# The American Family (the Loud family): HBO's 'Cinema Verite' On April 23rd

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-family-the-loud-family-hbos-cinema-verite-on-april-23rd/578388>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 14, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-family-the-loud-family-hbos-cinema-verite-on-april-23rd/578388 "2011-04-14T17:51:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-family-the-loud-family-hbos-cinema-verite-on-april-23rd/578388/1 "2011-04-14T17:51:14Z")

</div>

There is a new telepic airing on HBO, starring Diane Lane and Tim Robbins about this great documentary. [Here](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/live-feed/see-diane-lane-hbos-cinema-100359) is the trailer for that film.

Maybe some of you are old enough to remember [The American Family](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_American_Family), starring the Loud family - probably the first “reality” show, aired on American TV back in the 70’s. I loved that show - especially their son, Lance, who was the first openly Gay real person on television - he came out during the filming of this documentary. He later became a writer for various magazines, including The Advocate, and later died of AIDS.

I had heard that after the show, the family kept their phone number listed - so about 6 months after the show ended, I called. Sure enough, Bill Loud (the father) answered the phone and we had a brief chat - me as a fan and him just wondering what I liked and who watched the show with me etc. We probably talked about 10 minutes. I thought it was cool that he was as interested in me as I was in him and he said the entire family was proud of the show.

At any rate, just thought I would mention this show is coming up. For those of you who saw the original, this could be interesting to see their spin on it. For those of you who have never seen the original, this might be interesting to see what happened, and how this show came to be.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-family-the-loud-family-hbos-cinema-verite-on-april-23rd/578388/2 "2011-04-14T23:30:38Z")

</div>

Also worth watching (afterward) is Albert Brooks’s spoof _Real Life_, which I think some modern reality show producers took as a serious guide.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-family-the-loud-family-hbos-cinema-verite-on-april-23rd/578388/3 "2011-04-24T18:11:18Z")

</div>

We watched the movie last night and it took me quite a while, without running to IMDb to find out, that Lance was John Connor! Entirely different persona and portrayal.

We had just watched [Welcome to the Rileys](http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Welcome_to_the_Rileys/70121928?trkid=496624#height1650) the night before, so seeing yet another Gandolfini non-Tony-Soprano role was fun, too.

If it matters, I thought Robbins was the best cast part.