American Dreams: Season One--Extended Music Edition

Not just for nostalgia buffs, the NBC dramatic series American Dreams is a powerful, stylish, and insightful portrait of the epochal 1960s, as experienced by a white, middle class, Philadelphia family--the Pryors--and several wonderful characters in their orbit. The pilot episode takes place just before and on the day of JFK's assassination, a tumultuous time in the Pryors' lives played out against the backdrop of an entire nation's shock. Patriarch Jack Pryor, a WWII veteran and owner of a television and radio store, finds himself all but undone by son J.J.'s (Will Estes) announcement that he is quitting high school football just when Notre Dame is dangling a full athletic scholarship in front of him. At the same time, daughter Meg (Brittany Snow) announces that she is joining the cast of permanent dancers on American Bandstand, and wife Helen (Gail O'Grady), a guilt-ridden Catholic, strongly hints that she is through adding to the family of six. The times they are indeed a-changin' for the Pryors and the rest of America. Watching American Dreams, we see, incrementally, the effect of enormous upheavals (e.g., the onset of the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, etc.) that challenge old perceptions about race relations, the rights of women, and more. But the series is also hugely fun: much of the action occurs on the American Bandstand set, where Meg is a regular and one of the show's most notable aspects is the contemporary reenactments of historical appearances by Michelle Branch (as Lesley Gore), Third Eye Blind (as The Kinks), Usher (as Marvin Gaye), etc. On DVD, the 25 episodes compiled here feature recut versions with extended musical performances. Other special features include entertaining clips from real American Bandstand shows from 1963, a 30-minute timeline featurette covering relevant historical events, three audio commentary tracks with cast and crew, and a music video for "My Boyfriend's Back." Highly recommended. (T. Keogh)