a in at , reflecting an early focus on literary craft and verse composition. After her master's, Nussbaum entered a doctoral program in literature, where she specialized in Victorian-era works, including detailed analysis of George Eliot's novel . She did not complete the doctorate, citing a shift in intellectual priorities during her studies. Her poetry training later informed the stylistic precision of her criticism, though she found the poetry community's insularity limiting compared to broader narrative forms. A pivotal influence emerged in 1997 amid her graduate work: viewing the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer prompted what Nussbaum described as an "ecstatic conversion experience," redirecting her from Victorian scholarship toward as a dynamic medium for . This encounter challenged her prior academic emphasis on canonical literature, fostering an appreciation for television's narrative innovations and cultural immediacy, which ultimately steered her away from toward cultural journalism. Lacking formal training in or , Nussbaum's literary background equipped her to approach television through lenses of character development, genre evolution, and , themes recurrent in her later critiques.

Professional career

Initial roles in journalism and editing

Nussbaum entered professional in her late twenties, following a period of temporary secretarial work in , and , . Her initial writing contributions appeared in , a magazine focused on academic and intellectual culture, where she served as a contributing writer. She also published pieces in and during this early freelance phase. Transitioning to editing, Nussbaum joined Nerve.com, an online literary and sex-positive publication launched in 1997, where she worked under editor Sue Dominus and eventually rose to editor-in-chief. In this role, she honed skills in curating content on culture, literature, and emerging digital media, which Dominus later cited in recommending her for a position at New York magazine. These experiences marked her shift from sporadic freelancing to structured editorial responsibilities in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Tenure at New York magazine

Emily Nussbaum joined New York magazine in April 2004 as culture editor, a role she held until May 2010, during which she also contributed as a television critic and features writer. In this capacity, she oversaw the magazine's culture pages and developed innovative features, most notably creating the "Approval Matrix" in November 2004—a quarterly chart categorizing cultural artifacts along axes of highbrow/lowbrow and brilliant/wonderful, inspired by a similar concept in Wired magazine. The feature quickly became a signature element of the publication, appearing in the back pages and influencing cultural discourse by providing a visual shorthand for evaluating media trends. Throughout her tenure, Nussbaum established herself as a leading voice in television criticism, reviewing and analyzing shows during a period of expanding prestige TV. Early pieces included a July review of 's handling of character deaths and a September preview of Lost as a pivotal network drama. Later contributions encompassed a feature on digital oversharing titled "Say Everything," which examined the rise of personal exposure in online culture, and reviews of serialized hits like in July 2011, where she dissected its moral complexities and character arcs. Her work emphasized rigorous analysis of narrative ambition and cultural impact, contributing to the magazine's coverage of television's shift toward complex storytelling amid the early streaming era. Nussbaum's seven-year stint at —spanning editing, criticism, and features—preceded her departure in 2011 to become television critic at .

Appointment and evolution at The New Yorker

Emily Nussbaum joined The New Yorker in fall 2011 as its television critic. In this role, she reviewed series such as The Good Wife, Girls, Mad Men, and Scandal, contributing weekly columns that analyzed contemporary television programming. During her tenure as television critic, Nussbaum's work earned recognition, including the 2016 and a 2014 National Magazine Award for Columns and Commentary. Her criticism emphasized the cultural significance of television, drawing on detailed examinations of narrative structures, character development, and industry trends. In December 2019, after nine years in the position, editor announced that Nussbaum would transition to a broader role, expanding her contributions to include profiles, reported pieces, and essays beyond television-specific criticism. This shift coincided with a one-year leave to complete a book on the origins of reality television, later published as Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV in 2024. Doreen St. Félix was appointed as the new television critic, effective January 1, 2020. Post-transition, Nussbaum has continued as a staff writer at The New Yorker, focusing on cultural reporting and long-form essays, while occasionally referencing her television expertise in broader contexts. This evolution reflects a move from specialized criticism to multifaceted cultural journalism, aligning with her prior experience editing culture sections at New York magazine.

