An American Family at 50

CRAIG: Located on the slope of the Santa Ynez Mountains, Santa Barbara faces south on the Pacific Ocean, 90 miles north of Los Angeles.

This is the setting for our series.

The series is about the William C. Loud family of Santa Barbara, California.

MARLENE: A pioneering spirit- PAT: I'm curious about- BILL: Hey, what's that, um, uh, what, uh... PAT: Just move the body!

GRANT: As long as it's not plunking on the guitar, right?

PAT: He'll be in his office.

JEFFREY: To use a modern term, An American Family went viral in 1973.

SHARI: Viewership was incredible, so there was something compelling that every week people were turning up and watching the show.

DICK: Nobody bargained for what they really got.

It was a startling show.

And the Loud family got ratings bigger than football.

Unheard of in public television.

RICHARD: Nobody knew that this thing would become, A, such a phenomenon, and B, so scandalous.

LANCE: And I thought that if you're gonna wear eye makeup, you should do it subtly or- or colorfully.

THOMAS: This was such a foreign concept and such an alien idea and such a new thing in what- what Craig Gilbert was proposing.

MICHELE: Now get ready for this!

LANCE: Okay.

JONATHAN: It just gave a completely mind- blowing look at what a real American family is.

Up until that point, our families on television were Ozzie and Harriet.

DIANE: I think it was a genuine inquiry into changing status of what is referred to as American culture, and as a family, as a unit.

DICK: 50 years ago, PBS broadcast a 12-week documentary series, An American Family, and it was unlike any program that had been seen on broadcast television.

It chronicled the seven months in the lives of the Loud family of Santa Barbara and became a catalyst for a national conversation about our culture, our society, and the idea of family in America.

(indistinct chatter) (dishes clanking) BILL: Do you hear those birds singing out there these days, Michele?

The cat is not taking care of the birds, Michele.

PAT: Dad is very worried about the upset in the balance of nature.

BILL: Grant, what's that, what are they going to do with that film you're making on the- GRANT: Show it to my school on Wednesday.

BILL: You're just going to show it to school on Wednesday?

GRANT: The whole school.

BILL: You did the sequence on the garbage cans?

GRANT: Yeah.

BILL: Was it two garbage cans falling in love?

GRANT: No, it wasn't even falling in love.

It was just two garbage cans making love, actually.

(Bill laughs).

RICHARD: When Craig Gilbert made An American Family, he was in that world of- of like cinma vrit filmmaking, but no one had ever really done that for TV.

TV is such a different medium.

People are in their beds at home watching it, and they're looking into the home of complete strangers and that had never been done.

JONATHAN: Up to that point generally, if something had been made that's cinma vrit, it played in a movie theater to a few people.

It didn't play on an American national network on Sundays, where 10 to 13 million people were watching it on a weekly basis, where national news magazines were putting the family on the cover.

There's no way the Loud family could have known what they were getting themselves into.

(water running) CRAIG: This New Year's will be unlike any other that has been celebrated at 35 Woodale Lane.

For the first time, the family will not be spending it together.

(footsteps) Pat Loud and her husband, Bill, separated four months ago, after 20 years of marriage.

PAT: Did she hear you?

DELILAH: Yeah.

(indistinct) Hey.

CRAIG: In downtown Santa Barbara, Bill Loud has just returned to his office after spending Christmas in Hawaii.

Lance Loud, who is 20 years old, has been living in New York for the past nine months.

DELILAH: Hey, Mom wants to talk to you, okay?

LANCE: Oh, good.

DELILAH: Hey, it's nice talking to you, Lance!

JONATHAN: Part of what I love about An American Family now looking back, is, you know, just how messy it was.

You know, they were using 16-millimeter cameras.

They were using boom mics.

You were catching the booms in the shots, the shadows.

The lighting was so hot, it was like living in a hot box.

SHARI: Well, it's all told through the eyes of Craig Gilbert and the Raymonds.

Everything about what they had to do was difficult 'cause they were shooting on 16-millimeter film.

RICHARD: It was incredibly expensive to shoot that much film, and until the cameras got smaller and you could get more intimate with people and still get broadcast quality, they weren't able to duplicate that for years.

So, it was way ahead of its time.

(laughing) I'm gonna take two weeks Gonna have a fine vacation I'm gonna take my problems To the United Nations You know, I went to my congressman He said 'I'd like to help you, son But you're too young to vote' Sometimes I wonder what I am gonna do 'Cause there ain't no cure For the summertime blues GRANT: Here we go (indistinct).

BILL: Big laugh, I just wanna go for one day.

(crowd chattering) BILL: Bill Loud.

RAJ: Raj Marani.

PAT: Hi.

BILL: Glad to know you, Raj.

RAJ: Same here.

PAT: I love it.

I'll take that one.

BILL: There we go.

PAT: Thank you.

BILL: See you later.

MAN: (laughs) That's the line.

(Pat chuckles) That's the word, see you later, yeah?

(crowd chattering and laughing) MAN: Try one of these.

BILL: Geez I love your- it's fantastic.

WOMAN: Well, I have my wig on here.

