An American Family is television's first reality show, shot in 1971 and aired in the United States on PBS in 1973. The show was twelve episodes long, edited down from about 300 hours of footage, and chronicles the experience of a nuclear family, the Loud Family of Santa Barbara, California, going through a divorce. The parents had several children and one of them, Lance Loud, was a gay 20-year-old man who occasionally wore lipstick and women's clothes and took his mother to a drag show in episode two of the series. Scholars sometimes mention that Lance came out of the closet on TV, but this is technically incorrect - he was simply gay without announcement or drama; his family says that they had known for quite a while. As such, Lance is the first openly gay character on television and has become something of a gay icon.
On airing, the show drew 10 million viewers - phenomenal viewership for PBS in 1973 or even in 2003 - and drew considerable controversy.
In 1983 PBS broadcast American Family Revisited; and in 2003 PBS broadcast the show Lance Loud, visiting Lance and his family again at Lance's request: Lance was 50 years old, had gone through 20 years of addiction to crystal meth, and was HIV positive and dying of Hepatitis C.
As seen in An American Family, the members of the Loud Family are:
- William C. (Bill) Loud (born 1923)
- Patricia (Pat) Loud (born 1928)
- Lance Loud (1951-2001)
- Kevin Loud (born 1955)
- Grant Loud (born 1956)
- Delilah Loud (born 1958)
- Michelle Loud (born 1960)
External Link
- Portrait of an American Family - "The official web site of the William C. Loud family of Santa Barbara as featured on the PBS documentary" (includes ordering information for the series).
