NBC's family drama captures American Dreams

While most shows on primetime television are overly dramatic cop shows or laugh-track-ridden sitcoms, the NBC family drama American Dreams provides historically realistic conflicts, tear-jerking moments, and a medium for pop culture. These three elements combine to produce an enjoyable show for people of all ages.

Set in 1960s Philadelphia, American Dreams revolves around the Pryor family, a middle class suburban white family, consisting of Jack, the father, Helen, the mother, and their four children, JJ (age 19), Meg (16), Patty (13) and Will (8). All the characters are realistic as are their interactions with each other. While most TV families are either picture-perfect or ridiculously dysfunctional, the Pryors endure more than their fair share of fighting but also manage to maintain strong family ties.

As American Dreams' second season gets underway, each character has begun to embark on a personal journey. American Dreams incorporates all of its main characters into each show, though Meg is generally concentrated on the most. With each new episode, Meg and the rest of the Pryor family are faced with personal problems and conflicts, they must work hard to overcome.

As of the November 30 episode, Meg's best friend, Roxanne, who had dropped out of high school to go on tour with her boyfriend Lenny's band, had second thoughts about her new lifestyle and rather suddenly left Lenny's tour to go home. Roxanne saw another band member taking advantage of his girlfriend, and decided she didn't want to throw her life away. Without her best friend and compatriot by her side, Meg's life had been turned upside down.

Will, the youngest Pryor, suffers from polio and just had an operation to restore use of his legs, in hopes for one day being able to walk without a brace. His operation is complete, but is staying in the hospital for preliminary physical therapy. Throughout the second season, Will's operation has played an important role in the Pryors' life. The decision of whether of not Will should have the operation was one debated back and forth between Jack and Helen, and also caused many dramatic family conflicts.

JJ, Meg's elder brother, made a dramatic departure from Philly for Okinawa, the first stop on his way to the Vietnam War. The family is having a hard time accepting the fact that JJ may never come home, while JJ's fiancée Beth isn't dealing so well either. American Dreams occurs during the period of the Vietnam War, and many of the events are historically accurate, which provides a realistic theme that many older parents can relate to.

Meg's friend Sam Walker, an African American boy who attends her school, recently lost his mother to cancer. His father, Henry, works at Jack Pryor's store selling electronics. Sam attends Meg's private Catholic school, and being one of the only colored children causes many conflicts for him at school and at home. Sam's emerging defiance in his political beliefs sparked by Malcolm X does not sit well with his more conservative father, who chooses to follow Martin Luther King, Jr.

There are many underlying issues present throughout the second season of American Dreams, but some main conflicts remain more prevalent. The problems of Meg and Roxanne, Will's operation and JJ's recruitment to Vietnam, and Sam's dilemma are four main points focused on throughout the second season.

One of the hottest aspects of the show is the guest stars, who are usually popular actors, singers, and musicians playing previous real life stars featured on American Bandstand, where both Roxanne and Meg dance as regulars on the show. Some of their impersonators have been actress Hillary Duff, singer Alicia Keys, pop idol Kelly Clarkson and boy group B2K.

American Dreams is expertly cast. Each actor fits well within their role and seems to bring an outside knowledge to their experience on the show. For example, Meg (Brittany Snow) outstandingly portrays a sixteen-year-old girl amidst familial, personal, and political turmoil. It also helps that Snow is only seventeen in real life, and has been acting and dancing since a very young age. JJ (Will Estes) also has an amazing depth to his character, and depicts JJ as very pensive and protective of his family and his fiancée.

Though this is only American Dreams second season, the script writers seem to have done an excellent job in making the dialogue fluent and interactions realistic, while still incorporating historically accurate events, such as the Vietnam War and Malcolm X, and pop culture, exemplified by American Bandstand.

Last year American Dreams won two unprecedented but well-deserved Emmy Awards in its freshman season. The show seems to have captured a wide audience of people of all ages. Older audiences, perhaps of the portrayed generations, watch to relive their childhoods and their pasts, while younger adults and teenagers can relate to the problems of their peer characters and learn about 60s pop culture in the meantime.

American Dreams airs Sunday nights at 8 p.m. on NBC.

The official American Dreams website can be found here.