(crowd chattering) BILL: Is she in tow- is she in town now, Marlene, or, um, is she just going through?

MARLENE: Who, Millie?

BILL: Yeah.

RAJ: Oh, she's still here.

MARLENE: She's in town.

BILL: Is she?

MARLENE: She's in... Oh, you should see her.

PAT: What do you care for, Bill?

(everyone laughs) BILL: I just wanna authenticate everything, Pat, and make sure that we have all our records straight.

PAT: (laughs) But for the record, she's just passing through.

(laughs) RAJ: She's so quiet.

(everyone laughs) (scrubbing) (horse walking) (calling horse) (galloping) PAT: And perhaps you'd like, when you get your skirt on, you'd like to just- just wrap something on your waist.

DELILAH: Yeah!

I could, because that waist part is awfully blank anyway.

PAT: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

And you've got plenty to do that with.

(crowd applauding) CRAIG: There's a lot of love.

This is the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, where Lance Loud has been living for the past two months.

DICK: An American Family literally changed the course of television.

In fact, it resonated so deeply with our popular culture that in 2011 HBO, commissioned Cinema Verite, a fictional film about the making of the series with Diane Lane as Pat Loud and Thomas Dekker as Lance Loud.

THOMAS: Candy, she was right there, she's starring in it.

DIANE: Oh, she's a friend of yours?

THOMAS: She wants to marry him, actually.

Particularly for Lance, I would imagine more than anyone else in the family, very excited about this show, about this opportunity.

I think that he had a lot of the enthusiasm for the (laughs)- the vast majority of people who put themselves out there today have.

I think- I think the rest of the family was a little more cautious and a little more, um, just careful with the whole enterprise.

But, so I think that his kind of heightened nature in front of the cameras, uh, yes, it was a little bit to perform, but I think it was also just, you know, like I said, like, kid in a candy store, like, "I'm here and I- I know who I am "and I'm ready to present myself."

And, so, I think that very much, what you saw of him on camera was very much who he was off camera.

PAT: Which way is 431?

(indistinct) (footsteps) (hotel staff talking) (door knocking) JEFFREY: Just to watch the footage took three months at five hours a day.

DIANE: I mean- I mean, 300 hours is a lot, and to narrow it down to 12, I do wish they had the other 288 hours (laughs).

Because I find it very endearing how little guile they had.

I thought it was a pure experiment from the heart.

LANCE: Dyed my hair silver and did all that and just think it- it was energy that was being wasted because, I don't know, it was like being- being a little mouse and trapped in a- in a box or something.

I'm not saying that we led such, you know, a super average ordinary life, but- PAT: But you went into your room one year, and you didn't come out for about two more years.

THOMAS: Pat and Lance's relationship I think was very special and very strong.

And, you know, Lance struggled a bit, I think, with his father at that time, with Bill, you know, as one does in- in youth.

And I think he and Pat really connected to each other.

And you know, Pat's a fabulous woman, so she- she could understand her son's, you know, tenacious desire to go out and live his life, and I think she was very supportive of that.

(car revs) (crowd chattering) PAT: Billy.

BILL: I didn't know you were gonna bring your goods with you.

Good, good.

(crowd chattering) PAT: I really haven't been gone that long but it feels like, when you travel that far, God, it just feels like I've been gone for a year.

And then that was so kind of strange, Lance's world is so different.

BILL: I thought you might move out of that Chelsea and go to some proper hotel.

PAT: Oh no, oh no.

BILL: And you- you enjoyed the- the hardships, huh?

PAT: After the shock wore off, it was really so fascinating.

I don't think I would've had such a good time anywhere else.

(restaurant noises) But he's so wonderful, you know.

And he really does have some spark of life that I've never seen in anybody.

He walked down the street, and he'd sing and, you know, and dance, and just so much life.

BILL: Yeah.

Well, the boys are so, so, so lazy.

God, they're lazy.

And I got the, you know, the job for Grant in the- in the sawmill, and he says, "No way is he going."

I wish he were more dedicated.

You have to know what is right and what is wrong, and you have to try to lead them as far as you can.

And you can't lead them all the way.

But you should be able to push them.

PAT: Whatever they really wanna do is all right with me, as long as they- as they...

I don't- I don't expect them to get out and try to make all the money in the world.

BILL: Right.

PAT: I just want them to- to lead a life that they can support themselves happily, yeah.

BILL: But your job is to know right and wrong.

DIANE: I think people were taken aback a little bit at the concept of allowing cameras into your life.

And who would do that?

And why would you do that?

Are you that proud of your family that you want to be on display?

I think that the implied hubris of desiring to put yourself through the uncomfortableness of having cameras and sound people, people forget.

There's a lot of people involved.

It's not just a flip-phone in your kitchen, like it is today.

Yeah, I think that, I think that that was part of the vilification process for the- for them is that they were willing to do it at all.

JONATHAN: You know, it's tough to have your- your life dissected, not only just by the general public, but by newspaper reviewers and editorial writers, and, you know, it's just, it's just, it's my life, and you're taking it from me, and you're criticizing it.

You're criticizing, in front of everybody the choices I'm making.

You know, that's- that is not an easy thing to go through.

