American Dreams

Series overview

Cast and characters

Main

• Brittany Snow as Margaret "Meg" Pryor: The show's protagonist. In her spare time, she dances on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. Her family is Catholic.
• Tom Verica as John J. "Jack" Pryor: Meg's father and head of the household. He owns Pryor's TV and Radio Store. Later represented his district on the Philadelphia City Council.
• Gail O'Grady as Helen Pryor: Jack's wife. Stay-at-home mom who later works for a travel agency.
• Will Estes as John J. "JJ" Pryor Jr.: The oldest Pryor child. He enlists in the United States Marine Corps and fights in the Vietnam War.
• Sarah Ramos as Patricia "Patty" Pryor: Meg's younger sister. Very book smart and acts like a know-it-all.
• Ethan Dampf as William "Will" Pryor: The youngest Pryor child whose leg was crippled with polio, which is a source of guilt for his parents as they refused to allow him to have the Salk vaccine. In the show's second season, his leg was surgically repaired.
• Jonathan Adams as Henry Walker: An African American employee in Jack's store who later became a partner in the store, who also heads a family.
• Arlen Escarpeta as Samuel "Sam" Walker: Henry's son and Meg's good friend who becomes a romantic interest in Season 3.
• Vanessa Lengies as Roxanne Bojarski: Meg's best friend who has a knack for getting herself into trouble. She dances on American Bandstand with Meg.
• Rachel Boston as Elizabeth "Beth" Mason-Pryor: JJ's girlfriend, whom he marries in the third season after returning from Vietnam. They have an infant son "Trip".

  Recurring

• Matthew John Armstrong as Pete Pryor: Jack's younger brother, an officer with the Philadelphia Police Department. He is assigned to the Columbia Avenue Precinct in North Philadelphia, a precinct which includes the Walkers' home and the Pryors' second store. He is addicted to alcohol and gambling. Almost married in Season 2 to Nancy, but calls off the wedding at the last minute.
• Christopher Cousins as Theodore "Ted" Pryor: Jack and Pete's older brother, a successful businessman who has a strained and distant relationship from the rest of the family. He is only seen in a couple of episodes, and dies in a car accident late in Season 3.
• Natalie Marston as Melissa Pryor: Ted's 18-year-old daughter, niece of Jack and Pete. She entered Vassar College in the fall of 1966.
• John J. "Trip" Pryor III: JJ and Beth's son, born in November 1965 during the third season.
• Adina Porter as Gwen Walker: Henry's wife and a housekeeper, who died in Season 2 of cancer.
• Aysia Polk as Angela Walker: Henry and Gwen's daughter, roughly Patty's age.
• Keith Robinson as Nathan Walker: Henry's outspoken nephew. Spent some time in jail; eventually rehabilitated himself and now operates a delivery service.
• Jamie Elman as Luke Foley: A record store clerk. Meg's boyfriend in the first season; after they broke up, Luke and Roxanne developed a relationship and began living together in the third season.
• Jesse Hutch as James "Jimmy" Riley: An American Bandstand dance partner of Meg's who eventually leaves to fight in Vietnam; he would later return to American Dreams in the second season, in a wheelchair.
• Samuel Page as Drew Mandel: A college student at the University of Pennsylvania; he and Meg date during the show, despite both her brother J.J. and her father's dislike for Drew. It ends when she catches him cheating on her.
• Johnny Lewis as Leonard "Lenny" Beeber: Roxanne's second-season boyfriend with whom she goes on tour. Head of the band Lenny and the Pilgrims.
• Milo Ventimiglia as Christopher "Chris" Pierce: Shelly Pierce's son, who becomes Meg's new love interest in the third season.
• Rodney Scott as Daniel "Danny" O'Connor: Quarterback of the East Catholic football team in the first season, and who has a short-lived relationship with Meg in season two. His older brother was declared missing in action in Vietnam. In season three, Danny's brother's body is found in Vietnam.
• Paul Wasilewski as Thomas "Tommy" DeFelice: JJ's macho friend and former football teammate. JJ later ends the friendship when he notices a strong racist side to him when Sam enrolls at East Catholic. They resume their friendship when Tommy takes the blame for something JJ did.
• Kevin Sheridan as Kenny Keegan: JJ's East Catholic friend and teammate; a mediocre athlete.
• Jessica Collins as Collee: JJ's coworker and sometime girlfriend in season one; she is older than JJ and a divorcée.
• Joseph Lawrence as Michael Brooks: The original floor producer of American Bandstand. His character left after the show's first season.
• Michael E. Rodgers as Colin: Floor producer of Bandstand who took over after Michael Brooks' departure.
• Peter Spellos as Gus: A witty production assistant of American Bandstand.
• Michelle Morgan as Teresa McManus: A regular dancer on Bandstand who does not like Meg.
• Paul D. Roberts as Dick Clark: Host of American Bandstand.
• Michael Burger as Charlie O'Donnell: Announcer of American Bandstand.
• Nigel Thatch as Willie Johnson: A charismatic neighborhood agitator in North Philadelphia who played a major role in instigating the Philadelphia 1964 race riot.
• Virginia Madsen as Rebecca Sandstrom: Helen's friend from a book club. Her character was dropped after the first season.
• Alicia Coppola as Nancy: After meeting Helen while working at the same travel agency, she became one of Helen's confidantes. Nancy dated and then became engaged to Pete Pryor, only to be left standing at the altar.
• Hank Stratton as Donald Norville: Helen's colleague at the travel agency. He is later fired for being homosexual.
• Steve Ryan as Father Conti: The Pryor family's strict Catholic priest, who also serves as the headmaster of East Catholic high school.
• James Read and Barbara Alyn Woods as Mr. and Mrs. George Mason: Beth's well-to-do parents. Estranged from Beth after she became pregnant with JJ Pryor's child, although some reconciliation was attempted in the show's third season.
• Art Garfunkel as Mr. Greenwood: The bohemian owner of the Vinyl Crocodile record store. Appeared sporadically during the first season; in the third season he is said to have gone "on a worldwide tour with his friend", an allusion to Art Garfunkel's singing partnership with Paul Simon.
• Daphne Zuniga as Shelly Pierce: A single mom who works at a nearby Playboy Club and the Pryors' next-door neighbor.
• Murray Rubenstein as Murray: A barbershop owner whose business is next to Pryor's TV and Radio. A frequent visitor to the store, though he rarely buys anything.
• Caitlin Greer as Audrey: A University of Pennsylvania student who befriends Meg and Sam.

