AS SEEN ON TV: THE LOUD FAMILY

THE LOUD FAMILY

AS SEEN IN:
"Cinema Verite"

AS PLAYED BY:
William Carberry (Bill) Loud (born January 22, 1921)
Played by Tim Robbins

Patricia (Pat) Loud (born October 4, 1926)
Played by Diane Lane

Lance Loud (June 26, 1951 – December 22, 2001)
Played by Thomas Dekker

Kevin Robert Loud (born January 28, 1953)
Played by Johnny Simmons

Grant Loud (born May 5, 1954)
Played by Nick Eversman

Delilah Ann Loud (born October 15, 1955)
Played by Caitlin Custer

Michele Loud (born October 15, 1957)
Played by Kaitlyn Dever

From Wikipedia:
'An American Family' is an American television documentary filmed in 1971 and first aired in the United States on PBS in early 1973. The show was 12 episodes long, edited down from about 300 hours of footage, and chronicled the experiences of a nuclear family, the Louds of Santa Barbara, California, during a period of time when parents Bill and Pat Loud separated and Pat filed for divorce.

In 2002, 'An American Family' was listed at #32 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time list. It is one of the earliest examples of the reality television genre, which became very popular in the 2000s.

In 1983, HBO broadcast "An American Family Revisited: The Louds 10 Years Later".

In 2003, PBS broadcast the show "Lance Loud!: A Death in an American Family", shot in 2001, visiting the family again at the invitation of Lance before his death. The same family members participated in the documentary, with the exception of Grant. Lance was 50 years old, had gone through 20 years of addiction to crystal meth, and was HIV positive. He died of liver failure caused by a hepatitis C and HIV co-infection that year. The show was billed by PBS as the final episode of 'An American Family'.

From the press release:
“An American Family” was a total departure from the television shows of the time when it aired in 1973, and brought public scrutiny to a family unprepared for the consequences. CINEMA VERITE shows how the Louds were thrust into the spotlight as parents Pat (Diane Lane) and Bill (Tim Robbins) struggled with their marriage while raising their children. In particular, Pat was criticized for asking for a divorce and for her support of her openly gay son Lance (Thomas Dekker) at a time when homosexuality was rarely represented on television.

CINEMA VERITE tells the behind-the-scenes story of the groundbreaking 12-hour PBS documentary series "An American Family," which chronicled the lives of the Louds in the early 1970s and catapulted the Santa Barbara family to notoriety while creating a new genre: the reality TV series. Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Diane Lane, Oscar and Golden Globe winner Tim Robbins and Golden Globe and Emmy winner James Gandolfini star in the HBO Films presentation. CINEMA VERITE debuts SATURDAY, APRIL 23 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT) only on HBO.
 
BCnU!