CRAIG: Bill Loud is the president of his own company, American Western Foundries, which sells replacement parts for the heavy equipment used in strip mining.

BILL: We could really, uh- anything can happen.

(mine collapses) Beautiful.

They'll, uh, they'll have a good movie for you.

GRANT: Yeah?

BILL: And, uh, you'll get to Hawaii about, uh- you'll leave at nine, you get to Hawaii about 11:00 at night.

Very good.

Very, oh, you guys are going?

Now I'm going to be left all by myself.

THOMAS: Ultimately to me they are the picture of a very loving, very successful, real American family, even though the show is considered the deconstruction of the unreal American family and I think there's a lot to learn from that.

SHARI: The Loud family, you know, lived in a beautiful home, they drove sport- fancy sports car.

Bill had a beautiful sports car.

RICHARD: They seem to have everything these California family shows were selling us that brings happiness and yet there was a lack of happiness, you know, threaded through the show.

GRANT: Because you'll just give me all this jazz about, "Where you're going to go to college "and take some economics and a banking course "and you'll be set for the rest of your life?"

BILL: Well don't you think you would be?

GRANT: No, I don't think so.

PAT: But I want you to do something.

I just want you to do something, just move the body.

GRANT: As long as it's not plonking on the guitar, right?

PAT: You can do that.

GRANT: Then how come you've been telling me not to plonk on the guitar for the last three days?

PAT: You can do that in moderation.

Do something besides sit in that room day in, day out.

When you're home you're either asleep, eating or in that room.

GRANT: That's not true, that's not true.

BILL: That's my job is to see that, uh, you get to see, uh, how life is going to be.

GRANT: Yeah.

(birds chirping) PAT: Clara, can you take this inside?

DELILAH: I'll wake him up to say goodbye.

PAT: Inside.

DELILAH: Yeah.

CRAIG: It is July 1st.

This morning, Pat Loud is leaving for a month's vacation in Taos, New Mexico.

Going with her are Michele, Delilah and Suzanne Tate, Delilah's girlfriend.

PAT: Think that's going to ride all right, huh?

Tell you, when I start (indistinct), down that road, you know they're going to move.

GRANT: Those things are tighter than a bug in a rug.

JEFFREY: I think above all else the director of An American Family, Craig Gilbert, wanted to make a film about virtually any American family which would upend the view of family life, very idealized in the television shows like Father Knows Best.

He felt, and wrote about this in the proposal, that his generation had really been sold a bill of goods.

Everyone was kind of traumatized by this sense of their own family not living up to those idealized standards.

GRANT: I'll talk to Maurie about it once.

BILL: Yeah, I'll meet you at the office.

PAT: Okay.

BILL: Okay.

PAT: Granty?

GRANT: What?

PAT: Come and kiss Mama goodbye.

(Kevin laughs) KEVIN: Let's go, wake up!

Bye-bye.

GRANT: Bye Mom.

PAT: Be a good boy.

GRANT: I will.

PAT: Be sure and come over if you want to.

GRANT: Yeah.

PAT: Kevy, I'll see you in two months.

And hold the dogs back, will you darling?

MICHELE: Alright now.

(door shuts) Bye Pat, bye Kevin.

GRANT: Have fun.

PAT: Thank you.

MICHELE: Bye.

(engine revs) DICK: As the series aired and became popular and controversial, both the producer Craig Gilbert and the Loud Family wanted their personal respective surge.

My God, that show was so known of course by then and had such a great rapt following.

I- I remember seeing the audience leaning forward.

They were gonna to see these strange creatures from this television show in which their private lives and gossip-worthy stuff happened in a way that it never ever happened on American television.

JEFFREY: Director Craig Gilbert could not have imagined the resonance that it would have in the United States.

There's no way that he could have conveyed that to the Louds in the course of getting them an informed release.

CRAIG: We don't know what a typical family is, we don't know what an average family is.

I am not a sociologist... DICK: Yeah.

CRAIG: Despite what has been said, uh, and misunderstood, I'm not even an amateur anthropologist.

DICK: Uh-huh.

CRAIG: Uh, I am simply a filmmaker who had an idea about doing a series.

RICHARD: It's interesting to see the Louds after trying to, you know, go on Dick Cavett and represent themselves.

I think that the fame was thrust upon them so they were like, "What do we do with it?"

because they were just regular people.

DICK: Let me ask you this bluntly now, if you had to do over again, can you give me a quick yes or no, would you do it again?

PAT: I say no, Bill says yes.

DICK: Oh is that right?

BILL: Let me say yes, will ya.

(audience laughing) LANCE: No matter how draggy the entire hour seemed, they suddenly pull themselves together and really throw on that old drama at the end freeze out and play some good music or something.

I really like that.

(audience laughing) GRANT: I think that the problem with our family and the problem with every family in the United States or in the world for that matter is the inability to help each other solve their problems.

DELILAH: We'd just be sitting and talking with friends or something, and- and- and viewing yourself you think, "Oh God say something intelligent, just don't sit there."

DICK: I'm not sure my motives were any more respectable than "they get great ratings" and so well, and did we, having them on.