Shift to broader cultural reporting

In 2023, Nussbaum expanded her contributions at beyond television criticism to include on-the-ground reporting on cultural phenomena intersecting with politics and industry dynamics. Her feature "Country Music's Culture Wars and the Remaking of Nashville," published on July 24, 2023, examined the tensions in Tennessee's scene amid the state's conservative political shift, profiling "outlaw" songwriters challenging Nashville's establishment norms. This piece involved extended fieldwork in Nashville, where she interviewed artists like and analyzed how cultural polarization—fueled by events like the 2022 Dobbs decision overturning —was reshaping songwriting, venue bookings, and industry gatekeeping. Unlike her typical analytical reviews of scripted or , this reporting emphasized ethnographic observation and causal links between policy changes and artistic output, such as increased of progressive themes in lyrics and the rise of self-released albums bypassing major labels. Nussbaum highlighted specific instances, including the backlash against artists addressing LGBTQ+ issues or rights, attributing these to broader dominance in since 2010, when the turned solidly conservative. The drew on direct quotes from over a dozen musicians and executives, underscoring empirical patterns like the exodus of non-conforming artists to independent platforms rather than vague cultural trends. This foray represented an evolution in Nussbaum's methodology, incorporating historical context—such as parallels to 1970s "" rebels like —with contemporary data on streaming metrics and event attendance, though it maintained her signature focus on media's role in amplifying social divides. While 's left-leaning editorial slant may color interpretive framing, the piece's value lies in its verifiable interviews and on-site sourcing, avoiding unsubstantiated opinion. No subsequent major non-TV reporting pieces by Nussbaum appear in her portfolio as of October 2025, suggesting this as a targeted extension rather than a full pivot.

Critical methodology and themes

Analytical framework in television criticism

Emily Nussbaum's analytical framework for television criticism centers on evaluating shows within their specific historical and cultural contexts to identify innovations and distinctions from prior works. She assesses programs by examining their narrative ambitions, aesthetic choices, and contributions to the medium's evolution, often prioritizing what makes television unique—such as its serialized, audience-responsive format—over comparisons to or . This approach, evident in her reviews since joining in 2011, counters what she terms television's "," advocating for appreciation on the medium's own terms rather than deference to prestige hierarchies that favor male-dominated dramas. Nussbaum employs a method of immersive viewing, often committing to full seasons to discern evolving dynamics, while incorporating audience reactions from online forums and social media to inform her analysis. Her reviews challenge viewer expectations by probing preferences for certain genres, such as questioning dismissals of shows perceived as "feminine" or lightweight, like Sex and the City or Jane the Virgin, in favor of critically acclaimed anti-hero narratives. She values moral complexity, vibrant storytelling, and genre-blending ambition, applying genre-specific principles—for instance, defending reality television's participatory loops without equating it to scripted drama. A recurring element is scrutiny of social themes, including roles, racial representation, and power structures, framed as reflections of broader cultural shifts rather than isolated artistic choices. In her 2019 collection : Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution, compiled from pieces dating to 2007, Nussbaum demonstrates this through argumentative essays that elevate overlooked series while critiquing "bad fan" misreadings of characters like from . For reality formats, she conceptualizes them as "dirty documentary," emphasizing controlled unscripted scenarios that reveal societal undercurrents, as elaborated in her 2024 book Cue the Sun!. This framework, which earned her the 2016 , prioritizes argumentative defense of 's legitimacy amid its shift from cultural underdog to dominant form, though it has drawn critique for overemphasizing identity-based lenses at the expense of formalist analysis.

Recurring motifs: , , and cultural shifts

Nussbaum's criticism consistently interrogates portrayals, emphasizing shifts in female agency, sexuality, and power structures across genres. In her 2019 analysis of the industry's response to #MeToo, she details how showrunners navigated accusations of misconduct, moving beyond tokenistic "very special episodes" toward structural reckonings with patriarchal dynamics in production and narrative. Her review of "" in "" critiques the series' initial celebration of female independence alongside its later cultural dismissal, attributing the backlash to discomfort with unapologetic depictions of women's desires amid evolving feminist expectations. These examinations recur as Nussbaum ties motifs to 's formal innovations, arguing that aesthetic preferences often encode biases against "feminine" storytelling styles. Racial representation emerges as another persistent lens, with Nussbaum highlighting historical struggles and contemporary integrations in programming. She profiles P. Jay Sidney's 1960s-1970s protests against network exclusion of , crediting his efforts with pressuring casting changes that diversified roles beyond stereotypes, influencing shows like "" in 1968. In covering "," Nussbaum notes the fourth season's 2016 incorporation of protests into the prison drama's plot, praising it as an attempt to blend empathy-building fiction with real-world racial justice demands, though acknowledging narrative tensions in representation. She further underscores limited progress by citing as the primary Black female behind hits like "" as of 2012, framing this scarcity as emblematic of ongoing industry barriers. Cultural shifts form a foundational motif, with Nussbaum positioning television as both reflector and driver of societal evolution, from 1970s sitcoms to the streaming era. Her work on Norman Lear's productions, such as "All in the Family" premiering in 1971, explores how controversial humor challenged taboos on and , fostering audience divisions that prefigured modern polarization. In "I Like to Watch," published in 2019, she traces the "TV revolution" through prestige cable series, contending that class, , and hierarchies underpin dismissals of genres like soap operas or reality TV, which democratized but faced elitist . Nussbaum extends this to reality formats in her 2024 book "Cue the Sun!," arguing that innovations from the onward disrupted scripted norms, amplifying marginalized voices while commodifying personal narratives amid neoliberal cultural changes. Across these analyses, she maintains that television's formal experiments reveal causal links between forms and ideological contests, often prioritizing empirical patterns in over abstract theory.

