Enter At Your Own Risk

An American Family, shown on PBS in the 70s, was the first "reality series," taking us into the home of the Loud clan.  Millions watched as the oldest son came out and the parents separated.  I just caught Cinema Verite, the HBO movie about the making of An American Family.  It was okay, and Diane Lane as mom Pat Loud was especially good, but it didn't cut too deeply.  It faithfully reproduced what happened, but not much more.

Some years back PBS reran the original series.  I caught a bit, but not enough to get into it.  To this day, though, I don't understand why any family would agree to such miscroscopic examination.  I can understand why young adults want to get attention by being on the more artificial situation of The Real World, but allowing a film crew into your home, especially as your family is falling apart?  In today's YouTube world, we know there's plenty of exhibitionism out there, but there are still some things meant to be private.