Calendar – Past Event

In 1973, the Loud family became a television sensation of a new kind.  It was long before a metal rock star showed his eccentric family on the small screen and decades before housewives had screaming matches with each other on camera in public.

Cinema Vérité tells the behind-the-scenes story of the groundbreaking 12-hour PBS documentary series An American Family, which chronicled the lives of the Louds in the early 1970s and catapulted the Santa Barbara family to notoriety while creating a new genre:  the reality TV series. Oscar®, Golden Globe and Emmy® nominee Diane Lane, Oscar® and Golden Globe winner Tim Robbins and Golden Globe and Emmy® winner James Gandolfini star in the HBO Films presentation, directed by Oscar® nominees Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini and written by David Seltzer. Patrick Fugit and Shanna Collins star as IDA Pioneer Award winners Alan and Susan Raymond, who filmed the series. Cinema Vérité debuts Saturday, April 23 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT).

The 1973 airing of An American Family drew more than ten million viewers, sparking widespread controversy and harsh criticism of the family.  It was widely discussed in the media, with the Loud family appearing on the cover of the March 12, 1973 issue of Newsweek.

World-renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead observed, "[An American Family] is, I believe, as new and as significant as the invention of drama or the novel - a new way in which people can learn to look at life, by seeing the real life of others interpreted by the camera."

In 2002, TV Guide named An American Family one of The Top 50 Greatest Shows of All Time.