  Episodes

Season 1 (2002–03)

Season 2 (2003–04)

Season 3 (2004–05)

Synopsis

Season 1 (2002–03)

Season 2 (2003–04)

Season 3 (2004–05)

Timeline of events in the series

"Past" events

• c. 1920 – Jack Pryor is born.
• c. 1927 – Helen Dolan is born.
• c. September 1945 – Jack Pryor, presumably returning from fighting in World War II, conceives a child with Helen Dolan.
• c. November 1945 – Jack Pryor and Helen Dolan are married.
• c. June 1946 – J.J. Pryor is born.
• c. 1946 – Beth Mason is born.
• c. 1947 – Sam Walker and Luke Foley are born.
• c. March 1948 – Roxanne Bojarski is born.
• c. August 1948 – Meg Pryor is born.
• c. 1951 – Angela Walker is born.
• c. 1950 – Patty Pryor is born.
• c. 1956 – Will Pryor is born.

  Events depicted on screen

• November 1963 – Meg and Roxanne become regular dancers on American Bandstand.
• June 1964 – JJ and Beth graduate from high school.
• August 1964 – The Philadelphia riots take place.
• November 1964 – 1964 U.S. Presidential Election between Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater.
• 1965 – Gwen Walker dies.
• June 1965 – Sam graduates from high school.
• November 1965 – Northeast Blackout of 1965
• November 1965 – Beth Mason gives birth to John Pryor III.
• January 1966 – JJ returns home from Vietnam.
• April 23, 1966 – JJ Pryor and Beth Mason are married.
• June 1966 – Meg and Roxanne graduate from high school.
• July 1966 – Ted Pryor dies.

