Let's Get Real: HBO Revisits An American Family With Cinema Verite
Hollywood news flash! The HBO movie, “Cinema Verite,” is in full production. The term means films about ordinary people without script or direction, as in realty TV. This revisit of the television sensation, “An American Family,” is written by heavyweight producer David Seltzer (“The Omen”).
The cast isn’t too shabby, either: James “Is There Life After Tony Soprano?” Gandolfini. Diane “I’m Still Hot at 45” Lane. Tim “I’m More Than Shawshank Redemption” Robbins. Thomas “Teen Throb” Dekker.
There was a time when a reality show meant the evening news. Everyone thinks the genre was invented around 2000. It was re-invented.
A daring series hit the airwaves in 1973. A production team had the wild idea to film live running footage of the real happenings of an “average” American family. Despite the newly arrived Archie Bunker, television family programs were still a steady diet of Bradys and Waltons. That’s reality, Hollywood said. If you don’t measure up, look in the mirror. Many did, fell short, and got depressed.
The Loud family didn’t measure up, either, and in a way, it made us feel better about our dysfunctional selves. On the surface, all appeared fine: an upper middle class Southern California nuclear family with five kids, three poodles, a horse and a swimming pool. But the husband cheats, the wife kicks him out, a nasty divorce begins, and the kids go to pieces. If that weren’t enough, a son who fancies dresses breaks out of the closet. All on national television.
Apparently, no one expected the domestic fireworks, but not to worry, they thought. The show was little more than a glorified home movie that would fly under the radar, especially on public television. Who watches that? OMG! For 12 weeks, 10 million eager voyeurs were glued to one of the most popular PBS programs in history. TV interviews, endless news stories, and the cover of Newsweek Magazine under the title “Broken Family” quickly followed.
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