Grant is incredibly handsome here. And he has the look and the chops of a rock star. I have followed the Louds since the series premiered. To think that the media crucified them back in the day, and now reality shows are embraced! As Ray Davies would sing, they were the "unreal reality," and still they were much more authentic than any of today's "reality shows."
Hi Grant. I remember your family and that PBS series quite well. I was a freshman in high school back then. The two things that have stuck in my mind all these years are you singing this song and your brother Lance, in NYC at the time, talking about his concern of being "forgotten like a Fizzy." I hope your family is doing okay and I'm sorry that Lance died. Thanks to PBS, he will always be immortalized on film, as will you all.
Our family was about the age yours was at the time, Grant, and it was strangely unnerving to watch you guys deal with real issues at the same time we had the brady bunch or partidges who supposedly showed who we were. yeah right. Seeing it now is like a blast back to what it felt like to be a teenager in the mid 70s, growing up in lake tahoe with families getting blasted apart all around us and trying to live up to the 50s view of family that our folks tried to attain. Alyson
@NellyHanky11 - Hey NH, First of all, thanks for the sweet remarks. Where the heck you 40 years ago? Also, just wanted to clear up one misconception. A couple of years ago, I'd heard about a guy who was selling pirated copies of the series. He was using RUclips to promote his illegal business, and I objected to that. So many people made money off of us that occasionally it still rankles. It's a weird thing to be a 56 year old man looking at this, but we're all proud of what we did. Cheers -Grant
Greylow54 hi grant! Discovering this series was fantastic. I love this little glimpse of you so happily singing. Your mom positively beamed watching you! The impromptu performance just makes me happy every time I watch. I like your snappy version better than the original. So sweet! Take care☺️
I love this program. I wasn't born until many years after it first aired, but thanks to a torrent site I've been able to watch episodes of it and it's one of the most riveting things I've ever seen. It's noteworthy how the Loud parents tried to make Grant get a day job while he did stuff with his band; these days, they'd be pushing him to go onto American Idol. *rolls eyes* I think the whole family came across as extremely likeable on this show. Moreso than any "reality TV star" of today.
ITS THE BEST COVER I HAVE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE. IM SHOCKED HE WASNT SIGNED TO A LABEL..SO MANY GUYS WITH ABSOLUTELY NO TALENT HAVE BEEN SIGNED. AND HE WASNT. GO FIGURE
@acrean I too grew up in California during this time! My parents had a similar divide re: raisng kids much as the Louds appeared to. My Mom was cool & tried to support our music, etc., while Dad (10 years older than Mom) was more into conventional lifestyle. The 60's had left an imprint on many families of the 70's with the kids still exploring 60's type of culture & parents still trying to live the 50's dream. This series now brings up nostalgia for me in lots of the little moments portrayed.
Thanks for checking in SSB. Lance is in no danger of being forgotten like a Fizzy, but yeah, I'm sorry he died too. In fact, I'm particularly sorry that he died on my wedding day. Long story. Stay sexy, Butch! Cheers, G
I watched the HBO film last night, and wonder how much of the behind-the-scenes stuff was real. The family seemed lovely, very down to earth and open-minded. It was sad that the public thought so little of them. I hope that they would be treated with more respect nowadays.
I remember when the series originally aired. It’s so fantastic to at least be able to see parts of it again. Would love to be able to see the entire series, one of the best things that’s ever been on television.
Golly! I remember this so well. My family were great Kinks fans, and so apparently were the Louds. I remember enjoying Grant singing "Apeman". And in another episode Lance, somewhere in Europe, sang "She's Bought a Hat like Princess Marina's" as Christian accompanied him on piano. God bless the Louds. I loved them.
Hi Grant Happy New Year! I had a feeling you would check out this site. Well I mean it, you were and probably still are an accomplished musician! You never lose that passion. Thx. for explaining about the previous RUclips postings; I can understand why you'd be upset about it. Yes, it must be weird for you to look back and see it on celluloid. How strange that it took another 20+ years for reality TV to kick in. You guys were the trendsetters and you should be proud of that!
