I recently saw a late 70s documentary called "Best Boy" about an elderly couple's daily life with a mentally challenged son in his early 50s. Over the course of a year or more you see the son improving as he is put into a group home situation. (The movie starts with them shaving his face and at the end he is shaving himself with an electric razor.) At the screening a lot of questions went to the filmmaker about the proto-reality TV nature of the project. I asked him if he was aware of An American Family but apparently not--he didn't remember that it aired in 73--he thought it was later. During the filming the father dies - there are setbacks - definitely not set up but not TV so outside your definition. Historically interesting.
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- tom moody 7-23-2010 7:32 pm