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{{other uses|American Family (disambiguation){{!}}American Family}} |
{{other uses|American Family (disambiguation){{!}}American Family}} |
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{{Redirect|Loud Family|the unrelated animated TV series featuring a family with the same surname|The Loud House|the unrelated rock band|The Loud Family}} |
{{Redirect|Loud Family|the unrelated animated TV series featuring a family with the same surname|The Loud House|the unrelated rock band|The Loud Family}} |
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{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Use American English|date=May 2024}} |
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{{Infobox television |
{{Infobox television |
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|image |
| image = The Loud Family 1973.JPG |
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|caption |
| caption = The Loud Family (Back, from left: Kevin, Grant, Delilah and Lance. Front, from left: Michele, Pat and Bill) |
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|genre |
| genre = [[Television documentary|Documentary]]/[[Reality television|Reality]] |
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|director |
| director = |
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|country |
| country = United States |
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|language |
| language = English |
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|num_seasons |
| num_seasons = 1 |
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|num_episodes |
| num_episodes = 12 |
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|producer |
| producer = Craig Gilbert |
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|editor |
| editor = {{Plainlist| |
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* Pat Cook |
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* Eleanor Hamerow |
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* David Hanser |
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* Ken Werner |
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}} |
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|company = [[WNET]] New York |
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| |
| company = [[WNET]] New York |
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| |
| channel = [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] |
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| first_aired = {{Start date|1973|01|11}} |
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|picture_format = [[16 mm film|16mm film]]<ref>Heffernan, Virginia, [http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/too-much-relationship-verite/ "Too Much Relationship Vérité"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 17, 2011</ref> |
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| last_aired = {{End date|1973|03|29}} |
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|last_aired = {{End date|1973|03|29}} |
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|followed_by = ''An American Family Revisited: The Louds 10 Years Later''<br />''Lance Loud!: A Death in an American Family'' |
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}} |
}} |
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'''''An American Family''''' is an American television documentary series that followed |
'''''An American Family''''' is an American television documentary series that followed the life of a California family in the early 1970s. Widely referred to as the first example of an American [[Reality television|reality TV]] show,<ref name="Washington Post">{{Cite news |title=Craig Gilbert, creator of 'An American Family,' called the first reality TV show, dies at 94 |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/craig-gilbert-creator-of-an-american-family-called-the-first-reality-tv-show-dies-at-94/2020/04/18/ea66b34c-7e4e-11ea-9040-68981f488eed_story.html |access-date=2022-11-08 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> the series drew millions of weekly viewers, who were drawn to a story that seemed to shatter the rosy façade of upper-middle-class suburbia. It also became a lightning rod for discussion about the precarious state of the American family in the early 1970s. ''An American Family'' ranks #32 on ''[[TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time]]'' list.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-04-22 |title=TV Guide Names Top 50 Shows |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tv-guide-names-top-50-shows/ |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=CBS News |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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== Production and story == |
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Created by Craig Gilbert, ''An American Family'' examined the daily trials and tribulations of |
Created by Craig Gilbert, ''An American Family'' examined the daily trials and tribulations of the Loud family of [[Santa Barbara, California]]. Researching subjects for the series, Gilbert interviewed about 24 families before he settled on the Louds—a mother, father, and five "telegenic" children who owned a large house, multiple cars, and a swimming pool.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schudel |first=Matt |date=2020-04-18 |title=Craig Gilbert, creator of 'An American Family,' called the first reality TV show, dies at 94 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/craig-gilbert-creator-of-an-american-family-called-the-first-reality-tv-show-dies-at-94/2020/04/18/ea66b34c-7e4e-11ea-9040-68981f488eed_story.html |access-date=2002-11-07 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> Shooting began in May 1971, and Gilbert and his film crew, which included the cinematographer Alan Raymond and his wife Susan Raymond who handled sound, spent the next seven months filming the Louds. |