@Greylow54 Cheers, Grant. I saw the series for the first time a year ago. It did touch my heart in many ways. I don't know if it were ever shown in Sweden, where I'm from, but I do rememeber what might have been a news report about the series with the band rehearsing. I'm 47, I was a bit young then. Though still, seeing it brought me straight back to that early 70s setting of uncut hair and very small T-shirts. Not to mention home decorating...
Yes I agree...and the high school performance was fun too - Grant dressed up in his "Jumping Jack Flash" outfit; perhaps this will surface again as well. By the way, there will be an H.B.O. movie about the Louds and the documentary. Diane Lane and James Gandolfini are in it. Not sure when that will be broadcast.
"Candid Camera" spanned about four decades with a few network and syndicated runs, eventually hosted by Allen Funt's son, Peter, in the 1990s. But there were also several "Candid Camera" imitators in the '80s, such as "Real People" and "That's Incredible," the latter capturing more unbelievable situations and stunts, the program which popularized the phrase "Don't try this at home!" Of course "America's Funniest Home Videos' and even MTV's "Jackass" are inspired by those two shows.
Yes there were a lot of other episodes posted here a while ago; supposedly Grant was upset about all of these postings...I don't know why. This show was defiinitely ahead of its time and Grant was an accomplished musician. There was also an episode where Grant and Lance played "Imagine" (John Lennon's version). Can you imagine? No pun intended!! They would NEVER be able to use that song on TV in this day and age w/o all of the legal approvals. It was a different time back then.....
@eternalise Yes, I was surprised at how little there was from AAF here. He did Mother Nature's Son too, but Im just not a Beatles fan... There's also the band appearance at their high school, which is truly astounding.
I'm very apprehensive towards this kind of dramatizations, but HBO did the Grey Gardens movie which I did find so much more enjoyable than I thought I would. Still, what people need is to see the original series, first and foremost. So a DVD box would be a wise idea. I find them all very likeable, very eh, real. Well, compared to these fake reality shows we have now. Though AAF surely has it's arranged moments and mispresentations this is a whole different kind of reality show.
@chrisnope1 Hey CN1, Our original agreement with PBS was that they had complete rights "in perpetuity" to the series for "non commercial broadcast only", but that has never been an obstacle. The major problem has been that there is so much music playing in the background throughout the entire show that it would be impossible - both financially and logistically - to obtain legal rights for release. I guess all of that is just a long way of simply saying "no"...
I agree with what you say about documentary versus reality. And actually, there was documentary, certainly, even before the Loud family and "An American Family." Edward R. Murrow and the CBS News team was noted for television documentaries, on "See It Now."
I also remember the crazy musical skit / performance that Grant did at the football game...I don't think I ever heard the song elsewhere that they performed or mimed there, which was called (I believe) "I Wanna Get You In My Tent".
Thanks for this, I was disappointed to find that all of the American Family videos were gone and it seems this, along with a few others that have popped up in the last few months are all that remains. Its cool to see them creeping back up though, hope to see at least one whole episode again sometime though. (didn't he also perform Mother Nature's Son?) ;)
@NellyHanky11 I thought so too, that the family wasn't to happy about them. This is of course posted with only respect and admiration. Let's just hope it stays up for some time anyway.
I would also consider "Candid Camera" (from the 1950s originally, as part of "The Garry Moore Show" before it became a series in its own right) a reality series of sorts, even if it was comic in intent. But Allen Funt's cameras set up situations and then filmed the comic results of real people reacting to those set-ups. In that sense, it was also a precursor to Ashton Kutcher's "Punk'd."
Haha wikipedia says Pat was born on October 4th. My grandmother's name is Pat and she was born on October 4th. She smokes too! lol In fact some of Pat's mannerisms remind me of my grandmother Pat.
But one would have to be completely heartless not to have had some compassion for Miss Smith, her son, and then motherless daughter, after that real-life drama played out to their tragic ends. Those final months were obviously a few episodes of life not over-dramatized for the cameras, but genuine tragedies.
One of my favorite "Candid Camera" segments was a mailbox talking to passersby on the sidewalk. I also seem to recall a cute segment with a sugar bowl or some kitchen table item talking to children, who are almost always fun to watch in candid filming when they think they are alone.
