An American Family Revisited: The Louds 10 Years Later

I didn't know a thing about the Louds. It seems their family life was filmed in 1973 as a documentary and aired on PBS. Quite a few things happened--the oldest son came out as gay (that was shocking for 1973) and the wife told her husband outright that she wanted a divorce--right in front of the camera. This documentary visited the family 10 years later. It showed clips from the original show so it doesn't matter if you ever saw it. This was absolutely fascinating. The original doc was ahead of its time--it predated reality TV by over 20 years! It visits the parents and the kids and they all seem to have survived OK. The gay son was easily the most playful--he's almost jumping around on camera and was well-adjusted considering how hard it must have been for him to come out. Also the mother talks about why she told her husband she wanted a divorce on TV and shows how she was happier without him! An absolutely fascinating documentary. It pulls you right in. Well worth catching. On a sad note, the gay son died of AIDS a few years ago and THAT was filmed as well.