An American Family (1973) bridges the stylistic conventions of
independent documentary film and broadcast television, marrying
the innovations of American cinéma-vérité to the narrative
traditions of TV. The twelve-episode series chronicles seven
months in the lives of the Loud family of Santa Barbara,
California, including the divorce proceedings of the parents.
Producer Craig Gilbert deliberately chose an upper-middle class
family whose lifestyle approximated that of families seen on
situation comedies such as Make Room For Daddy (1953-65). Under
his supervision, Susan and Alan Raymond filmed the everyday
lives of Pat and William Loud, and their children Lance, Kevin,
Grant, Delilah, and Michele. This television documentary
captured the imagination of the American public when it was
first aired by the Public Broadcasting Service in the winter of
1973. Ten million viewers followed the Louds' unfolding marital
problems in a controversial weekly show that some TV critics
called a real-life soap opera.1 Like al