Cinema Verite

An American Family Cinema Verite Diane Lane HBO Lance Loud Pat Loud Reality Shows

THE LOUD FAMILY REVISITED THANKS TO HBO

All the “Real Housewives” owe a debt of gratitude to the Loud family who paved the way for reality TV back in the 1970’s. In those days PBS called “An >American Family” a documentary series in 12 parts. The Louds of Santa Barbara were the first American family to be the subject of a reality show. It was unscripted and during the run of the series, Pat and Bill Loud separated and divorced, and their openly gay son Lance not only took his mother to a drag show in the second episode, but he move to the Chelsea Hotel in New York and ran with the Warhol crowd. It was riveting television and worth revisiting. HBO’s “Cinema Verite” tells the story of the filming of the documentary and Diane Lane plays mother Pat in awful 70’s glasses, Tim Robbins plays dad Bill, and Thomas Dekker plays young Lance. (We were lucky to know and adore Lance for years.)

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By Janet / March 3, 2011
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An American Family Cinema Verite Documentary Lance Loud PBS Thomas Dekker

LANCE LOUD AND HIS AMERICAN FAMILY ARE RETURNING TO TV

We were big fans of Lance Loud. We knew him as a great character – a musician and eventually a clever entertainment writer on the New York and LA scene. (He loved gossip!) Back in the 70’s Lance and his family appeared in the PBS documentary “An American Family.” (Top photo- Lance is upper left) This was back when reality TV was real, and cameras observed every little detail of the Loud family life in Santa Barbara. Lance pretty much came out on the show and became a celebrity, hanging with the Warhol crowd at Max’s Kansas City. He was self-destructive, but SO much fun. Lance died of AIDS in 2001. Now the story of the Loud’s groundbreaking documentary is being made into an HBO movie called “Cinema Verite.” Diane Lane is portraying Lance’s steadfast mom Pat, and Tim Robbins plays his father. Thomas Dekker, 22, whom you might remember from “Heroes” is playing Lance, and we’re glad we have HBO.

What do YOU think?
By Janet / August 25, 2010
15 Comments