American Dreams

American Dreams was an American television drama program broadcast on the NBC television network. It debuted on September 29th, 2002. It initially aired on Sundays at 8:00pm but moved to the same time on Wednesdays starting March 9, 2005. Season 3 began on September 26, 2004. It was officially cancelled by NBC on May 16, 2005.

Cancellation

On May 16, 2005, NBC announced their fall schedule for the 2005-06 season. Confirming months of speculation (and an unofficial confirmation article on May 1 by Reuters), American Dreams was formally cancelled, a victim of low ratings.

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Never a strong performer in its Sunday 8:00 p.m. timeslot, the show's third-season ratings dropped 33% from its first season and 13% from its second season. In the third season, the show was regularly beaten in the Sunday night ratings by ABC's ' and CBS's Cold Case. On February 2, 2005 NBC reduced the number of third season episodes of American Dreams from 19 to 17. The network also moved the program away from its original Sunday night timeslot to Wednesday nights, airing before The West Wing. This put the show up against CBS's ' and ABC's Lost, and American Dreams could not compete against these popular programs.

Related Topics:
ABC - CBS - Cold Case - The West Wing - Lost

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As the third season wound down, actors on the show apparently saw the writing on the wall and filmed pilots for new shows to possibly air in the 2005-06 television season.The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on April 12, 2005 that in late February NBC ordered two endings filmed for the season finale http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/11370090.htm. The un-aired ending was a 12 minute segment set on July 20, 1969 (the day Neil Armstrong landed on the moon), with Meg returning home to face her family after a 3 year absence. TV Guide reported on July 26, 2005 that this epilogue was likely to air in August or September, but the airing never materialized.

Related Topics:
The Philadelphia Inquirer - NBC - Neil Armstrong - TV Guide

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Fans of American Dreams organized an online petition drive and postcard writing campaign to save the show. The internet petition generated over 22,000 signatures. Fans sent over 5000 supportive e-mails to NBC after the season finale and sent several thousand postcards to the network as well. On May 4, 2005, fans flew an aerial banner over NBC's Burbank studios in support of the show, even as the show's sets were being dismantled at Sunset-Gower Studios, where the show was filmed.

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It had been reported that American Dreams may have been cancelled as early as December 2004; Jonathan Prince mentioned in a Miami Herald article that he was able to get four additional episodes made by having companies like Kraft and Nabisco pay for additional episodes in exchange for product placement (Campbell's Soups and Ford also participated in product-placement episodes).

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