  "Future" events

• June 1968 – Patty's graduation from high school is estimated to take place at this time.
• June 1974 – Will's graduation from high school is estimated to take place at this time.
• June 1984 – John Pryor III's graduation from high school is estimated to take place at this time.

  Ratings

Cancellation

Series epilogue

Fourth season plotlines

• The fourth season would have picked up in January 1967.
• Meg would have returned to Philadelphia six episodes into the season after JJ goes to California with intentions to take her home.
• Roxanne would have taken a job as the hairdresser for American Bandstand.
• Jack would become angry after discovering that Helen had been using her job as a travel agent to help young men dodge the draft and flee to Canada.
• There would be tension in JJ and Beth's marriage, after Beth reluctantly agreed to JJ's wishes to postpone going back to college.
• Henry would remarry and accept a new, deaf stepson into his home.
• JJ would continue working for the company designing spacesuits for the manned mission to the moon.
• The Apollo 1 fire would somehow figure into the fourth season plotline.
• Patty would serve as the Team Manager for the East Catholic football team.

  Special guests

Performances on Bandstand

Season one

• Michelle Branch, as Lesley Gore performing "You Don't Own Me"
• Nick Carter & Ric Felix, as "Jay" and one of the members of Jay and the Americans, performing "Come A Little Bit Closer"
• Usher, as Marvin Gaye, performing "Can I Get a Witness"
• Ashanti, as Dionne Warwick, performing "Walk on By"
• Vanessa Carlton, as Dusty Springfield, performing "Wishin' and Hopin' "
• Wayne Brady, as Jackie Wilson, performing "Baby Workout"
• LeAnn Rimes, as Connie Francis, performing "Where the Boys Are"
• Duncan Sheik, as Bobby Darin, performing "Beyond the Sea"
• Vivian Green, as Brenda Holloway, performing "Every Little Bit Hurts"
• Rosey, as Ella Fitzgerald performing "Dream A Little Dream Of Me"
• B2K & Marques Houston, as The Temptations, performing "My Girl"
• The Thorns, as the Beach Boys, performing "Warmth of the Sun"
• Third Eye Blind, as The Kinks, performing "All Day and All of the Night"
• Ashley Williams, as Sandie Shaw, performing " Always Something There to Remind Me"
• Stacie Orrico, as the lead singer of The Angels, performing "My Boyfriend's Back"
• Kelly Rowland, as Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas, performing "Nowhere To Run"

  Season two

• Kelly Clarkson, as Brenda Lee, performing "Sweet Nothin's"
• Vanessa Soul, as Barbara Lewis, performing "Baby I'm Yours"
• Monica, as Mary Wells, performing "My Guy"
• Lil' Kim, as Shirley Ellis, performing "The Clapping Song"
• Third Eye Blind, as The Kinks, performing "You Really Got Me"
• Kelly Rowland, as Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas, performing "Dancing in the Street"
• Alicia Keys, as Fontella Bass, performing "Rescue Me"
• Kembra Shannon, as Kim Weston, performing "Take Me In Your Arms "
• Steadman, as the Dave Clark Five, performing "Do You Love Me"
• Hilary and Haylie Duff, as members of The Shangri-Las, performing "Leader of the Pack"
• Richie Sambora, as Eric Clapton of the Yardbirds, performing "For Your Love"
• Jennifer Love Hewitt, as Nancy Sinatra, performing "These Boots Are Made For Walking"
• Brad Paisley, as Ricky Nelson, performing "Dream Lover"
• Josh Kelley, as Barry McGuire, performing "Eve of Destruction"
• Macy Gray, as Carla Thomas, performing "B.A.B.Y"
• Charlotte Martin, as Petula Clark performing "Downtown"
• Nick Lachey, as Tom Jones, performing "It's Not Unusual"
• Chris Isaak, as Roy Orbison, performing "Pretty Woman"
• Jennifer Love Hewitt, as Nancy Sinatra, performing "Sunny"
• Tyler Hilton, as a folk singer, performing The Beatles' "I've Just Seen a Face"
• Ricky Fante, as Wilson Pickett, performing "Land of 1000 Dances"
• Liz Phair, as Jackie DeShannon, performing "When You Walk in the Room"
• Tyra Banks, as a member of The Velvelettes, performing "He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'"
• Evan & Jaron, as The Everly Brothers, performing "Wake Up Little Susie"
• Jason Mraz, as Dion DiMucci, performing "Ruby Baby"
• Fefe Dobson, as Tina Turner, performing "River Deep - Mountain High"
• Wyclef Jean, as Curtis Mayfield, performing "Woman's Got Soul"