SHARI: One of the things that I found most moving about this story of the Loud family and- they seem to sort of come apart, the family, throughout the documentary.

When the show came out and people started to judge them and it was seen as scandalous, in a weird way it brought the family together.

And, um, to me I found it very moving because they're a incredibly close family and, um, they- they- it's sort of the triumph of a family.

(sirens wailing) (fire crackling) CRAIG: It is early August, traditionally the time of brush fires in sun-parched Southern California.

In Santa Barbara, the Santana winds have driven the flames to within 50 yards of the Loud home.

(wind gushing) (sirens wailing) (wind gushing) The brush fires that swept through Santa Barbara last night almost destroyed the Loud home.

During the early morning, the flames were brought under control.

(truck revs) It is now late afternoon.

DELILAH: John Garvey took me up here, escorted me up here, you know, we had walk through, they had blocked off down to the reservoir, you know, and then we went up and we told them, "My house is on fire!"

(laughs) All I saw was big pink smoke- JONATHAN: When An American Family premiered back in 1973, I was a high school senior in upstate New York, suburban school district, and I remember watching it with my parents, we were big, um, PBS supporters.

And so when it premiered we, you know, like a lot of families back then, you know, we would watch- gather together to watch television, particularly on Sunday nights, and um, so we gathered together and- and watched it and I think we were all just riveted by it.

What was so great about An American Family was there were so many ways into the series.

You know for my parents it was looking at the way Pat and her husband were parenting.

For me it was seeing these children and what they were wanting to do with their lives.

DELILAH: Yeah, yeah, why don't you go and check the horses and stuff.

She hadn't walked out here yet.

Tammy said, you know, she was in, uh, her bedroom and Michele came out in the backyard to see where the fire was.

And Tammy said all she could hear was the screaming (screams) and Tammy came running out, Michele standing there screaming and crying and the flames are all up there and they were just around the house screaming and crying and stuff.

The fireman came up to the door, "Get out of the house!

Get out of the house!"

And so they had to get out of the house and then, uh, a policeman took them and the dogs down to the reservoir.

JEFFREY: In TV Guide, Margaret Mead published an article right before it was broadcast saying this is a new form that is like the novel.

A- a new- a new way for us to look at ourselves.

BILL: That's feta cheese.

PAT: Well don't put it in there.

BILL: Where- where do you put it?

PAT: Huh?

BILL: Where will you put the cheese?

If it's a cheese it goes in the cheese container, doesn't it?

DELILAH: Oh, my dad came home.

SPEAKER: He did?

DELILAH: Oh God, it's so embarrassing.

My parents got into a fight and I almost died.

"What, don't put the cheese in the refrigerator."

They were arguing about whether you should put the cheese in the refrigerator or not.

I mean, God, it was so embarrassing, man.

SPEAKER: Move on, that's life.

Parents.

DELILAH: I don't think I ever want to get married really.

I don't want, God man, I don't want to sit around here while they're yelling.

SPEAKER: Okay.

DELILAH: Maybe we'll stop by.

SPEAKER: Okay.

DIANE: I think it was very smartly edited in the sense that it managed to have as much compassion for these people while showing parts of them that are human.

We know what it is to be human, that number one it is to err, whether that is in judgment or otherwise, so, you're watching a fallible family do their best.

PAT: Where were you, by the way?

BILL: Eagle Mountain.

PAT: Oh, were you?

BILL: Yeah, not a big deal.

(utensils clanking) (singers vocalizing) CRAIG: It is fiesta time in Santa Barbara.

The beginning of a week-long celebration in honor of the city's Spanish heritage.

(crowd singing in foreign language) JONATHAN: I think for television reviewers at the time American Family came out, it was just so different, you know, it was in many ways unpolished, it was rough to watch.

The soundtrack was sometimes hard to hear what people were saying.

It didn't necessarily have a tidy plot line that you could have in scripted television.

And so I think these reviewers just didn't quite know how to react to it and didn't see just how revolutionary and- this was and how it was allowing us into something that we normally don't get to see.

(footsteps) CRAIG: Lance and his friend Christian are in Paris.

The rest of the original traveling companions have remained in Copenhagen.

JEFFREY: I give PBS a lot of credit for doing this show.

Particularly breaking with other recognizable forms of documentary that, like a survey or something like that and with experts, would've told people about what's happening in the American family.

Uh, and the idea of giving everybody an experiential sense of what's happening was immensely powerful and really is another thing that- that drew in the audience.

CHRISTIAN: That's the only thing, if we just, I don't know.

It's ruined the whole thing.

Everywhere we go all we do is think about money.

LANCE: I'd rather die.

CHRISTIAN: No you wouldn't.

LANCE: I think I would.

CHRISTIAN: Because if we don't get any money, you'll find out how fun dying is.

CRAIG: It is the middle of August 1971.

Bill Loud is on the fist leg of a business trip that will take him to the offices of most of the major mining companies across the country.

(machine revs) JONATHAN: You think about shows like An American Family and it's an enormous risk going in there with your cameras not knowing what's gonna happen.

You're filming all this material.

There's no guarantee that the story is going to be something that people are going to want to see.

