Just watched American Family Follow-Up DVDs
I just got and watched the follow-up DVD's on the Loud Family:
'American Family Revisited: The Louds Ten Years Later' -- Premiered first in 1983 and then re-broadcast in 1991. It was very interesting to see the family 10 years later (from the original broadcast year). The DVD had clips from the original 'An American Family' sprinkled throughout separate interviews of the family members as they were 10 years after the broadcast. Nice little follow-up documentary and good to see how the kids especially were faring 10 years after the show came out and what they were doing with their lives at that time.
And...
'Lance Loud!: A Death In An American Family': 2002. This one was rather sad to watch as it filmed Lance during his hospice days and included clips from his memorial service. Lance was my favorite of the family, and he was so full of life and energy that it was sad for me to watch this; however, I think it is a somewhat a tribute to him and something that he wanted in order to 'bring closure', at least for him, to the whole American Family phenomenon. Only complaint I have about this particular documentary is that it had lots of clips from the 'Revisited' doc in it. I watched both these DVD's back-to-back, with the revisited doc first, so felt as if I was re-watching a lot of what I had already seen when watching the second DVD. Especially poignant in this one was watching the father's interview and how he came to view his and Lance's relationship subsequent to Lance's passing.
I recommend both DVD's for fans of the original series. However, prepare yourself a bit before watching the Lance Loud one. Not only was I saddened by seeing Lance as sick as he was, and then by his loss, but also being a child of the 70's and remembering seeing 'An American Family' when it first aired, this final DVD really brought home to me how much time has passed since the days of my own youth.
"I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than..a rude remark or a vulgar action" Blanche DuBois