  Season three

• Brandy Norwood, as Gladys Knight, performing "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
• Nicole Richie, as the lead singer of The Exciters, performing "Tell Him"
• Hawk Nelson, as The Who, performing "My Generation"
• Phantom Planet, as The Zombies, performing "Tell Her No"
• Fantasia Barrino, as Aretha Franklin, performing "Respect"
• Otis and the Elevators, as Jimmy Smith, performing "Got My Mojo Working"
• Kelly Clarkson, as Brenda Lee, performing "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"
• JoJo, as Linda Ronstadt, auditioning for Bandstand with "That'll Be The Day"
• 112 as The Four Tops, performing "Reach Out, I'll Be There"
• Van Hunt, as Jimmy Ruffin, performing "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted"
• John Legend, as Stevie Wonder, performing "Uptight "
• Fountains of Wayne, as The Hollies, performing "Bus Stop"

  Performances at the Vinyl Crocodile

• India.Arie, as Nina Simone, performing "Come Ye"
• Keb 'Mo, as Son House, songs performed currently unknown.

  Performances at the Lair

• John Ondrasik from the band Five for Fighting, performing a folk arrangement of his 2004 recording "If God Made You"
• Art Alexakis, as Country Joe McDonald, performing "I Feel Like I'm-a Fixin' To Die Rag"
• Joss Stone, performing a folk arrangement of her 2005 hit "Right to Be Wrong"
• Alanis Morissette, as a folk singer performing her original composition "Offer"
• Bonnie McKee, as Janis Joplin, performing "Summertime"
• Hayley Westenra performed "Who Painted the Moon Black?" from her album Pure on episode 46.
• Blake Shelton, performing his song "Playboys of the Southwestern World" from his 2003 CD The Dreamer.
• Ben Taylor as Cal Cooper, performing his original song "Surround Me".
• Gavin DeGraw, performing "The Tracks of My Tears"

  Other guest star appearances

• Paris Hilton, as Barbara Eden of I Dream of Jeannie
• Tavis Smiley, as Thurgood Marshall
• Brian McKnight, as Stokely Carmichael
• Kevin McCorkle, as astronaut Gus Grissom
• Rich Vos, as Lenny Bruce
• Eric the Midget, as Travel Agency Customer
• Kristen Bell, as Amy Fielding
• Randy Jackson, as Band Manager
• Montel Williams, as Reverend Gilliam