BILL: That's just like a razor.

That must be- that must be really abrasive material, huh?

(machine revs) I represent Mary Steele Foundry out of Chicago for, uh, for the western states MAN: Uh huh... BILL: And uh, if you ever get tired of your (indistinct) well let me know and... (man laughs) CRAIG: Pat has decided to file for divorce and has told her children.

Later in the day she will drive to Glendale to explain her feelings to her brother Tom and his wife, Yvonne.

(door opens) (crickets chirping) PAT: He doesn't, um, he doesn't want to be home very much.

He's angry at me and there's a- there's- there's some- I don't, I- it's hard to explain.

And we just don't, uh, have any rapport at all anymore.

It's, um... (crickets chirping) If, um, if we had any, um... (crickets chirping) Well if we had any sex life, you know, that would be kinda nice but it's kinda like a courtesy, "thank you ma'am" thing.

And I am too, too, um, young for that.

I'm too old for woman's lib but I'm a little young for that.

And he- he just kinda tears off and he makes everything a lot more obvious now.

Uh, like the- the lipstick and powdering glunk on his shirts and things like that.

And he always leaves some, um, thing that... it's turned into a game, Yvonne, is what's happened.

JONATHAN: The same time as An American Family came out, I remember in our little suburban town of Fayetteville, suddenly so many of my friends parents were getting divorces.

It was sort of this time in America where people were saying, "I'm just not going to live my life "the way other people want me to live it.

"If I'm in an unhappy marriage, I'm getting out of it."

You know, there was- it was just this American Fa- An American Family was so much part of that moment and I don't know if An American Family led the moment or it was just part of the moment but it was at a crucial moment in America where people were just saying, "I'm not gonna live my life the way someone else thinks I need to live it."

(indistinct) DICK: Who, surrounded by cameras, is going to be of themselves.

A legitimate doubt.

I doubted that at first when I first heard the idea of the show, but I knew from my own experience that you can become your- in your own world and talk frankly and really.

GRANT: I see.

DELILAH: You're- you're going to pick him up right?

Mom?

You're the only that can pick him up.

You have to.

MAN: That was bad.

(indistinct) This is a drama part.

GRANT: I'd rather- I'd rather you didn't.

It's going to be sort of a sticky situation.

(plane revs) BILL: Hey!

Hey G, how are ya?

So, how's everything on the home front?

The little, uh, wolverine is, uh, buried outside, right?

GRANT: Very hard, very hard.

BILL: Got the- got the duplex teeth out ready to go with uh... Jump at those- at the sight of a...

It's very tough.

GRANT: (chuckles) Yes.

Besides Mom and the Volvo and uh, school's staring next week, everything's uh... JEFFREY: What was groundbreaking about An American Family is that other filmmakers had been using this observational fly- on-the-wall style, but the director Craig Gilbert pushed it to a new level by going inside the home.

BILL: Any problems?

(door closes) (indistinct) How about uh, Grant's car?

PAT: I'm sure Mrs. Regan must've told you the problems.

BILL: I know I- big dude, how are you?

DELILAH: Hi Dad!

Dad!

BILL: God, the green high dos and the long neck.

DELILAH: Uh oh, fancy tie.

BILL: Oh, yeah, the- the $45 tie from uh, little bit of Chicago.

No, uh, Mrs. Regan left today, you know, went on a vacation and, uh, I don't, I don't, what else?

Uh, anything else?

PAT: Well, uh, did, did Grant say anything to you?

BILL: No, about what?

Oh.

PAT: Oh come on, don't give me that.

BILL: No, I know.

PAT: You know there's a problem.

BILL: What's your problem?

PAT: I just, that's really keen.

Um, I have, uh, I've spoken to a lawyer and uh, this is his card.

He would like to have you get in touch with him.

BILL: Okay.

PAT: And I'd like to have you move out.

It's just like that.

BILL: Oh, that's a fair deal.

PAT: I figured you'd think that.

BILL: You know, Pat, I think it's short-sighted on my part really, but um... (sighs) Well, a good deal.

PAT: Oh, and I'd like to have you get in touch with him tomorrow morning.

He'll be in his office tomorrow morning.

BILL: Well I'm glad you didn't pick the most expensive lawyer, really.

PAT: Yeah I- I tried to be a little... BILL: Yeah.

PAT: Medium priced in this thing.

BILL: Okay.

Okay, well, um, let's see.

Got everybody shaped up here, have you?

PAT: Uh-huh.

BILL: And, uh, Grant's in good shape and...?

PAT: Everybody is in very good shape.

They all understand the problem and uh, this- they all understand this is only between you and me.

(radio playing music) BILL: Well, then I don't have to unpack my bag, do I?

PAT: No, I thought you might want to get some clean clothes or something.

BILL: You know I got plenty of money.

I'll pick up my clothes tomorrow sometime.

PAT: Okay.

BILL: You got a car around?

I got an extra car.

PAT: Sure.

BILL: No?

PAT: Yes, take the Toyota, take the- take the Jag, I don't want this.

DIANE: An- and the thing is it wasn't scripted and these weren't actors so you're really left comparing your own experiences saying, "Would I do that?

