Real Life (1979)

In 1971, An American Family, considered by many to be the first reality show, aired on PBS. This film is a spoof on that concept. Albert Brooks, as a version of himself, is intent on filming the activities of an ordinary American family of four, headed by Charles Grodin, 24 hours a day for an entire year. Rather quickly this intrusion into the family’s lives disintegrates whatever bonds the family originally had and the project itself implodes. It’s an amusingly quaint view of what reality shows could potentially come told from the naïve views of someone who couldn’t even comprehend how intrusive, outlandish, and ubiquitous they would become.