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The final product, edited down from 300 hours of 16-millimeter footage, was ''An American Family'', which aired in 1973 as 12 weekly one-hour episodes on the [[PBS|Public Broadcasting Service]] (PBS). The film was presented in fly-on-the-wall style with very limited narration. |
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The story that unfolded of the Louds, who at the outset of the series seemed to epitomize the [[American Dream|American dream]], showed a married couple on the verge of divorce and children, ranging from 14 to 20 years old, in high and low moments. |
The story that unfolded of the Louds, who at the outset of the series seemed to epitomize the [[American Dream|American dream]], showed a married couple on the verge of divorce and children, ranging from 14 to 20 years old, in high and low moments. The "toothpaste-bright affluence, California-style" family, as described in 1973 in ''[[The New York Times]]'',<ref name="The New York Times">{{Cite news |date=1973-01-23 |title=TV: 'An American Family' Is a Provocative Series |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/23/archives/tv-an-american-family-is-a-provocative-series.html |access-date=2022-11-08 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> turned out to be "comfortably ordinary, sadly familiar, the kind of family most white middle-class Americans can identify with."<ref name="The New York Times"/> |
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The series was |
The series was popular, earning more than 10 million viewers a week.<ref name="The New York Times"/> It also sparked controversy and drove conversation in national magazines and television talk shows about the state of the American family. |
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The intense interest in the Louds, wrote Dennis Lim in ''The New York Times'' in 2011, "had much to do with their lives seeming to fall apart as America watched."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lim |first=Dennis |date=2011-04-15 |title=Reality-TV Originals, in |
The intense interest in the Louds, wrote Dennis Lim in ''The New York Times'' in 2011, "had much to do with their lives seeming to fall apart as America watched."<ref name="lens">{{Cite news |last=Lim |first=Dennis |date=2011-04-15 |title=Reality-TV Originals, in Drama's Lens |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/arts/television/hbos-cinema-verite-looks-at-american-family.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-11-08 |issn=0362-4331 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230422151708/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/arts/television/hbos-cinema-verite-looks-at-american-family.html |archive-date= Apr 22, 2023 }}</ref> |
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== The Loud family == |
== The Loud family == |
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The popularity of the series, which was viewed by 10 million Americans per week, gave the Louds a form of celebrity. Family members profiled were: |
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The Loud family members profiled were: |
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* Bill Loud (1921–2018)<ref>{{cite web |title=Family Announcement |url=https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1873733629340662&id=107226672658042 |website=Facebook}}</ref><ref name="GBH">Cf. episode "Going Back Home"</ref><ref name="AAFINTRO">Cf. episode "An American Family: an introduction" narrated by producer Craig Gilbert, January 1, 1973</ref> |
* Bill Loud (1921–2018)<ref>{{cite web |title=Family Announcement |url=https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1873733629340662&id=107226672658042 |website=Facebook}}</ref><ref name="GBH">Cf. episode "Going Back Home"</ref><ref name="AAFINTRO">Cf. episode "An American Family: an introduction" narrated by producer Craig Gilbert, January 1, 1973</ref> |
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* Grant Loud (born 1954) |
* Grant Loud (born 1954) |
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* Delilah Ann Loud (born 1955) |
* Delilah Ann Loud (born 1955) |
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* |
* Michelle Loud (born 1957) |
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Lance Loud is credited as the first continuing character on television who was openly gay,<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/lanceloud/american/ PBS |
Lance Loud is credited as the first continuing character on television who was openly gay,<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/lanceloud/american/ PBS - "Lance Loud! . An American Family"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416033121/http://www.pbs.org/lanceloud/american/|date=April 16, 2016}}.</ref> and he subsequently became an [[gay icon|icon]] within the [[LGBT]] community.<ref>{{cite news |date=April 4, 2002 |title=Lance Loud |work=[[The Independent]] |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lance-loud-729879.html |first1=Adrian |last1=Dannatt |url-status=dead |access-date=2008-10-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090323141233/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lance-loud-729879.html |archive-date=March 23, 2009}}</ref> He later became a columnist for the national LGBT news magazine ''[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]]''. Lance, who had been a pen pal of [[Andy Warhol]], himself known for his commentary on celebrity, said the series fulfilled “the middle-class dream that you can become famous for being just who you are.”<ref name="lens"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=McGill |first=Douglas C. |date=1987-02-23 |title=ANDY WARHOL, POP ARTIST, DIES |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/23/obituaries/andy-warhol-pop-artist-dies.html |access-date=2022-11-08 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> |
