Calendar – Past Event

Beginning Sunday, April 24, at 12 p.m., viewers will have a chance to watch An American Family, the original 12-hour reality series that sparked a new television genre on public television. Not seen in its entirety for more than 20 years, An American Family will be shown in a 12-hour marathon on WORLD channel, on public television.  The series will air in New York on THIRTEEN on Saturday, April 23, beginning at 11:00 p.m.  Viewers can also watch excerpts from the original series and one full episode at www.thirteen.org/american-family.

Originally aired on public television in 1973, An American Family was the most controversial and talked-about television program for its time. In the course of its three-month run, the 12-part series riveted the country. In the years since it was first broadcast, the series has become the subject of lengthy articles and reviews, including panel discussions with anthropologist Margaret Mead, who speculated that An American Family could be the beginning of a new way to explore the complexities of contemporary reality. In 2002, TV Guide named An American Family one of the Top 50 Greatest Shows of All Time. The series stepped into the home of the Loud family of Santa Barbara, California, chronicling the lives of its family members. The series made parents Pat and Bill Loud and their five children Lance, Delilah, Grant, Kevin and Michelle Loud household names.  During the seven months that they lived under  the microscope of the camera, viewers watched significant life moments including Pat Loud asking for a separation from her husband Bill Loud, and the New York lifestyle of their gay son, Lance.

Producer/Director of An American Family is Craig Gilbert. Filmmakers are Alan Raymond, camera, and Susan Raymond, sound. Associate producer is Susan Lester. Film editor is Eleanor Hamerow. Sound editor is Thomas Halpin. Executive producer is Curtis W. Davis. For WNET: Executives in Charge are Stephen Segaller and Neal Shapiro.