Could I do that?"

And also feeling- I think a lot of women felt very empowered.

And I think that Pat was doing it not just for herself.

That she just was really, genuinely over it.

Um, and willing to lose her marriage and- and flagrantly give up on her marriage in front of everybody, and I do mean everybody (laughs).

Um, that was intense.

BILL: Uh, yeah, do you have a room tonight?

Yeah.

One.

Okay, um, hold it for Loud, will you?

I'll be down in about a half an hour.

L-O-U-D.

Right.

Okay, fine.

Thank you.

(hangs up phone) Are you going dude?

DELILAH: Yeah.

BILL: Yeah.

Uh, well, keep in touch.

DELILAH: Okay.

Bye-bye.

BILL: You see, Patty, if, um, Glen calls me, it's very important, make sure he calls me at the Lemon Tree, will you.

PAT: I'll do that, yeah.

BILL: Because, uh, he is in Bogandale and we got a five-year order, cooking order.

Well, McNamara is, uh, going to try to sell him the same thing.

So, uh, we can't have that happen.

Well did- did that telex go to Melbourne or did that telex... SECRETARY: No, it was right, Bogandale.

(indistinct) BILL: Oh, okay.

SECRETARY: And I got their telex number at, uh, Bogandale.

BILL: Yeah.

SECRETARY: Telex is direct (indistinct).

BILL: Fine.

Fine.

SECRETARY: So uh- BILL: So anyhow, I'll put a call in to him just to double check.

Well if, uh, you need a swimming pool, come on down to the Lemon Tree (laughs).

Okay, I'll be talking to you.

SECRETARY: Okay, goodbye.

BILL: Bye-bye.

Bag.

SHARI: There was a toughness to Pat, like when she had to- she told her husband on air that she was ending the marriage and yet there was this incredible vulnerability, how hard it was, how terrifying it was to be a divorced woman in the early '70s.

This sort of evolution of this home-maker, this mom and this wife to this kind of feminist icon in a way is what Pat eventually became.

(plane noises) PAT: Is that you?

DELILAH: He's back!

PAT: Look, he's got a mustache.

DELILAH: Yay!

KEVIN: My own mustache.

MICHELE: My God!

KEVIN: Michele.

PAT: Kevin.

Oh, no!

(all laughing) DELILAH: Oh no!

MICHELE: Hi, Grant, how are you?

GRANT: Hi Patty, nice to see you.

KEVIN: Is it falling off?

PAT: (laughs) just a little bit.

Where'd you get it?

KEVIN: I got it in, uh, Hong Kong.

(laughs) It's fine.

(laughs) I shaved.

(all laughing) I think I'll stay off tomorrow.

Have a little vacation before I go back to work (laughs).

PAT: Listen, I've got enough mutinist troops around here.

KEVIN: Yeah, Grant and- uh, Grant seems a little weird.

What's he so upset about?

PAT: Just doesn't like school.

KEVIN: Doesn't he?

PAT: Mmhmm... KEVIN: I'm really glad to get back home, I really am.

JONATHAN: I see mostly good when I look at American Family.

Uh, I am so- I have so much admiration for what the filmmakers accomplished.

And I have so much admiration for- to the Loud family for allowing the filmmakers to tell their story.

It showed us that- that real people's lives could be entertaining and that we could take something from those lives that would help us grow ourselves.

PAT: Girls up washing their hair and arguing and turning on those lights in the bathroom and stomping around the hall and slamming their closet doors.

KEVIN: Mmm.

PAT: Dogs barking and cats meowing, it's a little noisy.

Hmm?

KEVIN: Have you ever seen Trip around here?

PAT: No, honey.

THOMAS: The idealism of the nuclear family of the '50s was sort of wading under the pressures of reality, I suppose.

And the '60s had been this kinda transitory period and in the '70s it was, when you look at it, An American Family is right in the center of this, changing minds and outlooks.

MAN: That's a load of people.

MAN 2: That is a lot of people.

KEVIN: I don't believe we got the whole thing set up.

MAN: That's gonna be a lot of my aunt's friends.

(both laugh) KEVIN: You look great in your uniform.

You got a helmet too?

MAN: Yeah, I got a red helmet, it's not a regular helmet.

KEVIN: Stay here, don't let anyone near the stage.

Nobody, okay?

MAN: Let's stand up here.

(cheerleaders cheering) (cheerleaders cheering) (crowd applauding and cheering) (motorcycle revs) (crowd applauding and cheering) GRANT: Oh, woo!

(vocalizing) JONATHAN: An American Family is an incredible time capsule of a moment in this country's history.

A moment when everything was up for debate.

Young people just refusing to necessarily live their lives the way their parents had.

(crowd cheering and applauding) (indistinct singing) (indistinct singing) (crowd cheering and applauding) (indistinct singing) (crowd cheering and applauding) (indistinct singing) (indistinct) (crowd cheering) JEFFREY: This was a courageous thing for PBS to do.

They were jumping into the dark, nobody really knew, uh, what kind of impact it might have.

JONATHAN: It really was the precursor to this- this unscripted storytelling now that dominates the entertainment industry, at least on streaming and television.