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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]]''.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} |
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]]''.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} |
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The series drew |
The series drew intense interest, millions of viewers, and considerable controversy. The family was featured in ''[[Newsweek]]'' on March 12, 1973, in the article "The Broken Family".<ref>{{cite book |last=Ruoff |first=Jeffrey |title=An American Family: A Televised Life |publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=0-8166-3561-7 |pages=xviii |no-pp=true}}</ref> |
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In 2003, PBS broadcast the show ''Lance Loud!: A Death in an American Family,'' which was filmed in 2001. Visiting the same family again at the invitation of Lance before his death,<ref name="pbs-landloud-about">{{cite web |title=About the film |url=https://www.pbs.org/lanceloud/about/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015233609/http://www.pbs.org/lanceloud/about/ |archive-date=15 October 2008 |access-date=2008-10-23 |publisher=PBS.org}}</ref> the family members participated in the documentary, with the exception of Grant. Lance was 50 years old, had gone through 20 years of addiction to [[Methamphetamine|crystal meth]], and was [[HIV]] positive. He died of liver failure caused by a [[hepatitis C]] and HIV co-infection that year.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lance: His life and legacy |url=https://www.pbs.org/lanceloud/lance/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201055456/http://www.pbs.org/lanceloud/lance/ |archive-date=1 December 2008 |access-date=2008-10-23 |publisher=PBS.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Lueck |first1=Thomas J. |date=29 December 2001 |title=Lance Loud, 50, Part of Family Documentary |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/29/us/lance-loud-50-part-of-family-documentary.html |access-date=1 June 2020}}</ref> The show was billed by PBS as the final episode of ''An American Family''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Top 50 TV Shows of All Time From ''TV Guide'' |url=http://www.ez-entertainment.net/features/tvguide50.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014001152/http://www.ez-entertainment.net/features/tvguide50.htm |archive-date=14 October 2008 |access-date=2008-10-23 |publisher=EZ-Entertainment.net}}</ref> |
In 2003, PBS broadcast the show ''Lance Loud!: A Death in an American Family,'' which was filmed in 2001. Visiting the same family again at the invitation of Lance before his death,<ref name="pbs-landloud-about">{{cite web |title=About the film |url=https://www.pbs.org/lanceloud/about/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015233609/http://www.pbs.org/lanceloud/about/ |archive-date=15 October 2008 |access-date=2008-10-23 |publisher=PBS.org}}</ref> the family members participated in the documentary, with the exception of Grant. Lance was 50 years old, had gone through 20 years of addiction to [[Methamphetamine|crystal meth]], and was [[HIV]] positive. He died of liver failure caused by a [[hepatitis C]] and HIV co-infection that year.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lance: His life and legacy |url=https://www.pbs.org/lanceloud/lance/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201055456/http://www.pbs.org/lanceloud/lance/ |archive-date=1 December 2008 |access-date=2008-10-23 |publisher=PBS.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Lueck |first1=Thomas J. |date=29 December 2001 |title=Lance Loud, 50, Part of Family Documentary |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/29/us/lance-loud-50-part-of-family-documentary.html |access-date=1 June 2020}}</ref> The show was billed by PBS as the final episode of ''An American Family''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Top 50 TV Shows of All Time From ''TV Guide'' |url=http://www.ez-entertainment.net/features/tvguide50.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014001152/http://www.ez-entertainment.net/features/tvguide50.htm |archive-date=14 October 2008 |access-date=2008-10-23 |publisher=EZ-Entertainment.net}}</ref> |
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Subsequent to the showing of ''A Death in an American Family'', Pat and Bill Loud moved back in together,<ref>{{cite web |last=Jensen |first=Elizabeth |date=2003-01-06 |title=Lance Loud's last testament |url= |
Subsequent to the showing of ''A Death in an American Family'', Pat and Bill Loud moved back in together,<ref>{{cite web |last=Jensen |first=Elizabeth |date=2003-01-06 |title=Lance Loud's last testament |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jan-06-et-jensen6-story.html |access-date=20 March 2011 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |page=3}}</ref> granting one of Lance's last wishes. They lived very close to three of their four surviving children—Grant, Michelle and Delilah—and kept in close contact with Kevin and his family, who lived in Arizona.<ref>{{cite web |title=America's First Reality TV Show |date=June 25, 2007 |url=http://www.neatorama.com/2007/06/25/americas-first-reality-tv-show/ |access-date=2011-08-26 |publisher=Neatorama}}</ref> In 2012, Pat Loud released a book about her son's life called ''Lance Out Loud''. Bill died in July 2018.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Yardley |first1=William |date=27 July 2018 |title=Bill Loud, the Father of TV's 'An American Family,' Is Dead at 97 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/27/obituaries/bill-loud-dead-american-family.html |access-date=1 June 2020}}</ref> Pat Loud died in her sleep from natural causes on January 10, 2021, at age 94.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yardley |first=William |date=2021-01-11 |title=Pat Loud, Reality Show Matriarch of 'An American Family,' Dies at 94 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/arts/television/pat-loud-dead.html}}</ref> |
