I'm not sure if "reality" TV starts here, or ends here. But "here" is TV's original docusoap miniseries, from 1973 -- PBS's An American Family.
HBO revisits that landmark societal moment in its fact-based April 23 movie drama Cinema Verite -- and the next day, PBS's WORLD channel encores the original source material, all 12 aired hours of it, for the first time in 20 years.
An American Family unreels on WORLD in marathon form, from noon to midnight ET April 24.
(New York viewers can actually catch it by changing the channel the moment Cinema Verite ends, on WNET/13 starting at 11 p.m. ET April 23.)
WORLD is a digital subchannel, which means a lot of viewers across the country will have trouble finding it. And it doesn't air in all public TV markets. But where it does, it's over-the-air available to all, which is wonderful.
(Unless you watch on cable/satellite only, have no antenna, and your provider doesn't deliver all subchannels. Investigate now, starting at the WORLD website.)
WNET, which produced An American Family, has also created a flashback web site that streams lengthy sequences from the original series, along with one full episode.
HBO's Cinema Verite [photo at right] recreates that surreal '70s moment when cameras moved in with an "ordinary" suburban California family to show their daily life unfolding -- which turned into their daily life imploding.
Diane Lane, Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini star, with Thomas Dekker, Lolita Davidovich, Kathleen Quinlan, Patrick Fugit and Shanna Collins.
Here's more from HBO's press release:
Cinema Verite gives a behind-the-scenes look at how the original PBS series was created by filmmaker Craig Gilbert (James Gandolfini), focusing on the seven-month period in 1971 when the original footage was filmed. While he aimed to have an impact on culture, he also felt that the family's struggles were relatable to many Americans in a way that the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family were not. The crew of Alan and Susan Raymond (Patrick Fugit, Shanna Collins), who did the filming, were often at odds with Gilbert about what content was appropriate to shoot.
The 1973 airing of An American Family drew more than 10 million viewers, sparking widespread controversy and harsh criticism of the family. It was widely discussed in the media, with the Loud family appearing on the cover of the March 12, 1973 issue of Newsweek.
World renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead observed, "[An American Family] is, I believe, as new and as significant as the invention of drama or the novel -- a new way in which people can learn to look at life, by seeing the real life of others interpreted by the camera."
In 2002, TV Guide named An American Family one of The Top 50 Greatest Shows of All Time.
HBO's movie promo: