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intereact!Directors: Ellen S. Pressman, Bryan Spicer, Elodie Keene, Bill D'Elia, Michael W. Watkins
Actors: Virginia Madsen, and Landall Goolsby
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Retail Price (not our price): $26.98
Release Date: 2004-09-07
Theatrical Release Date: 2002-09-29
Studio: Universal Studios
Run Time: 1094 minutes
Format: Array
Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Discs: 7
Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
1) Amazon.com
The 2002 first season of American Dreams introduced one of the more ambitious new dramas on a major television network since the debut of The West Wing. Deceptively nostalgic, American Dreams looks, at first blush, like a bone tossed to baby boomers who remember black and white TV, American Bandstand, and what class they were in when word spread of JFK's assassination. But the more one watches the show, the more apparent it becomes that American Dreams is not about memories but about bringing a pivotal chapter in 20th century U.S. history to life--sometimes electrifyingly so. The series pilot, set just before and on the day of Kennedy's murder, introduces Philadelphia family the Pryors, white, middle-class Catholics whose stern but not undiscerning patriarch, Jack (Tom Verica), gets an earful one night over dinner. Eldest son J.J. (Will Estes), a star running back at high school and candidate for a Notre Dame football scholarship, announces he's leaving the sport, feeling unappreciated for his mind and inspired by Kennedy's outreach to young people. Teenage daughter Meg (Brittany Snow) allows that she'll be dancing on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. Jack's wife, Helen (Gail O'Grady), later lets fly that she's moving on from her boring book club to spend time with a new friend, a feminist academic (Virginia Madsen), and strongly hints that she's done with adding more babies to their brood of four. The times are indeed a-changin' for the Pryors--who have chugged along on WWII vet Jack's fiercely protected vision of picket fences, cooperative kids, and a wife who doesn't upset his equilibrium with needs of her own. But the rest of the country is changing, too, and American Dreams captures--with subtle precision--the erosion of comfortable assumptions at the onset of the Vietnam war, the escalation of the civil rights movement, the British Invasion, reproductive rights for women, and much else. The series flows, often with stylish splendor, between the Pryors' home, the Bandstand studio set, and Jack's retail television and radio shop, where Jack's sole employee, an African American father, Henry (Jonathan Adams), wonders silently about the options a racist society will offer his talented son, Sam (Arlen Escarpeta). Wordlessness is a hallmark of American Dreams: An exchanged look between Meg and Sam is shattering testimony to the confusion of racial prohibitions among well-meaning kids. Part of every show finds historical reenactments of '60s musical acts appearing on Bandstand, and sometimes these artists are played by contemporary musicians such as Nick Carter (as Jay of Jay and the Americans) and Third Eye Blind (as the Kinks). This boxed set includes real Bandstand clips that are contemporaneous with the series' timeline. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5
1) Fantastic! [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Absolutely Awesome! This was a great family show and it is just so great to be able and sit down as a family and watch together. We love it!2) Still miss it! [Rating: 5 out of 5]
All I can tell you is the show's been off the air for a few years now and Sunday nights still seem empty! If you're looking for something everyone can watch and appreciate - and that's not idiotic - this is it. What a great show. And what a shame it didn't get a proper ending - if indeed it had to end. Maybe someday we'll get seasons 2 and 3 on DVD - they're tied up due to the music rights. For now, buy this. You'll love it. It's wonderful.3) American Dreams - Season 1 - Extended Music Edition [Rating: 5 out of 5]
American Dreams is such a wonderful series, it brings history of the 60's into view. I was raised in the 60's so it brings back a lot of wonderful memories. And the music is great.4) Fantastic show ! [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Possible the best show television as ever created. I was mesmerized. I'm 54 years old and I didn't think I would ever find another show on TV worth watching. It is simply wonderful, a show for all ages. A future classic. I really can't wait for the other 2 seasons, hope there out soon.5) loved it!! [Rating: 5 out of 5]
im from australia, and i love TV series! and American Dreams was only shown for 2 weeks, when it was on cable and thats when i fell in love with it. and that was about 2 years ago, Then when i found out it was on amazon..i bought it straight away! I love it!! now i want the second series, but unfortunatly its not available..let me know where i can get it.