@Greylow54 Grant, is there anywhere to properly pay for DVD copies of An American Family, as well as a "Death in an American Family?" My mother was a HUGE fan of the show and has never seen it since it's original airing. Thanks so much!
@melora72 I remember, too. I was about 11 when the show aired. I remember Lance and his scarf but I wasn't thinking much about gayness or would have put it in words yet.
And even though I generally despise the reality TV series' of today, I could not help but be moved by the toll the genre seemed to take on two "stars" of a reality series from the same family--Anna Nicole Smith and her beautiful young son, Daniel. Even though their lives seemed fairly pathetic with or without cameras in them, one could not help but wonder if they would both be alive today had Miss Smith not ever allowed that series to be produced about their lives.
The Loud family was the first family to be filmed. I wouldn't call it early reality tv, I'd call in documentary tv. Reality tv is so not real. Survivor is a glorified game show and the Kadashians are dull rich people being filmed. I wish these people who do reality tv today would find decent, facinating people to film.
Thank goodness I grew up in my family and not the Louds. My family was not perfect by any means but my dad did all kinds of things for his family. I was a Little League All Star, was in the Boy Scouts, youngest ever chosen for some leadership camp they had, played Pop Warner football and tried numerous sports. I played drums in the school band and guitar as good or better than this Loud guy. We went to Disney World, Pro Ball games with my dad, went to the beach, and traveled to Mexico about two times. I ran track in high school but my left knee was injured from Pop Warner - I was a starting player. My dad bought cross country skis that I took to Bates College. My high school crush was Amy Stockwell, I wrote her poems and played guitar for her. She was a pretty cheerleader. She married Jack Sheehan her boyfriend from high school later on. I was her friend but my family moved to another state. We wrote for awhile in college. I am in my 60s and have not married, went on several dates in college and had a couple of girlfriends. I forgot that I went with my class in 5th grade I think to Washington D.C. I lived outside of D.C. later on when I grew up. I got to see several parts of the country. My dad really gave us a great life. My mom is a wonderful mom. The end
@NellyHanky11 According to someone at the IMDb message boards who's read the script for the movie, it's going to be a whole bunch of bullshit, and if you're going by the actor credits listed on the same site, I can kinda believe that person. A whole bunch of people whom I don't remember seeing on the show billed before every other Loud child aside from Lance? I know Lance became semi-famous after "An American Family", but Grant and Delilah were IMO the featured siblings on this program.
And MTV's "Real World" really anticipated the current reality trend a decade before that other reality show about a family, "The Osbornes," began the trend in earnest, and from which we have never fully recovered. The current so-called "reality" series' may trace their format directly back to the series that featured Ozzy & Sharon and their offspring. Although, hindsight usually being 20/20, The Osbornes seem positively loveable compared with those horrid Kardashians.
I think Miss Smith really lost her will to live after the death of her son, even with the birth of her new daughter. I had not been especially fond of Miss Smith before that TV series (which I only ever caught a glimpse of anyway), as, like many I imagine, I assumed her nothing more than a gold-digger for having married an elderly billionaire about to kick the bucket.
He plays this song well but I don't particularly like this song. I'm not a pro singer but I can sometimes sing pretty well. I played The Beatles and Bob Dylan among other styles. I got pretty good but unfortunately stopped playing. That's probably why I can sing well though I occasionally am pitchy. I can also imitate singers, from Paul McCartney to a host of others. I even sing at work when people aren't around.
Grant is incredibly handsome here. And he has the look and the chops of a rock star. I have followed the Louds since the series premiered. To think that the media crucified them back in the day, and now reality shows are embraced! As Ray Davies would sing, they were the "unreal reality," and still they were much more authentic than any of today's "reality shows."
Hi Grant. I remember your family and that PBS series quite well. I was a freshman in high school back then. The two things that have stuck in my mind all these years are you singing this song and your brother Lance, in NYC at the time, talking about his concern of being "forgotten like a Fizzy." I hope your family is doing okay and I'm sorry that Lance died. Thanks to PBS, he will always be immortalized on film, as will you all.
That's an impressive Ray Davies impression. Nice performance.
