Editing An American Family (section)

==Cultural impact==
''An American Family'' is widely credited with ushering in the era of reality television.<ref name="Yardley"/> In 2013, Gilbert criticized the modern-day genre of reality television, saying, "What they’re doing is they’re using real people, but they’re scripting the shows."<ref name="Yardley"/> He called reality TV "basically cheap television."<ref name="Yardley"/>

The series inspired numerous TV shows, films, and documentaries.

In 1974, the BBC made its own similar program, called ''[[The Family (1974 UK TV series)|The Family]]''. The program consisted of 12 half-hour episodes, showing the daily lives and concerns of the [[working-class]] Wilkins family, of [[Reading, Berkshire]], England.

In 1978, in a skit called "The Loud Family," ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' portrayed a family whose members shouted at the top of their lungs, even during intimate moments.

The series inspired a 1977 story arc in the satirical soap opera ''[[Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman]]'' in which a television crew for ''[[The David Susskind Show]]'' documents the daily life of the titular character as the "typical American consumer housewife".

In 1979, [[Albert Brooks]] spoofed the series in his film ''[[Real Life (1979 film)|Real Life]]''.<ref name="Westword">Roberts, Michael. [http://www.westword.com/1996-03-14/music/the-unreal-world/ "The Unreal World"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128132305/http://www.westword.com/1996-03-14/music/the-unreal-world/|date=January 28, 2015}}. ''[[Westword|Denver Westword]]''. March 14, 1996</ref>

In 1983, HBO broadcast ''An American Family Revisited: The Louds 10 Years Later''.<ref name="pbs-landloud-about" />

The ''[[Kate & Allie]]'' episode "The Very Loud Family", where Emma films their daily lives for a school project, is inspired by ''An American Family''.

The 1985–88 [[mockumentary]] series of TV films ''[[The History of White People in America]]'' and ''Portrait of a White Marriage'' parody the series in following the lives of a dysfunctional white suburban family led by [[Fred Willard]] and [[Mary Kay Place]].

The series inspired the [[MTV]] reality television series ''[[The Real World (TV series)|The Real World]]''.<ref name="Westword" />

[[Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris|Jonathan Dayton]], co-director of the 2006 film ''[[Little Miss Sunshine]],'' says the film was inspired in part by ''An American Family''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ettenhofer |first=Valerie |date=2022-08-13 |title=The Controversial '70s TV Hit That Inspired Little Miss Sunshine |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/959206/the-controversial-70s-tv-hit-that-inspired-little-miss-sunshine/ |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=/Film |language=en-US}}</ref>

In April 2011, PBS rebroadcast the entire original series in a marathon format on many of its member stations, before the release of the [[HBO]] film ''[[Cinema Verite]]'', based on the series.<ref>Braxton, Greg, [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/04/pbs-so-cal-to-run-marathon-of-landmark-an-american-family.html "PBS' KOCE to broadcast landmark 'An American Family'"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306204626/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/04/pbs-so-cal-to-run-marathon-of-landmark-an-american-family.html|date=March 6, 2016}}, ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', April 13, 2011</ref><ref>[http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jan/11/pbs-looking-to-revisit-1973s-an-american-family/ "PBS looking to revisit 1973's 'An American Family'"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011131928/http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jan/11/pbs-looking-to-revisit-1973s-an-american-family/|date=October 11, 2012}}, [[Associated Press]], January 11, 2011</ref>

On July 7, 2011, most PBS stations presented ''An American Family: Anniversary Edition'', a two-hour film by Alan and Susan Raymond that featured selected moments from the documentary series, in tribute to the 40 years since the series began filming in 1971. It was subsequently released on DVD.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/programs/american-family/ ''An American Family: Anniversary Edition''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130702054818/http://www.pbs.org/programs/american-family/|date=July 2, 2013}}, PBS</ref>

The French philosopher [[Jean Baudrillard]] mentions the television series in his 1981 book, ''[[Simulacra and Simulation]]''.