Patricia Loud, Matriarch Of America’s First Reality TV Family, Dead At 94

“Ms. Loud was a California mother of five. She drank, she plotted her divorce, she adored, and accepted, her openly gay son. She did it all in Santa Barbara and all on camera — in 1973. Loving, boisterous, witty, resilient and sometimes angry and hurt, she did not act like most women on television at the time. But she was ostensibly not acting at all. She was the first reality television star on the first reality show” — An American Family, aired on PBS — “and she paid a price for breaking new ground.” – The New York Times