Pat Loud

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.)