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==Critical response== |
==Critical response== |
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According to [[ |
According to the ''[[New York Times]]'' in 2011, "critical and popular reaction varied," and it suggested the series reflected America in a "counterculture hangover."<ref name="lens"/> |
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Some critics praised the raw honesty of the series. The anthropologist [[Margaret Mead]] called it "an extraordinary series" and said that "nothing like it has ever been done."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yardley |first=William |date=2020-04-13 |title=Craig Gilbert, 94, Dies; Created Groundbreaking |
Some critics praised the raw honesty of the series. The anthropologist [[Margaret Mead]] called it "an extraordinary series" and said that "nothing like it has ever been done."<ref name="Yardley">{{Cite news |last=Yardley |first=William |date=2020-04-13 |title=Craig Gilbert, 94, Dies; Created Groundbreaking 'American Family' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/arts/television/craig-gilbert-dead.html |access-date=2022-11-08 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Mead also proclaimed that ''An American Family'' was "as new and significant as the invention of drama or the novel.”<ref name="lens"/> Others were put off, viewing the Louds as a sign of the nuclear family's demise.<ref name="lens"/> |
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[[Jean Baudrillard]], a French philosopher and sociologist, described ''An American Family'' as a symptom of the way TV has changed our relationship with reality itself.<ref |
[[Jean Baudrillard]], a French philosopher and sociologist, described ''An American Family'' as a symptom of the way TV has changed our relationship with reality itself.<ref name="lens"/> |
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The Louds' response to the series was positive at first, it seemed. Shortly after filming wrapped, Pat Loud wrote in a letter to Gilbert: “I think you’ve handled the film with as much kindness as is possible and still remained honest. I am, in short, simply astounded, enormously pleased and very proud.”<ref |
The Louds' response to the series was positive at first, it seemed. Shortly after filming wrapped, Pat Loud wrote in a letter to Gilbert: “I think you’ve handled the film with as much kindness as is possible and still remained honest. I am, in short, simply astounded, enormously pleased and very proud.”<ref name="Washington Post"/> But the Louds' feelings soon soured. They began to vocalize criticism of Gilbert's emphasis on the negative parts of their lives.<ref name="lens"/> In an appearance on [[The Dick Cavett Show|Th''e Dick Cavett Show'']] in 1973, Pat Loud said the series “makes us look like a bunch of freaks and monsters."<ref name="lens"/> |
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In 1988, Gilbert reflected on the legacy |
In 1988, Gilbert reflected on the legacy, stating, “I stand behind every frame of that series, yet I understand why it made so many people uncomfortable. This was a film about all of us. About how we’re all trying, and usually failing, to make sense out of life." |
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A 1973 review by John J. O'Conner in the ''New York Times,'' called it "quite extraordinary" and "unusually sensitive," and maintained: "It might be challenged and attacked. It cannot be dismissed."<ref name="The New York Times"/> |
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==Cultural impact== |
==Cultural impact== |
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''An American Family'' is widely credited with ushering in the era of reality television.<ref |
''An American Family'' is widely credited with ushering in the era of reality television.<ref name="Yardley"/> In 2013, Gilbert criticized the modern-day genre of reality television, saying, "What they’re doing is they’re using real people, but they’re scripting the shows."<ref name="Yardley"/> He called reality TV "basically cheap television."<ref name="Yardley"/> |
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The series inspired numerous TV shows, films, and documentaries. |
The series inspired numerous TV shows, films, and documentaries. |
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In 1974, the BBC made its own similar program, called ''[[The Family (1974 UK TV series)|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. |
In 1974, the BBC made its own similar program, called ''[[The Family (1974 UK TV series)|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. |
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In 1983, HBO broadcast ''An American Family Revisited: The Louds 10 Years Later''.<ref name="pbs-landloud-about" /> |
In 1983, HBO broadcast ''An American Family Revisited: The Louds 10 Years Later''.<ref name="pbs-landloud-about" /> |
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The ''[[Kate & Allie]]'' episode "The Very Loud Family", where Emma films their daily lives for a school project, is inspired by ''An American Family''. |
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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 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]]. |
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The series inspired the [[MTV]] reality television series ''[[The Real World (TV series)|The Real World]]''.<ref name="Westword" /> |
The series inspired the [[MTV]] reality television series ''[[The Real World (TV series)|The Real World]]''.<ref name="Westword" /> |