Engagement with television history and genres

Nussbaum's analyses of television history emphasize the medium's evolution through genre innovations and cultural shifts, often rejecting elitist dismissals of non-prestige forms in favor of recognizing their artistic and social contributions. In her 2019 collection I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution, comprising 32 essays originally published in The New Yorker, she traces television's "revolution" from episodic, formulaic structures to collaborative, writer-driven narratives, arguing that its gorgeous qualities stem from inherent constraints rather than despite them. This work historicizes shows by placing them in context, challenging viewers to expand beyond "serious" dramas to appreciate genres like soaps and reality programming as vital to television's democratic accessibility. Her 2024 book Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV offers the most focused historical treatment of a single genre, chronicling its emergence from experiments in unscripted content—such as Allen Funt's —through economic pressures and format breakthroughs up to 2009's dominance with series like and . Drawing on over 300 interviews with producers, participants, and innovators, Nussbaum frames reality TV as "dirty documentary": unscripted scenes in tightly controlled environments that exploit human vulnerability for profit while pioneering low-cost production and amplifying voices from demographics historically sidelined in scripted fare, such as working-class women and people of color. She acknowledges the genre's ethical failings, including psychological harm to cast members, but credits it with democratizing television by subverting traditional casting norms and influencing hybrid formats across the industry. Across genres, Nussbaum tailors her critical engagement to structural differences, advising patience with network sitcoms—waiting at least six episodes to evaluate beyond flawed pilots, akin to "burned pancakes"—while applying looser timelines to cable or streaming equivalents for fuller narrative arcs. In sitcoms, particularly workplace variants like (2006–2013), she highlights meta-commentary on production realities, such as eccentric teams of damaged characters mirroring writers' rooms, and praises "mathematical" layering of humor with character depth. For dramas and serialized forms, her reviews situate innovations within pivotal shifts, such as HBO's 2006 early release of The Wire Season 4, which accelerated binge-viewing and transformed episodic TV into "ten-hour movies," altering audience immersion and narrative density. She dissects prestige dramas like Game of Thrones (2011–2019) and Mad Men (2007–2015) for exclusions from power structures, often tying them to broader genre histories of serialized storytelling, while critiquing how such shows elevate television's status yet risk overshadowing lighter genres. Nussbaum consistently weaves in examinations of gender, race, and sexuality, as in defenses of "girlie" shows against condescension, arguing they perform invisible labor in challenging viewer expectations and genre conventions.

Major publications

Authored books

Emily Nussbaum has authored two nonfiction books focused on television criticism and history, both published by Random House. Her debut book, I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution, was released on June 25, 2019. It compiles essays and reviews originally published in The New Yorker and New York magazine, examining the cultural and artistic evolution of television from prestige dramas to reality formats, with emphasis on shows like The Sopranos, Mad Men, and The Wire. The work argues for television's legitimacy as a serious medium, drawing on Nussbaum's analytical approach to narrative innovation and societal reflection in programming. In her second book, Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV, published on June 25, 2024, Nussbaum traces the genre's origins from early radio experiments and 1940s candid-camera pranks to its explosion with Survivor in 2000 and subsequent dominance. Spanning 464 pages, it details key figures like Chuck Barris of The Gong Show and the ethical tensions in "dirty documentaries" that blur authenticity and staging, including influences on political spectacle. The narrative highlights reality TV's role in reshaping entertainment economics and public voyeurism without endorsing its cultural value.