Grant is such a sweetheart! Still coming back in 2023...love to the loud family
Our family was about the age yours was at the time, Grant, and it was strangely unnerving to watch you guys deal with real issues at the same time we had the brady bunch or partidges who supposedly showed who we were. yeah right. Seeing it now is like a blast back to what it felt like to be a teenager in the mid 70s, growing up in lake tahoe with families getting blasted apart all around us and trying to live up to the 50s view of family that our folks tried to attain. Alyson
What a outstanding job. His vocals are so good!
he's got the marc bolan warble goin on
@NellyHanky11 - Hey NH, First of all, thanks for the sweet remarks. Where the heck you 40 years ago? Also, just wanted to clear up one misconception. A couple of years ago, I'd heard about a guy who was selling pirated copies of the series. He was using RUclips to promote his illegal business, and I objected to that. So many people made money off of us that occasionally it still rankles. It's a weird thing to be a 56 year old man looking at this, but we're all proud of what we did. Cheers -Grant
Greylow54 hi grant! Discovering this series was fantastic. I love this little glimpse of you so happily singing. Your mom positively beamed watching you! The impromptu performance just makes me happy every time I watch. I like your snappy version better than the original. So sweet! Take care☺️
I forgot how talented Lance was. We all had such a crush on him back then. I enjoyed this clip - thank you for posting it.
Grant looks a lot like Lance. Both so handsome.
I love this program. I wasn't born until many years after it first aired, but thanks to a torrent site I've been able to watch episodes of it and it's one of the most riveting things I've ever seen. It's noteworthy how the Loud parents tried to make Grant get a day job while he did stuff with his band; these days, they'd be pushing him to go onto American Idol. *rolls eyes* I think the whole family came across as extremely likeable on this show. Moreso than any "reality TV star" of today.
ITS THE BEST COVER I HAVE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE. IM SHOCKED HE WASNT SIGNED TO A LABEL..SO MANY GUYS WITH ABSOLUTELY NO TALENT HAVE BEEN SIGNED. AND HE WASNT. GO FIGURE
I had a huge crush on him!
@acrean I too grew up in California during this time! My parents had a similar divide re: raisng kids much as the Louds appeared to. My Mom was cool & tried to support our music, etc., while Dad (10 years older than Mom) was more into conventional lifestyle. The 60's had left an imprint on many families of the 70's with the kids still exploring 60's type of culture & parents still trying to live the 50's dream. This series now brings up nostalgia for me in lots of the little moments portrayed.
Thanks for checking in SSB. Lance is in no danger of being forgotten like a Fizzy, but yeah, I'm sorry he died too. In fact, I'm particularly sorry that he died on my wedding day. Long story. Stay sexy, Butch! Cheers, G
I watched the HBO film last night, and wonder how much of the behind-the-scenes stuff was real. The family seemed lovely, very down to earth and open-minded. It was sad that the public thought so little of them. I hope that they would be treated with more respect nowadays.
I remember when the series originally aired. It’s so fantastic to at least be able to see parts of it again. Would love to be able to see the entire series, one of the best things that’s ever been on television.
It was entertainment time at the Loud house and it WAS brilliant. I've watched a dozen covers of Apeman on RUclips and Grant's is the best.
He really captures that snarky Ray Davies attitude.
Nice!! I loved this documentary. Beautiful family.
Golly! I remember this so well. My family were great Kinks fans, and so apparently were the Louds. I remember enjoying Grant singing "Apeman". And in another episode Lance, somewhere in Europe, sang "She's Bought a Hat like Princess Marina's" as Christian accompanied him on piano. God bless the Louds. I loved them.
Hi Grant Happy New Year! I had a feeling you would check out this site. Well I mean it, you were and probably still are an accomplished musician! You never lose that passion. Thx. for explaining about the previous RUclips postings; I can understand why you'd be upset about it. Yes, it must be weird for you to look back and see it on celluloid. How strange that it took another 20+ years for reality TV to kick in. You guys were the trendsetters and you should be proud of that!
Hi again Grant I didn't finish. Just wanted to say I'm sorry about Lance. I hope your family is happy and healthy and I wish you all the best.