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Jonathan Dayton, co-director of the 2006 film ''[[Little Miss Sunshine]],'' says the |
[[Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris|Jonathan Dayton]], co-director of the 2006 film ''[[Little Miss Sunshine]],'' says the film was inspired in part by ''An American Family''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ettenhofer |first=Valerie |date=2022-08-13 |title=The Controversial '70s TV Hit That Inspired Little Miss Sunshine |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/959206/the-controversial-70s-tv-hit-that-inspired-little-miss-sunshine/ |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=/Film |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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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.<ref>Braxton, Greg, [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/04/pbs-so-cal-to-run-marathon-of-landmark-an-american-family.html "PBS' KOCE to broadcast landmark 'An American Family'"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306204626/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/04/pbs-so-cal-to-run-marathon-of-landmark-an-american-family.html|date=March 6, 2016}}, ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', April 13, 2011</ref><ref>[http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jan/11/pbs-looking-to-revisit-1973s-an-american-family/ "PBS looking to revisit 1973's 'An American Family'"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011131928/http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jan/11/pbs-looking-to-revisit-1973s-an-american-family/|date=October 11, 2012}}, [[Associated Press]], January 11, 2011</ref> |
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.<ref>Braxton, Greg, [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/04/pbs-so-cal-to-run-marathon-of-landmark-an-american-family.html "PBS' KOCE to broadcast landmark 'An American Family'"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306204626/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/04/pbs-so-cal-to-run-marathon-of-landmark-an-american-family.html|date=March 6, 2016}}, ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', April 13, 2011</ref><ref>[http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jan/11/pbs-looking-to-revisit-1973s-an-american-family/ "PBS looking to revisit 1973's 'An American Family'"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011131928/http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jan/11/pbs-looking-to-revisit-1973s-an-american-family/|date=October 11, 2012}}, [[Associated Press]], January 11, 2011</ref> |
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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.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/programs/american-family/ ''An American Family: Anniversary Edition''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130702054818/http://www.pbs.org/programs/american-family/|date=July 2, 2013}}, PBS</ref> |
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.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/programs/american-family/ ''An American Family: Anniversary Edition''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130702054818/http://www.pbs.org/programs/american-family/|date=July 2, 2013}}, PBS</ref> |
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The French philosopher [[Jean Baudrillard]] mentions the television series in his 1981 book, ''[[Simulacra and Simulation]]''. |
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== Dispute over ''Cinema Verite'' == |
== Dispute over ''Cinema Verite'' == |
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The 2011 HBO film ''[[Cinema Verite (2011 film)|Cinema Verite]],'' a fictional examination of the making ''An American Family,'' brought to the surface a dispute over the process of making ''An American Family.'' |
The 2011 HBO film ''[[Cinema Verite (2011 film)|Cinema Verite]],'' a fictional examination of the making ''An American Family,'' brought to the surface a dispute over the process of making ''An American Family.'' |
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The film |
The film portrays a clash between the series' creator, Gilbert (played by James Gandolfini), and the cinematographer Alan Raymond (played by Patrick Fugit). The clash depicted in the film was over the validity of the original series' ''[[Cinéma vérité|cinema verite]]'' descriptor''.'' The film suggests Gilbert "may have instigated drama and may have overstepped boundaries" during the filming of ''An American Family'', including a rumored relationship between him and Pat Loud (which both parties deny).<ref name="lens"/> |
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Alan Raymond and his wife, Susan |
Alan Raymond and his wife, Susan, who handled sound on ''An American Family,'' served as consultants on the HBO project, but they said they agreed with the "thrust" of Gilbert's series. The Raymonds did have their criticisms. Alan said he and Susan were "at odds with Craig over the treatment of the family. There were numerous confrontations where we tried to raise the question about whether the experiment was veering off course.” |
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Director [[Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini| |
Director [[Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini|Robert Pulcini]] said, "Everybody remembers it a little bit differently or a lot differently depending on what you’re talking about." |
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Gilbert saw it differently, defending his approach this way: "I didn’t script a thing. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t negotiate anything. I didn’t manipulate anything."<ref name="Yardley"/> He dismissed the HBO film as "a fiction" and offered that "an impossible script" challenged the film. |