Selected essays, reviews, and reporting

Nussbaum's essays and reviews frequently dissect television's narrative innovations, cultural implications, and genre conventions, drawing on detailed episode analyses and historical context. In "The Aristocrats," published May 7, , she critiqued HBO's for its unflinching depiction of feudal brutality and moral ambiguity, arguing that the series elevated spectacle into substantive commentary on power dynamics. Her March 3, 2014, piece "Cool Story, Bro" analyzed the FX series , praising its subversion of spy tropes through domestic realism and gender role reversals. Similarly, in a September 17, , review titled "Seen but Not Heard," Nussbaum examined the voiceless female characters in shows like and , highlighting how silence amplified their agency amid patriarchal structures. Other notable reviews include her March 9, 2015, assessment of ABC's and , where she commended their authentic portrayals of immigrant and African American family life, crediting the shows with injecting underrepresented voices into network sitcoms without resorting to caricature. In "What Advertising Does to TV," dated October 12, 2015, Nussbaum explored how commercial interruptions shaped programming formats, using examples from game shows and infomercials to illustrate television's inherent commercial pressures. Her December 12, 2016, essay "Hating Top-Ten Lists: 2016's Best TV" critiqued annual rankings while spotlighting standout seasons of , , and for their thematic depth on identity and failure. Beyond criticism, Nussbaum has engaged in reporting on the television industry's underbelly, particularly reality programming's labor practices. Her May 27, 2024, article "Is '' a ?" investigated lawsuits from contestants on Netflix's , revealing allegations of emotional manipulation, inadequate compensation—often as low as $1,500 per participant—and grueling filming schedules exceeding 12 hours daily, based on interviews with over a dozen former cast members and producers. This piece underscored broader exploitative patterns in unscripted TV, where participants function as low-paid labor amid high-stakes production demands, prompting discussions on efforts within the .

Awards and honors

Pulitzer Prize for Criticism

In 2016, Emily Nussbaum was awarded the for her television reviews published in . The prize, which included a $10,000 award, recognized her body of work from 2015, including pieces published on February 22, March 2, March 29, May 3, May 10, May 24, June 28, August 30, October 11, and December 6. The Pulitzer board's citation praised her contributions as "for television reviews written with an affection that never blunts the shrewdness of her analysis or the easy authority of her writing." The award was presented by President Lee C. Bollinger during the annual ceremony on April 18, 2016. Nussbaum's win marked the first time The New Yorker, a , received the Pulitzer in the Criticism category, which had previously been dominated by newspaper entrants. Her reviews covered a range of contemporary television programming, analyzing shows through a lens that combined cultural insight with rigorous evaluation, as exemplified in pieces like her February 2015 profile of titled "Last Girl in Larchmont," which examined the comedian's influence on entertainment history. This recognition affirmed her position as The New Yorker's television critic, a role she had held since 2011, where she focused on dissecting the evolving medium's narrative techniques, societal reflections, and artistic merits.

Additional recognitions and nominations

In 2014, Nussbaum received the National Magazine Award for Columns and Commentary, presented by the American Society of Magazine Editors, for three exemplary pieces of her television criticism in The New Yorker: "Shark Week" (February 25, 2013), "Difficult Women" (July 29, 2013), and "Private Practice" (October 7, 2013). On January 26, 2025, the announced Nussbaum as a co-winner of the Medal for Excellence in , shared with another author, for her book The Invention of Reality TV (published by in 2024), which examines the origins and cultural impact of the genre. Each recipient received a $5,000 prize.

Reception and critiques

Acclaim for analytical depth and accessibility

Critics have praised Nussbaum's television criticism for its rigorous analytical depth, often achieved through detailed historical contextualization and interrogation of cultural implications, as seen in her placement of shows like within broader media evolution and moral complexities. Her essays in (2019) offer "detailed exegeses of episodes" that treat television as a distinct form, probing relationships between , , and audience dynamics without reducing it to comparisons with or . This depth is complemented by an accessible, engaging style that renders complex analyses conversational and relatable, fostering reader intimacy rather than aloof expertise. Reviewers highlight her "keen and earnest essays" that challenge viewer expectations across a wide range of programming, pressing audiences to reflect on preferences and cultural meanings in a populist manner that resonates broadly. Her approach celebrates television "as TV," advocating for inclusive discussions of diverse genres beyond prestige cable dramas, which broadens criticism's appeal while maintaining intellectual rigor. Such qualities contributed to her 2016 , recognizing her incisive yet approachable dissections of the medium's transformations. In collections like , this balance manifests as provocations that savor television's uniqueness, earning acclaim for making high-level critique entertaining and informative without sacrificing substance.

