Airing more than 20 years before MTV existed, “American Bandstand” was the “Total Request Live” of its time.
“Bandstand” made its original host, a young Dick Clark, a national icon and its record-rating system coined the phrase, “It’s got a good beat, and I can dance to it.” Over the course of its 30 year run, “Bandstand” served as the platform for the national television premieres of almost every act from Chuck Berry to Prince and earned Clark a home in the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame.
“American Dreams” claims the “Bandstand” phenomenon as the framework for its 1960’s family drama. “Dreams” centers on Meg Pryor, played by charmer and relative newcomer Brittany Snow. Meg is a typical high school girl; she plays in the East Catholic High School band, swaps gossip about the other girls in school and can think of nothing more “important” than a chance to dance on TV with one of the stars of “Bandstand.” Naturally, her conservative father, Jack, (Tom Verica) is opposed to having his eldest daughter dance on TV but eventually comes around to allow her weekly outing.
The pilot begins to explore some of the other story lines that will be fleshed out at the series progresses. Meg’s older brother JJ (Will Estes) is a reluctant football star who has a shot at a Notre Dame scholarship, but he loses interest and quits the team. Mother Helen (Gail O’Grady) is a member of a book-of-the-month club whose Stepford-like membership balks at straying from their prescribed reading list. Helen recently lost a pregnancy and has doubts about trying to conceive again. All this conflict is wearing hard on Jack, who is struggling to come to terms as his family outgrows the simple American Dream he has envisioned.
“American Dreams” strives to create a compelling family drama within the setting of a period of great social turmoil in our country, overlaying one family’s own struggle with conflicting views in a country in transition. The pilot ends with the news of President Kennedy’s assassination … a stark signifier of the transition from the wide-eyed 50’s to the social movements of the 60’s.
“Dreams” capitalizes on the era, employing the dramatic use of actual period events and drawing on the music of the time for its soundtrack in an attempt to tap into nostalgia for baby boomers and the kids who grew up listening to Mom and Dad’s records. The show uses actual archival footage from bandstand, much of it featuring “Dream’s” executive producer Dick Clark, cut with newly shot footage of dancing teens and modern-day pop stars playing the “Bandstand” guests.
If anything, the “Bandstand” segments of the show promise to be fun and provide Meg with a romantic interest in associate producer Michael Brooks, played by a barely recognizable Joe (“Whoa!”) Lawrence.
Whether or not “American Dreams” can sustain itself over a series will ultimately depend less on the guest stars (Usher and Michelle Branch are slated for upcoming shows) and more on how interesting writers make the tribulations of the Pryor family.