The Jacksons: An American Dream

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The Jacksons: An American Dream
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs
Angela Bassett
Holly Robinson Peete
Margaret Avery
Alex Burrall
Jermaine Jackson Jr.
Bumper Robinson
Floyd Meyers Jr.
Monica Calhoun
Jason Weaver
Angel Vargas
Terrence Howard
Vanessa Williams
Billy Dee Williams
Wylie Draper
Colin Steele
Theme music composerHarold Wheeler
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes2
Production
ProducersSuzanne de Passe
Joyce Eliason
Jermaine Jackson
Margaret Maldonado
Stan Margulies
Running time300 min.
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseNovember 15 (1992-11-15) –
November 18, 1992 (1992-11-18)

The Jacksons: An American Dream is an American five-hour

Motown group the Jackson 5
.

The miniseries was executive produced by

Pittsburgh, where director Arthur had previously filmed her feature film Lady Beware
.

The Jacksons: An American Dream is based on

Emmy Award
for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Choreography, while the performances of Hilton-Jacobs and Bassett received widespread acclaim.

Plot

The miniseries stars

their cartoon
, and pictures of the family. The film is mostly based on the autobiography written by Katherine Jackson, and issued in 1990, entitled My Family. The entire mini-series spans a period of about 40 years.

Act 1 of the film is based on young Katherine and Joseph meeting and courting in the 1940s and showing how they managed to start out raising their children in Gary, Indiana in the 1950s and 1960s, how Joseph discovers the children have talent and starts entering them in talent shows, and finally how the Jackson 5 go on to have early fame and face its consequences in the late 1960s.

Act 2 of the film deals with the struggles of young

Thriller, the commercial mishap that caused his hair to ignite, and his legendary Motown 25 performance of "Billie Jean
", as well as confronting his difficult relationship with his estranged father in the 1980s.

Michael Jackson's voice is heard on: "

.

Cast

Reception

The Jacksons: An American Dream became one of the most popular and successful music-biography miniseries of the 1990s. Part 1 of the miniseries was the third highest-rated program broadcast during the week of November 9–15 with a 21.1 rating.[2] Part 2 of the miniseries was watched by 38.4 million viewers[3] in 22.3 million households[4] becoming the highest-rated program broadcast during the week of November 16–22[4] posting a 23.9 rating, and 36 share.[3] Overall, the miniseries was watched in 38.3 million households and posted a 22.3 rating and 33 share.[5]

The series won an

Emmy Award
for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Choreography, and was also nominated for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Special, Outstanding Miniseries, and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Miniseries or a Special.

Bumper Robinson won a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Television Movie, and Alex Burrall and Jason Weaver both won a special award for Outstanding Young Performers Starring in a Mini-Series. The miniseries was later rebroadcast on VH1 and released to VHS and DVD.[6] The DVD version of the miniseries was released as a two-disc set. The first disc was named "The Early Years" and the second disc was named "The Success Years".

The miniseries aired frequently after the

BET, Centric and VH1
.

Soundtrack

The Jacksons: An American Dream
Soundtrack album by
ReleasedOctober 20, 1992
Length37:52
LabelMotown
The Jackson 5 chronology
2300 Jackson Street
(1989)
The Jacksons: An American Dream
(1992)
Soulsation!
(1995)

Track listing

All songs performed by the Jackson 5 except where noted.

  1. "Who's Lovin' You" [live] – 5:39
  2. "
    Kansas City" (Jason Weaver
    ) – 2:19
  3. "
    I'll Be There" (originally on Third Album
    ) – 3:56
  4. ") – 2:51
  5. "Walk On/The Love You Save" [live] – 6:05
  6. "I Wanna Be Where You Are" (Jason Weaver) – 4:21
  7. "Dancing Machine" (originally on G.I.T.: Get It Together) – 3:17
  8. "The Dream Goes On" (Jermaine Jackson) – 3:50
  9. "I Want You Back/ABC" [live] – 3:23
    • Recorded live at the Forum,
      Los Angeles, California on August 26, 1972 (later issued in its entirety on Live at the Forum
      in 2010)
  10. "Stay with Love" (Jermaine Jackson and
    Syreeta
    ) – 4:19
  11. "Never Can Say Goodbye" (originally on Maybe Tomorrow) – 2:59
  12. "You Are the Ones (Interlude)" (3T) – 1:51
  13. "Dancing Machine" [remix] – 3:43

Charts

Chart (1992/93) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA Charts)[7] 16

See also

References

  1. ^ Zuckerman, Faye B. (November 14, 1992). "Highlights". The Tuscaloosa News. p. 6A. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  2. ^ "ABC posts third straight ratings win". The Modesto Bee. November 19, 1992. p. F5. Retrieved March 1, 2010. [dead link]
  3. ^ a b Carmody, John (November 20, 1992). "THE TV COLUMN". The Washington Post. p. c.06. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  4. ^ a b "ABC's 'The Jacksons' finales holds top spot". Daily News. November 27, 1992. p. 3. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  5. ^ Grahnke, Lon (November 27, 1992). "Highlights". Chicago Sun-Times. p. 6A. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  6. ^ "The Jacksons: An American Dream Miniseries Reissued In DVD Double-Disc Package". PR Newswire. Cision. December 4, 2001. Archived from the original on January 24, 2002. Retrieved June 21, 2019 – via Yahoo.com.
  7. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 139.

External links