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The film's screenwriter [[David Seltzer]] defended his script, saying, "The critical mass of research was my barometer for what to go with". Seltzer also consulted Pat Loud's book when writing the script.<ref name="lens"/> |
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Gilbert and the Raymonds shared the opinion that ''An American Family'' is unfairly blamed as the progenitor of today's reality television.<ref |
Gilbert and the Raymonds shared the opinion that ''An American Family'' is unfairly blamed as the progenitor of today's reality television.<ref name="lens"/> |
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== Craig Gilbert == |
== Craig Gilbert == |
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Gilbert |
Gilbert was born in New York City; his father was a copyright lawyer who worked with songwriters including Irving Berlin. He started his film and TV career at WNET-TV, in New York. He produced documentaries about anthropologist [[Margaret Mead]] and Christy Brown, a disabled Irish artist. [[Daniel Day-Lewis]], in preparation for his Oscar-winning role as Brown for the 1989 movie ''[[My Left Foot]]'', consulted Gilbert.<ref name="Yardley"/> Gilbert and his wife, Suzanne Stater, separated in the early 1970s shortly before filming began (incidentally, Bill and Pat announce their separation on camera in an episode of the series).<ref name="Yardley"/><ref name="lens"/> "The idea for the series was something out of my own life," Gilbert said to ''[[The Washington Post]]'' in 1973. |
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== Credits == |
== Credits == |
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Latest revision as of 18:50, 20 October 2024
An American Family | |
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Genre | Documentary/Reality |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 12 |
Production | |
Producer | Craig Gilbert |
Editors |
|
Production company | WNET New York |
Original release | |
Network | PBS |
Release | January 11 March 29, 1973 | –
An American Family is an American television documentary series that followed the life of a California family in the early 1970s. Widely referred to as the first example of an American reality TV show,[1] the series drew millions of weekly viewers, who were drawn to a story that seemed to shatter the rosy façade of upper-middle-class suburbia. It also became a lightning rod for discussion about the precarious state of the American family in the early 1970s. An American Family ranks #32 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time list.[2]
Production and story
[edit]Created by Craig Gilbert, An American Family examined the daily trials and tribulations of the Loud family of Santa Barbara, California. Researching subjects for the series, Gilbert interviewed about 24 families before he settled on the Louds—a mother, father, and five "telegenic" children who owned a large house, multiple cars, and a swimming pool.[3] Shooting began in May 1971, and Gilbert and his film crew, which included the cinematographer Alan Raymond and his wife Susan Raymond who handled sound, spent the next seven months filming the Louds.
The final product, edited down from 300 hours of 16-millimeter footage, was An American Family, which aired in 1973 as 12 weekly one-hour episodes on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The film was presented in fly-on-the-wall style with very limited narration.
The story that unfolded of the Louds, who at the outset of the series seemed to epitomize the American dream, showed a married couple on the verge of divorce and children, ranging from 14 to 20 years old, in high and low moments. The "toothpaste-bright affluence, California-style" family, as described in 1973 in The New York Times,[4] turned out to be "comfortably ordinary, sadly familiar, the kind of family most white middle-class Americans can identify with."[4]
The series was popular, earning more than 10 million viewers a week.[4] It also sparked controversy and drove conversation in national magazines and television talk shows about the state of the American family.
The intense interest in the Louds, wrote Dennis Lim in The New York Times in 2011, "had much to do with their lives seeming to fall apart as America watched."[5]
The Loud family
[edit]The popularity of the series, which was viewed by 10 million Americans per week, gave the Louds a form of celebrity. Family members profiled were:
- Bill Loud (1921–2018)[6][7][8]
- Pat Loud (1926–2021)[9][7][8]
- Lance Loud (1951–2001)
- Kevin Robert Loud (born 1953)
- Grant Loud (born 1954)
- Delilah Ann Loud (born 1955)
- Michelle Loud (born 1957)
Lance Loud is credited as the first continuing character on television who was openly gay,[10] and he subsequently became an icon within the LGBT community.[11] He later became a columnist for the national LGBT news magazine The Advocate. Lance, who had been a pen pal of Andy Warhol, himself known for his commentary on celebrity, said the series fulfilled “the middle-class dream that you can become famous for being just who you are.”[5][12]
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.[citation needed]
The series drew intense interest, millions of viewers, and considerable controversy. The family was featured in Newsweek on March 12, 1973, in the article "The Broken Family".[13]
In 2003, PBS broadcast the show Lance Loud!: A Death in an American Family, which was filmed in 2001. Visiting the same family again at the invitation of Lance before his death,[14] the 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.[15][16] The show was billed by PBS as the final episode of An American Family.[17]
Subsequent to the showing of A Death in an American Family, Pat and Bill Loud moved back in together,[18] granting one of Lance's last wishes. They lived very close to three of their four surviving children—Grant, Michelle and Delilah—and kept in close contact with Kevin and his family, who lived in Arizona.[19] In 2012, Pat Loud released a book about her son's life called Lance Out Loud. Bill died in July 2018.[20] Pat Loud died in her sleep from natural causes on January 10, 2021, at age 94.[21]
