An American Family

An American Family is an American television documentary filmed from May 30 through December 31, 1971, and first aired in the United States on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) from January 11, 1973, to March 29, 1973. 12 hour-long episodes aired Thursday nights at 9:00 p.m., edited down from about 300 hours of raw footage.
The groundbreaking documentary is considered the first "reality" series on American television. It was originally intended as a chronicle of the daily life of the Louds, an upper middle class family in Santa Barbara, California, but ended up documenting the break-up of the family via the separation and subsequent divorce of parents Bill and Pat Loud.
A year after this program was broadcast, the BBC in 1974 filmed its own similar 12-episode program, called "The Family", focusing on the working-class Wilkins family, of Reading, Berkshire, England.
Series.
In 2011, "The New York Times" reflected on some of the controversy the series engendered:
The show included footage of intimate family interactions, including an on-camera separation demand from wife Pat to her husband, and the coming-out of one of the children, who was gay. Producers conducted 300 hours of filming over seven months in 1971 on a budget of $1.2 million. In 2002, "An American Family" was listed at #32 on "TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time" list. It is the earliest example of the reality television genre.
Synopsis.
The Loud family members profiled were:
Lance Loud is credited as the first continuing character on television who was openly gay and subsequently became an icon within the LGBT community. He later became a columnist for the national LGBT news magazine "The Advocate".
One of the more notable moments of the series was when, after 21 years of marriage, Pat asked Bill for a divorce and to leave the house. Pat's saying to her husband "You know there's a problem" – with Bill's response, "What's your problem?" – was chosen as one of the Top 100 Television Moments by "TV Guide".
The series drew over 10 million viewers and considerable controversy. The family was featured in "Newsweek" on March 12, 1973, in the article "The Broken Family".
Legacy and influence.
In 1974, the BBC made its own similar program, called "The Family". The program consisted of 12 half-hour episodes, showing the daily lives and concerns of the working-class Wilkins family, of Reading, Berkshire, England.
The series inspired a 1977 story arc in the satirical soap opera "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" in which a television crew for "The David Susskind Show" documents the daily life of the titular character as the "typical American consumer housewife".
In 1979, Albert Brooks spoofed the series in his film "Real Life".
In 1983, HBO broadcast "An American Family Revisited: The Louds 10 Years Later".
The 1985–88 mockumentary series of TV films "The History of White People in America" and "Portrait of a White Marriage" parody the series in following the lives of a dysfunctional white suburban family led by Fred Willard and Mary Kay Place.
The series inspired the MTV reality television series "The Real World".
In 2003, PBS broadcast the show "Lance Loud!: A Death in an American Family", shot in 2001, visiting the family again at the invitation of Lance before his death. The same family members participated in the documentary, with the exception of Grant. Lance was 50 years old, had gone through 20 years of addiction to crystal meth, and was HIV positive. He died of liver failure caused by a hepatitis C and HIV co-infection that year. The show was billed by PBS as the final episode of "An American Family".
Subsequent to the showing of "A Death in an American Family", Pat and Bill Loud moved back in together, granting one of Lance's last wishes. They lived very close to three of their four surviving children—Grant, Michelle and Delilah—and keep in close contact with Kevin and his family, who live in Arizona. Bill died in July 2018. Pat died in January 2021.
In April 2011, PBS rebroadcast the entire original series in a marathon format on many of its member stations, before the release of the HBO film "Cinema Verite", based on the series.
On July 7, 2011, most PBS stations presented "An American Family: Anniversary Edition", a two-hour film by Alan and Susan Raymond that featured selected moments from the documentary series, in tribute to the 40 years since the series began filming in 1971. It was subsequently released on DVD.
Recent events.
In 2012, Pat Loud released a book about her son's life called "Lance Out Loud", which was published by Glitterati Incorporated. Pat Loud died in her sleep from natural causes on January 10, 2021, at age 94.
"Cinema Verite".
HBO premiered "Cinema Verite" on April 23, 2011, a fictionalized examination of the process of making "An American Family". With a script by David Seltzer and under the direction of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, the cast includes Tim Robbins as Bill, Diane Lane as Pat, Thomas Dekker as Lance and James Gandolfini as Craig Gilbert.
Credits.
"An American Family" episode nine end-credits; rerun airdate April 24, 2011, 7 a.m., WNET-TV