@Greylow54 Cheers, Grant. I saw the series for the first time a year ago. It did touch my heart in many ways. I don't know if it were ever shown in Sweden, where I'm from, but I do rememeber what might have been a news report about the series with the band rehearsing. I'm 47, I was a bit young then. Though still, seeing it brought me straight back to that early 70s setting of uncut hair and very small T-shirts. Not to mention home decorating...
o sweet grant. thanks for the memories ❤
AMEN, Tim, AMEN!!!!!!
nice vocals man bravo
Love this video.. I soooooo remember this when I was a kid.. My first (and last) T.V. crush was Grant.
Yes I agree...and the high school performance was fun too - Grant dressed up in his "Jumping Jack Flash" outfit; perhaps this will surface again as well. By the way, there will be an H.B.O. movie about the Louds and the documentary. Diane Lane and James Gandolfini are in it. Not sure when that will be broadcast.
Great voice, I think he was 17 years old.
Very nice. Great job.
"Candid Camera" spanned about four decades with a few network and syndicated runs, eventually hosted by Allen Funt's son, Peter, in the 1990s. But there were also several "Candid Camera" imitators in the '80s, such as "Real People" and "That's Incredible," the latter capturing more unbelievable situations and stunts, the program which popularized the phrase "Don't try this at home!" Of course "America's Funniest Home Videos' and even MTV's "Jackass" are inspired by those two shows.
Yes there were a lot of other episodes posted here a while ago; supposedly Grant was upset about all of these postings...I don't know why. This show was defiinitely ahead of its time and Grant was an accomplished musician. There was also an episode where Grant and Lance played "Imagine" (John Lennon's version). Can you imagine? No pun intended!! They would NEVER be able to use that song on TV in this day and age w/o all of the legal approvals. It was a different time back then.....
@eternalise Yes, I was surprised at how little there was from AAF here. He did Mother Nature's Son too, but Im just not a Beatles fan... There's also the band appearance at their high school, which is truly astounding.
This was really good...
@LastTree Yes! I did notice that too. Wonderful.
I'm very apprehensive towards this kind of dramatizations, but HBO did the Grey Gardens movie which I did find so much more enjoyable than I thought I would. Still, what people need is to see the original series, first and foremost. So a DVD box would be a wise idea.
I find them all very likeable, very eh, real. Well, compared to these fake reality shows we have now. Though AAF surely has it's arranged moments and mispresentations this is a whole different kind of reality show.
@chrisnope1 Hey CN1, Our original agreement with PBS was that they had complete rights "in perpetuity" to the series for "non commercial broadcast only", but that has never been an obstacle. The major problem has been that there is so much music playing in the background throughout the entire show that it would be impossible - both financially and logistically - to obtain legal rights for release. I guess all of that is just a long way of simply saying "no"...
I agree with what you say about documentary versus reality. And actually, there was documentary, certainly, even before the Loud family and "An American Family." Edward R. Murrow and the CBS News team was noted for television documentaries, on "See It Now."
I also remember the crazy musical skit / performance that Grant did at the football game...I don't think I ever heard the song elsewhere that they performed or mimed there, which was called (I believe) "I Wanna Get You In My Tent".
tent by the bonzo dog band
Thanks for this, I was disappointed to find that all of the American Family videos were gone and it seems this, along with a few others that have popped up in the last few months are all that remains. Its cool to see them creeping back up though, hope to see at least one whole episode again sometime though. (didn't he also perform Mother Nature's Son?) ;)
@NellyHanky11 I thought so too, that the family wasn't to happy about them. This is of course posted with only respect and admiration. Let's just hope it stays up for some time anyway.
Guys I'm really struggling to find a way to watch the full series, can anyone help. Please pretty please.
I would also consider "Candid Camera" (from the 1950s originally, as part of "The Garry Moore Show" before it became a series in its own right) a reality series of sorts, even if it was comic in intent. But Allen Funt's cameras set up situations and then filmed the comic results of real people reacting to those set-ups. In that sense, it was also a precursor to Ashton Kutcher's "Punk'd."
Haha wikipedia says Pat was born on October 4th. My grandmother's name is Pat and she was born on October 4th. She smokes too! lol In fact some of Pat's mannerisms remind me of my grandmother Pat.
