AN AMERICAN FAMILY TRILOGY:
INTRODUCTION
AMERICAN FAMILY REVISITED:
THE LOUDS TEN YEARS LATER
LANCE LOUD! A DEATH IN AN
AMERICAN FAMILY
AN AMERICAN FAMILY TRILOGY:
INTRODUCTION
AMERICAN FAMILY REVISITED:
THE LOUDS TEN YEARS LATER
LANCE LOUD! A DEATH IN AN
AMERICAN FAMILY
Michele, Grant and Lance Loud turn the cameras on Alan and Susan Raymond
for a People Magazine photo session (1983).
AS THE FILMMAKERS OF THE ORIGINAL 1973 PBS SERIES, Alan and Susan chronicled many pivotal moments in the life of one American family from a traumatic divorce to a death in the family to a Hollywood biopic of their lives. INTRODUCTION
In January 1973 PBS premiered An American Family, a 12-hour Cinema Vérité series following the life of the Loud family that changed the landscape of television forever as 10 million viewers a week were captivated, the family was pilloried by the press — and their lives were never the same …
Margaret Mead remarked, “It may be as important for our time as were the invention of drama and the novel for earlier generations, a new way for people to understand themselves.”
Richard Brody of The New Yorker said,
“The most daring of all documentaries.”
Caption text and photo credit here
In 1983, Alan and Susan produced American Family Revisited for HBO that allowed the Loud family members to reflect on their experiences of becoming media celebrities.
“It didn’t hurt anybody; it didn’t affect anybody. It was just one big fun experience.” —Bill Loud
“Television ate my family.” —Lance Loud
STREAMING VERSION
COMING SOON
In 2001, as Lance entered a hospice struggling with a Hepatitis C/HIV co-Infection, he called his friends Alan and Susan to make one more film about his life and his loving family.
In 2003, PBS broadcast this film marking the 30th Anniversary of the series.
In 2002, TV Guide celebrated Fifty Years of Television with their list of the 50 Greatest Shows of All Time.
We’re #32! We beat Oprah.
Alan Raymond and Susan Raymond were selected for the Television Academy Archives as Emmy TV Legends. In their joint Archive interview, Alan and Susan talk about their groundbreaking cinéma vérité work on such television documentaries as AN AMERICAN FAMILY and THE POLICE TAPES.
This 2011 Emmy-Award winning HBO Film presents a behind-the-scenes look at how the original PBS series AN AMERICAN FAMILY was created.
CINEMA VERITE stars Diane Lane, Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini.
Filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond (below, left) were consultants to the project and are portrayed by actors Patrick Fugit and Shanna Collins
(below, right).
In 2020, The New York Times celebrated 50 years of PBS by listing the programs that made a lasting imprint on our culture.
Well, AN AMERICAN FAMILY is No. 2 — right up there after our No. 1 friend, Mr. Rogers!
© 2003–, VIDEO VÉRITÉ LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.