OK, that may be a bit of exaggeration at this point, but the news in Variety today that NBC has cut the season order on American Dreams from an already lower-than-normal 19 to only 17 episodes (sub req’d) is not a good sign for the future of this great Sunday night family drama. I’ve made no secret about my love of this series. It made my Top 10 list of 2004, and in its own indirect way, it even saved my life once.
In its favor, American Dreams is a favorite show of critics as well as NBC topper Jeff Zucker, and it has a very loyal audience. It also happens to be one of the most advertiser-friendly shows on TV since it’s demos run from young to old and several product placement integration stunts have been effective. It has suffered this season in the 8 PM Sunday hour against major competition on all three other major networks (ABC’s amazingly popular Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, CBS’s solid procedural crime drama Cold Case, and Fox’s comedy superstars The Simpsons and Arrested Development), but it’s also the only “family-friendly” family drama on all of television that isn’t stupid as hell, talking down to its audience young and old. (Yeah, I’m staring at you 7th Heaven!)
NBC’s decision to pull the show from February sweeps actually makes sense – this week it would face the Super Bowl; next week the Grammys. But cutting the order this late in the season by two episodes is unfortunate if only because it now means the writers and producers need to consolidate the story they were planning to tell. The Variety story concludes, “Prince said he had planned for episode 17 to serve as a cliffhanger leading into a two-part season finale.” Considering that 13 episodes have already aired this season, they don’t have that much flexibility to change and consolidate storylines – without ruining them – from six remaining episodes to four.
Hopefully, NBC will stick with the show for another season. The era of the program has just entered 1966 (I believe) and there’s been plenty of turbulent activity already. I want to see how eldest son and wounded Vietnam vet (and now marine recruiter) J.J. reacts as news of the war gets worse and the number of US forces escalate. I want to see how they treat the height of the civil rights era, Johnson’s resignation, the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. This is a show which has been a wonderful snapshot of a crazy time in our history; a time which day-by-day seems all to similar even to those of us who did not live then to many of the issues our society still struggles with today. Even if it’s a bit melodramatic and even sappy at times, this is the kind of intelligent television that can actually be good for you, and your parents, and your children. Sure they promote it around the musical stunts, but the show is so much more than that. With Er becoming more snore-intensive every season and The West Wing continuing its schizophrenic ways in an attempt to reinvent itself, here’s hoping that Zucker doesn’t continue his otherwise absurd destruction of NBC programming dominance by canceling the only great non-reality program (various Law & Order not withstanding) they have left.
Out of Focus 
I actually think ER has picked up a little this season. They stopped making Maura Tierney’s Abby the victim all the time and there’s some nice chemistry with the actors. It’s just bad when they use the same conventions in the same way (“raging against the hospital administration!”).
That said, NBC needs to re-look at their dramatic programming. As much as I love L&O, there’s an overreliance on it.
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Please keep Ameircan Dreams on the air. Never before has a show come along that families can sit down and watch together and not be worried about violence or sex. The cancellation of this show would mean the loss of a large portion of a loyal fan base of NBC. Thank you for your consideration.
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