But one would have to be completely heartless not to have had some compassion for Miss Smith, her son, and then motherless daughter, after that real-life drama played out to their tragic ends. Those final months were obviously a few episodes of life not over-dramatized for the cameras, but genuine tragedies.
One of my favorite "Candid Camera" segments was a mailbox talking to passersby on the sidewalk. I also seem to recall a cute segment with a sugar bowl or some kitchen table item talking to children, who are almost always fun to watch in candid filming when they think they are alone.
@Greylow54 Grant, is there anywhere to properly pay for DVD copies of An American Family, as well as a "Death in an American Family?" My mother was a HUGE fan of the show and has never seen it since it's original airing. Thanks so much!
@melora72
I remember, too. I was about 11 when the show aired. I remember Lance and his scarf but I wasn't thinking much about gayness or would have put it in words yet.
Wow. Jim Carey was a cute teenager
Seems when one searches this doc most hits come up as the gay and queer son. Is that all the video you have.
Lance is good!
And even though I generally despise the reality TV series' of today, I could not help but be moved by the toll the genre seemed to take on two "stars" of a reality series from the same family--Anna Nicole Smith and her beautiful young son, Daniel.
Even though their lives seemed fairly pathetic with or without cameras in them, one could not help but wonder if they would both be alive today had Miss Smith not ever allowed that series to be produced about their lives.
The "Candid Camera" series was actually adapted from its radio predecessor, "Candid Microphone," which caught people off-guard on audio.
The Loud family was the first family to be filmed. I wouldn't call it early
reality tv, I'd call in documentary tv. Reality tv is so not real. Survivor is
a glorified game show and the Kadashians are dull rich people being
filmed. I wish these people who do reality tv today would find decent,
facinating people to film.
Thank goodness I grew up in my family and not the Louds. My family was not perfect by any means but my dad did all kinds of things for his family. I was a Little League All Star, was in the Boy Scouts, youngest ever chosen for some leadership camp they had, played Pop Warner football and tried numerous sports. I played drums in the school band and guitar as good or better than this Loud guy. We went to Disney World, Pro Ball games with my dad, went to the beach, and traveled to Mexico about two times. I ran track in high school but my left knee was injured from Pop Warner - I was a starting player. My dad bought cross country skis that I took to Bates College. My high school crush was Amy Stockwell, I wrote her poems and played guitar for her. She was a pretty cheerleader. She married Jack Sheehan her boyfriend from high school later on. I was her friend but my family moved to another state. We wrote for awhile in college. I am in my 60s and have not married, went on several dates in college and had a couple of girlfriends. I forgot that I went with my class in 5th grade I think to Washington D.C. I lived outside of D.C. later on when I grew up. I got to see several parts of the country. My dad really gave us a great life. My mom is a wonderful mom. The end
@NellyHanky11 According to someone at the IMDb message boards who's read the script for the movie, it's going to be a whole bunch of bullshit, and if you're going by the actor credits listed on the same site, I can kinda believe that person. A whole bunch of people whom I don't remember seeing on the show billed before every other Loud child aside from Lance? I know Lance became semi-famous after "An American Family", but Grant and Delilah were IMO the featured siblings on this program.
And MTV's "Real World" really anticipated the current reality trend a decade before that other reality show about a family, "The Osbornes," began the trend in earnest, and from which we have never fully recovered. The current so-called "reality" series' may trace their format directly back to the series that featured Ozzy & Sharon and their offspring. Although, hindsight usually being 20/20, The Osbornes seem positively loveable compared with those horrid Kardashians.
I think Miss Smith really lost her will to live after the death of her son, even with the birth of her new daughter.
I had not been especially fond of Miss Smith before that TV series (which I only ever caught a glimpse of anyway), as, like many I imagine, I assumed her nothing more than a gold-digger for having married an elderly billionaire about to kick the bucket.
He plays this song well but I don't particularly like this song. I'm not a pro singer but I can sometimes sing pretty well. I played The Beatles and Bob Dylan among other styles. I got pretty good but unfortunately stopped playing. That's probably why I can sing well though I occasionally am pitchy. I can also imitate singers, from Paul McCartney to a host of others. I even sing at work when people aren't around.