Critical response
[edit]According to the New York Times in 2011, "critical and popular reaction varied," and it suggested the series reflected America in a "counterculture hangover."[5]
Some critics praised the raw honesty of the series. The anthropologist Margaret Mead called it "an extraordinary series" and said that "nothing like it has ever been done."[22] Mead also proclaimed that An American Family was "as new and significant as the invention of drama or the novel.”[5] Others were put off, viewing the Louds as a sign of the nuclear family's demise.[5]
Jean Baudrillard, a French philosopher and sociologist, described An American Family as a symptom of the way TV has changed our relationship with reality itself.[5]
The Louds' response to the series was positive at first, it seemed. Shortly after filming wrapped, Pat Loud wrote in a letter to Gilbert: “I think you’ve handled the film with as much kindness as is possible and still remained honest. I am, in short, simply astounded, enormously pleased and very proud.”[1] But the Louds' feelings soon soured. They began to vocalize criticism of Gilbert's emphasis on the negative parts of their lives.[5] In an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show in 1973, Pat Loud said the series “makes us look like a bunch of freaks and monsters."[5]
In 1988, Gilbert reflected on the legacy, stating, “I stand behind every frame of that series, yet I understand why it made so many people uncomfortable. This was a film about all of us. About how we’re all trying, and usually failing, to make sense out of life."
A 1973 review by John J. O'Conner in the New York Times, called it "quite extraordinary" and "unusually sensitive," and maintained: "It might be challenged and attacked. It cannot be dismissed."[4]
Cultural impact
[edit]An American Family is widely credited with ushering in the era of reality television.[22] In 2013, Gilbert criticized the modern-day genre of reality television, saying, "What they’re doing is they’re using real people, but they’re scripting the shows."[22] He called reality TV "basically cheap television."[22]
The series inspired numerous TV shows, films, and documentaries.
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.
In 1978, in a skit called "The Loud Family," Saturday Night Live portrayed a family whose members shouted at the top of their lungs, even during intimate moments.
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.[23]
In 1983, HBO broadcast An American Family Revisited: The Louds 10 Years Later.[14]
The Kate & Allie episode "The Very Loud Family", where Emma films their daily lives for a school project, is inspired by An American Family.
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.[23]
Jonathan Dayton, co-director of the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine, says the film was inspired in part by An American Family.[24]
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.[25][26]
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.[27]
The French philosopher Jean Baudrillard mentions the television series in his 1981 book, Simulacra and Simulation.
Dispute over Cinema Verite
[edit]The 2011 HBO film Cinema Verite, a fictional examination of the making An American Family, brought to the surface a dispute over the process of making An American Family.
The film portrays a clash between the series' creator, Gilbert (played by James Gandolfini), and the cinematographer Alan Raymond (played by Patrick Fugit). The clash depicted in the film was over the validity of the original series' cinema verite descriptor. The film suggests Gilbert "may have instigated drama and may have overstepped boundaries" during the filming of An American Family, including a rumored relationship between him and Pat Loud (which both parties deny).[5]
Alan Raymond and his wife, Susan, who handled sound on An American Family, served as consultants on the HBO project, but they said they agreed with the "thrust" of Gilbert's series. The Raymonds did have their criticisms. Alan said he and Susan were "at odds with Craig over the treatment of the family. There were numerous confrontations where we tried to raise the question about whether the experiment was veering off course.”
Director Robert Pulcini said, "Everybody remembers it a little bit differently or a lot differently depending on what you’re talking about."
Gilbert saw it differently, defending his approach this way: "I didn’t script a thing. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t negotiate anything. I didn’t manipulate anything."[22] He dismissed the HBO film as "a fiction" and offered that "an impossible script" challenged the film.
The film's screenwriter David Seltzer defended his script, saying, "The critical mass of research was my barometer for what to go with". Seltzer also consulted Pat Loud's book when writing the script.[5]
Gilbert and the Raymonds shared the opinion that An American Family is unfairly blamed as the progenitor of today's reality television.[5]
Craig Gilbert
[edit]Gilbert was born in New York City; his father was a copyright lawyer who worked with songwriters including Irving Berlin. He started his film and TV career at WNET-TV, in New York. He produced documentaries about anthropologist Margaret Mead and Christy Brown, a disabled Irish artist. Daniel Day-Lewis, in preparation for his Oscar-winning role as Brown for the 1989 movie My Left Foot, consulted Gilbert.[22] Gilbert and his wife, Suzanne Stater, separated in the early 1970s shortly before filming began (incidentally, Bill and Pat announce their separation on camera in an episode of the series).[22][5] "The idea for the series was something out of my own life," Gilbert said to The Washington Post in 1973.