CRAIG: It is October 3rd, Lance is back in New York after spending the summer in Europe.

Later this week he will return to Santa Barbara for the first time in eight months.

(plane revs) GRANT: Old Lance, coming home.

PAT: Yeah, how about that.

THOMAS: Particularly for Lance, and particularly for Pat, I don't know if they were coming from any sort of, "We're- we're going to really, you know, expose ourselves to the world," and you read "first openly gay figure in television," you imagine he was kind of this pioneer pushing that, but I don't think he was, I think he was just being himself fully, and maybe it was naivety, maybe it was, um, optimism that he just came to this series an open book.

And of course dealt with the backlash and punishment that often goes with someone courageously just being themselves.

I think particularly in the '70s.

LANCE: Yeah, here we all are.

PAT: Here we all are.

(cars revving) LANCE: Isn't this a neat one?

MICHELE: Yeah.

LANCE: It has all these things on it.

GRANT: I love it.

RICHARD: The truth, probably, that really pushed a lot of buttons for people, uh, which is why I think it was so fascinating because they saw themselves but didn't want to see themselves.

They wanted to see Mr. and Mrs. Brady.

They wanted to see functioning families, things like that.

I think you blame the messenger, you know.

And I think that's what America did after they completely absorbed the show.

LANCE: If you're talking to someone and they- and they think you're boring, at least they can look at your shirt because your shirt's still interesting.

Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I have the best color in fingernail polish.

MICHELE: Mine's darker.

LANCE: No.

No, sorry honey.

MICHELE: Sorry honey but it is.

What?

Now get ready for this.

LANCE: Okay.

MICHELE: Now let's compare.

LANCE: Okay, compare redness.

MICHELE: Sure.

LANCE: I know, well.

MICHELE: Yeah.

LANCE: This is much more 1920s.

MICHELE: No it isn't.

This is much dark- this is Christian Dior.

LANCE: Well this was 69 cents.

MICHELE: This was 68 cents.

It was marked off from 2.50 (laughs).

LANCE: Well mine's been 68 cents for longer than I care to remember.

MICHELE: I'm sorry but I got it out of a box that- it was all ingrown and then- RICHARD: Well the show was never nominated for anything, you know, and it was groundbreaking and sometimes when you're the first, you know, people don't know what to do with it.

DIANE: I think it was, uh, the uninvited person to the party, you know, that had to be acknowledged for its popularity but it was not going to be appropriately appreciated until enough time had gone by where they can have a frame of reference to say, "Look at where we wound up.

How did we get here?"

And I think that this show was the first domino.

BILL: Dearest Lance, thank you for your wonderful letter, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The contents were well constructed and I very much enjoyed your analogy of the return of Lance versus the fall of the father.

It is also reassuring that you're concern to an extent with the marital problems of your problem- plagued parents, as you stated.

It is even more rewarding however to know that at times in your and my relationship, that you did feel close to me and that you did consider me a father-friend and not always as a horrible money-dispensing crocodile.

And so when you come to see me during our future life, come and see me as a very good old friend who just wants to enjoy you and who you want to enjoy.

And that my boy, is a real-life father and son relationship.

THOMAS: There is a certain superiority and snobbery that goes with a lot of large media that is made and the fact that this was just real people being filmed.

I think that there was a kind of a dismissive attitude to this idea, that, well, this isn't written and this isn't acted and this isn't- and you know, now of course we know that that is a gateway to incredible things to- to witness, to see truth filmed.

And in this way, particularly, where it wasn't so manipulated and it wasn't so manufactured.

LANCE: This is my first letter to my father after the- the broken home.

Dear Pater, erk, I cannot begin this letter in such a tacky way, Pater, urgh, really.

It sounds like I'm a hairdresser or something.

Puff, puff, I'll try again.

Dear Dad...

Okay ma'am, well here I am, your angel food cupcake that fell flat as soon as it got out of the oven.

Yes, you guessed it, it's Lance.

THOMAS: So there's this beautiful direct relationship between PBS and audiences.

This is a- a place that is really about reaching people with things that speak to them on a very direct personal level and I would imagine that An American Family is a huge milestone for PBS.

I mean as much as it was such a risk at the time to take and such unchartered territory and what a debt of gratitude owes PBS for that, for taking that risk in the '70s and for continuing to take the risk they have.

LANCE: First impressions make a lot of... BILL: Big- big- (laughs) big difference, huh?

LANCE: Yep.

BILL: Oh Jesus, it's too good to see you.

LANCE: Yeah, so now, well I'll talk to him.

(everyone laughs) BILL: So anyhow, uh, what is this, be sincere now.

What do you want me to do?

LANCE: Uh, nothing, I- I have I have to have a dollar to go and get my drivers license so that I can- I'm arguing with Mom about using the car because, of course I don't have any insurance and she won't let me.

Oh, she says that she wants you to come up and take us all out to dinner some- well not her, but um, everybody else out to dinner some night.

BILL: Why?

LANCE: Uh, Sunday night because she says it'll be nice for her.

Because, we, Dad, you're like a pop star, we only hear about you and see your picture in fan magazines.