Criticisms of ideological bias and selective focus

Nussbaum's television criticism has faced accusations of ideological bias, particularly from observers noting her alignment with progressive viewpoints. In 2016, she contributed $250 to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, a donation highlighted in analyses of journalists' political giving as potentially compromising perceived neutrality in coverage of electoral politics. Her 2017 retrospective on portrayed the series as instrumental in constructing a favorable , enabling his political rise by emphasizing his decisiveness while critiquing the show's role in normalizing his persona as a "crude, impulsive, bigoted" figure. This framing drew implicit pushback from conservative commentators who viewed it as conflating entertainment with partisan indictment, reflecting broader media tendencies toward anti-Trump narratives amid institutional left-leaning predispositions. Critics have also pointed to selective focus in Nussbaum's work, arguing she prioritizes examinations of gender dynamics and cultural representation over other narrative elements, sometimes at the expense of comprehensive analysis. Her 2014 review of 's first season, titled "Cool Story, Bro," lambasted the series for its "bro" aesthetic, superficial philosophy, and marginalization of female characters' interior lives, interpreting these as symptomatic of misogynistic undertones rather than deliberate stylistic choices in a male-driven . This approach elicited backlash, including handwritten —the most she received in her career—for allegedly imposing a feminist lens that dismissed the show's atmospheric tension, plotting, and existential themes as mere pretension. Defenders of the series, such as in Jacobin and critiques, countered that Nussbaum overlooked its subversion of gender norms and philosophical substance, accusing her of reductive ideological filtering. Such selectivity extends to perceptions of class-based , where Nussbaum's emphasis on prestige television and cultural critique is seen as undervaluing mass-appeal programming. Conservative scholars have cited her Apprentice as emblematic of an "elite, class bias" in , framing TV's populist draw—and its association with figures like —as beneath serious scrutiny while favoring deconstructions. This focus aligns with recurring motifs in her oeuvre, such as and racial shifts, but has been faulted for sidelining empirical assessments of or commercial impact in favor of sociopolitical interpretation, potentially reflecting the credentialed biases prevalent in outlets like The New Yorker.

Personal life and public persona

Family and relationships

Emily Nussbaum is married to Clive Thompson, a Canadian and author known for his work on technology and culture. The couple resides in . Nussbaum and Thompson have two children, including a son who was a high-school junior as of June 2024. In a 2024 profile, Nussbaum described sharing parental duties with Thompson, such as preparing packed lunches and alternating early mornings for their teenager attending a public high school. Little public information exists regarding her extended family or prior relationships, as Nussbaum maintains a private personal life focused on her professional career.

Political and cultural affiliations

Nussbaum has publicly supported Democratic political candidates, including a $250 donation to Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, as documented in records analyzed by the . Her television criticism frequently incorporates political analysis from a standpoint, such as linking reality TV formats to the rise of in her 2018 New Yorker profile of producer , where she argued that shows like mythologized Trump as a symbol of success despite his earlier business struggles. In cultural commentary, Nussbaum often critiques media representations through lenses of gender, race, and class inequality, as seen in her 2014 New Yorker essay on divides, which highlighted tensions between mainstream and marginalized fan communities in genres like and romance. She has addressed culture wars in industries like , discussing in a 2023 New Yorker podcast how Nashville's scene reflects broader polarization, with progressive artists challenging conservative norms amid diversification efforts. Nussbaum's work aligns with feminist critiques of television, emphasizing shows that subvert traditional power structures, though some observers, including in magazine, have noted her selective focus on certain diversity issues over others in ethnic representation debates. Her affiliations reflect the broader institutional leanings of outlets like , where left-leaning perspectives predominate in cultural analysis, potentially influencing coverage of politically charged topics such as Trump-era media or in . Nussbaum has not publicly affiliated with specific political organizations or endorsed candidates beyond the noted donation, maintaining a focus on cultural rather than partisan activism in her public statements.

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