  Accuracy

• A running plotline is the appearance of Meg and Roxanne as dancers on American Bandstand, which still tapes a daily after-school show in Philadelphia; where in real life the show moved to Los Angeles in February 1964 and was only broadcast once a week, on Saturday afternoons.
• In the pilot episode, Jack makes a reference to Ara Parseghian and Notre Dame. The pilot was set in November 1963 while Parseghian was hired by Notre Dame in December.
• In the first year, JJ Pryor Jr supposedly attended Lehigh University on a football scholarship in 1963 but joined the Marines when injured to pay for college. Lehigh doesn't have athletic scholarships but gives financial grants in aid instead. Thus he would have still had financial aid even if injured.
• The Philadelphia 1964 race riot depicted in the first-season finale started at night, not in the daytime, as depicted in the show. Television footage of the riots shown on the episode actually came from the Watts riots of 1965 Los Angeles.
• During the show's first season, the music of several artists, such as the Kinks, Dusty Springfield and Manfred Mann, are heard and referenced in 1963, months before the Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show that triggered the musical British Invasion.
• When the Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, the scene is set up so that the first song the Beatles play is "I Want to Hold Your Hand", which was the Beatles' first American hit, but was not the first song played on Ed Sullivan.
• In one episode in the show's third season, set in late November 1965, the East Coast Blackout and the Leonid meteor shower were both "rescheduled" so that they would fall on the same day that Beth Mason gave birth to JJ Pryor's son.
• In a first-season episode, Meg and Roxanne gush over meeting the group Jay and the Americans, and Roxanne is especially enamored with "Carl, the drummer". Also in real life, there were two lead singers known as "Jay" - Jay Traynor, who sang on their hit "She Cried", and Jay Black, who replaced Traynor for the group's other hits — yet on the episode, it is assumed that there was only one "Jay" who sang all the hits without interruption.
• In the show's first season, set in November 1963, Meg Pryor and Luke Foley argue over the merits of Bob Dylan, and Luke hands Meg a 45 of Dylan singing "Mr. Tambourine Man." In fact, Dylan did not write or perform the song until 1964, and he never released it on a commercial 45, although the Byrds' rendition of it was a hit single. Note that before Luke hands meg the Dylan record, he specifically says that it is "an advanced copy of the record that won't be released until next year."
• References are made in the show's second season to I Dream of Jeannie, which was still a year away from premiering. On top of that, "the big band theme song" heard, is the one introduced at the beginning of the show's second season. It was performed & produced by LA guitarist Rick Fleishman, and it also featured LA session drummer Paul Goldberg..
• The Monkees perform on the Bandstand stage in January 1966, despite their television series not even premiering until September 1966, or the four actors playing the Monkees even performing a live concert until a year later.
• In an episode set in January/February 1965, Nancy Sinatra appears on American Bandstand to sing "These Boots are Made for Walking" despite the fact the song was not released until 1966.
• While working at the space suit company, JJ Pryor meets Gus Grissom, and they discuss the Apollo 1 mission. Grissom later says, "Get me back to Cape Canaveral." In reality, the Apollo 1 mission was not designated by that number or name until after the accident that claimed the lives of Grissom and two other astronauts, and the reference to Cape Canaveral would have been wrong, as the area where the space center was located had been renamed "Cape Kennedy" during the 1960s. While the town was officially renamed back to Cape Canaveral in 1973, the space center was known as the Kennedy Space Center, and at least three years had passed since the town was renamed from Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy; so although it is not impossible that in a casual conversation Grissom would have used the traditional name, it is still unlikely that this would happen.
• Artists such as Blake Shelton, John Ondrasik and Joss Stone are allowed to perform their current pop hits, which in real time would have been 40 years away from ever existing.
• Neither The Who nor Ricky Nelson ever performed on the Bandstand stage in real life ; but that didn't stop the producers from staging performances by those artists in this series.
• The Who is shown performing on Bandstand in the show's third season, set in 1965–1966. However The Who's first performance in the United States wasn't until the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.
• In an episode that is supposedly taking place in the spring of 1965, two customers at the TV store, played by Days of Our Lives actors John Aniston and Frances Reid, were watching an episode of Days of our Lives on a TV. Days of our Lives did not premiere until November 8, 1965.
• In an episode purporting to take place in the summer of 1966, a character on "American Bandstand" is asked to rate the Rolling Stones' song " Satisfaction", despite the song being over a year old.
• In a late third-season episode, Meg, Roxanne and Luke sit outside Connie Mack Stadium with lawn chairs, listening for free to the Rolling Stones, who are playing a live concert at the stadium. Luke makes a reference that he heard a Bob Dylan concert at Connie Mack Stadium for free this way. Bob Dylan did not play Connie Mack Stadium as an outdoor venue in 1966 or earlier.
• In another third-season episode that takes place in June 1966, the Mamas and the Papas appear on American Bandstand to perform "California Dreamin'". However, the Mamas and Papas actual appearance on the show was in February 1966, they did not appear again in June of that year.
• Characters are depicted as listening to Cream's "I Feel Free" and The Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'" as early as the summer of 1965, despite neither song being released until late in 1966, after the timeline of the series had ended.

  Home media

Soundtrack

Broadcasts