We never see you in person anymore.

BILL: Never see the real Bill Loud.

LANCE: The real you, man.

BILL: Might have to come down and, uh... MICHELE: Okay, let's just- LANCE: Come on, let's get it all out and put it on the table.

PAT: Okay, the first complaint that I have is about the cars.

LANCE: Okay.

PAT: And the second one is about nobody cleaning up after themselves.

Outside of that you're really outstandingly beautiful people but- but that's- that's a really bad thing.

LANCE: Yes.

MICHELE: Yes.

LANCE: All together now.

PAT: Nobody is to take your car off of this hill.

I don't want to take the keys out of those cars.

Let's have the crashing boar.

And I want everybody to stay out of my- my liquor cabinet, is that clear?

GRANT: A little late for that, isn't it?

(Michele laughs) PAT: I hope not.

LANCE: I do too (laughs).

When you compare it with the rest of the morons that live in Santa Barbara, really, our family's so exciting that, you know, we- and we don't send you to the lower depths.

We really don't.

PAT: How do you know that?

LANCE: And none of our friends- PAT: How do you know what you do to me?

LANCE: Well, Mom, if- if- if you can't stand up under five kids you knew what you were going to get into when you had five kids.

Or you should have had some idea.

PAT: I didn't know what I was getting into.

LANCE: What did you think we were going to be?

The five little peppers.

Honey, we're gonna last longer than that, dear.

And you've got to accept it, that- that there are five kids and there's going to be some amount of- of problem.

You really should- PAT: I expect a certain amount of problem, Lance, but I also... Lance.

LANCE: What?

PAT: I also expect a certain amount of help, especially now.

LANCE: Honey, Delilah, she's going to give someone a good wife some day.

DELILAH: (laughs) A good wife?

(Lance laughs) DELILAH: Ugh, are we through?

PAT: I think so.

DIANE: It had a lot of heart.

It was coming from, I think, a really earnest place.

Um, and it covered a lot of territory which is what happens when you take a road trip without a destination (laughs).

THOMAS: They were the epitome of a great American family because Pat and Bill stood by their son Lance, and they stood by his freedom to express and upon his wish, you know, many, many, many years later, he wanted his parents back together and they got back together, and loved each other very much.

And have never denied that they didn't love each other.

BILL: Well, the lawyer said I, and I think he- you know, those- those lawyers are such fake-a-loo guys, you know.

MAN: Mmhmm.

BILL: And he says, "Well, I think your big problem "is you're traveling too much," and I said, "I think you're right, "I'm traveling too much, "but if we got to live in this way "that we've accustomed ourself, I got to travel that much."

MAN: Mmhmm.

BILL: Just pour it out, fill it to... WOMAN: Just pour it out, huh?

BILL: Just sock it on me.

I've got to drive all the way to Santa Barbara.

WOMAN: Good.

BILL: I don't know, I don't know, how do we- how do we, Americans get into this situation?

How do we do- do this?

And you got to do everything with everybody all the time.

How do we do it?

Geez, my buddy Jean Jacque outta Paris goes to South America for two or three weeks.

A little hanky panky, nothing he just- that's all, just a little traveling.

My buddy from northern Italy goes to- to Mexico City.

Nobody's complaining.

The family is sacred.

You know, I mean, it's a big sacred deal, but here, Jesus, it's got to be all the time.

Got to be a 24-hour deal and I- I, you know, I object.

I don't think it's right.

I think- I think somebody has sold the society, a bad bill of goods.

THOMAS: More than ever, we are inundated with true stories, true lives, personal lives, through social media, through everything.

You live in a world now where, um, your personal life is currency, you know, or at least that is kind of the- idea upheld.

And so to return to a concept that, yes, 50 years ago is a long time but it's not that long when you compare it to how far (laugh) the needle has moved.

PAT: Well I- I think perhaps Bill might be in the same boat.

He doesn't want to hurt me and, um, he really likes me, you know, and I really like him and there's no- perhaps you and Lynn are in the same boat.

It's kind of a strange place to be, I'll tell you.

JACK: You bet.

PAT: Really, at my age, Jack, I may never marry again.

And poor Bill (laughs).

JACK: Let's go out and dance.

PAT: All right.

JACK: Mary, come on.

Let's go organize this.

I found this the most depressing conversation I've ever heard in my bloody life.

MICHELE: Yeah, because Jack's- JACK: I think I'm going to have a heart attack.

(Jack laughs) Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

PAT: But these things happen.

SHARI: Gilbert was a huge pioneer and he never made anything again as a producer and it's such a shame because what a huge cultural, like, phenomenon of this show that he did.

RICHARD: At the end of the day, Craig Gilbert really did something pretty incredible, and the Raymonds.

I mean I think this was such a collaborative effort.

They really did something that no one else has ever done.

CRAIG: There is no question if the presence of our camera crews and their equipment had an effect on the Louds, one which is impossible to evaluate.

It is equally true that the Louds had an effect on us, the filmmakers, for this was a co- operative venture in every sense of the word.

The Louds are neither average nor typical.

No family is.

They are not the American family, they are simply an American family.