Credits
[edit]An American Family episode nine end-credits; rerun airdate April 24, 2011, 7 a.m., WNET-TV
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References
[edit]- ^ a b "Craig Gilbert, creator of 'An American Family,' called the first reality TV show, dies at 94". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ^ "TV Guide Names Top 50 Shows". CBS News. April 22, 2002. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ^ Schudel, Matt (April 18, 2020). "Craig Gilbert, creator of 'An American Family,' called the first reality TV show, dies at 94". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 7, 2002.
- ^ a b c d "TV: 'An American Family' Is a Provocative Series". The New York Times. January 23, 1973. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lim, Dennis (April 15, 2011). "Reality-TV Originals, in Drama's Lens". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ^ "Family Announcement". Facebook.
- ^ a b Cf. episode "Going Back Home"
- ^ a b Cf. episode "An American Family: an introduction" narrated by producer Craig Gilbert, January 1, 1973
- ^ Cf. Loud, Pat, Pat Loud: A Woman's Story, 1974
- ^ PBS - "Lance Loud! . An American Family". Archived April 16, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Dannatt, Adrian (April 4, 2002). "Lance Loud". The Independent. Archived from the original on March 23, 2009. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
- ^ McGill, Douglas C. (February 23, 1987). "ANDY WARHOL, POP ARTIST, DIES". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ^ Ruoff, Jeffrey (2002). An American Family: A Televised Life. University of Minnesota Press. xviii. ISBN 0-8166-3561-7.
- ^ a b "About the film". PBS.org. Archived from the original on October 15, 2008. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
- ^ "Lance: His life and legacy". PBS.org. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
- ^ Lueck, Thomas J. (December 29, 2001). "Lance Loud, 50, Part of Family Documentary". The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
- ^ "Top 50 TV Shows of All Time From TV Guide". EZ-Entertainment.net. Archived from the original on October 14, 2008. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
- ^ Jensen, Elizabeth (January 6, 2003). "Lance Loud's last testament". Los Angeles Times. p. 3. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
- ^ "America's First Reality TV Show". Neatorama. June 25, 2007. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
- ^ Yardley, William (July 27, 2018). "Bill Loud, the Father of TV's 'An American Family,' Is Dead at 97". The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
- ^ Yardley, William (January 11, 2021). "Pat Loud, Reality Show Matriarch of 'An American Family,' Dies at 94". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c d e f g Yardley, William (April 13, 2020). "Craig Gilbert, 94, Dies; Created Groundbreaking 'American Family'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ^ a b Roberts, Michael. "The Unreal World" Archived January 28, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Denver Westword. March 14, 1996
- ^ Ettenhofer, Valerie (August 13, 2022). "The Controversial '70s TV Hit That Inspired Little Miss Sunshine". /Film. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ^ Braxton, Greg, "PBS' KOCE to broadcast landmark 'An American Family'" Archived March 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2011
- ^ "PBS looking to revisit 1973's 'An American Family'" Archived October 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Associated Press, January 11, 2011
- ^ An American Family: Anniversary Edition Archived July 2, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, PBS
Further reading
[edit]- Pat Loud and Nora Johnson. Pat Loud: A Woman's Story. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1974. ISBN 0-698-10578-8.
- Jeffrey Ruoff. An American Family: A Televised Life. University of Minnesota Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8166-3561-7.
- Mark Andrejevic. Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003. ISBN 0-7425-2748-4; ISBN 978-0-7425-2748-5.
External links
[edit]- An American Family on WNET's website
- An American Family at IMDb
- An American Family Revisited at IMDb
- Lance Loud!: A Death in an American Family at IMDb
- Subterranean Cinema: An American Family: The Story of the Louds — articles on the show
- Reviews of the Jeffery Rouff book An American Family: A Televised Life:
- January magazine: "Bang the Drum Loudly" — Richard Klin's review of Rouff book
- Documentary Box #21 from the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival — Anna Grimshaw's review of Rouff book
- NYU's Fales Library Guide to the "An American Family" DVD collection
- An American Family at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
- 1973 American television series debuts
- 1973 American television series endings
- American LGBTQ-related reality television series
- 1970s American reality television series
- Documentary films about families
- American English-language television shows
- Television series by WNET
- Santa Barbara, California
- 1970s American LGBTQ-related television series