It's that time again. Let's take another trip to the far away land of the 1990's and the 'should-be' classic California Dreams.
Growing up and experiencing my formative teen years in the early 1990's, there was a transition period between watching Saturday morning cartoons and graduating to more mature material. The TNBC lineup, led by its flagship show Saved by the Bell, provided the perfect bridge needed between the two worlds.
At the time, a person in their early teenage years might have been deemed too old to watch cartoons, with a good chance of being made fun of for doing so. (Not like today's world, where watching cartoons past the age of 20, 30, and even 40 years old has found its way into the mainstream).
This meant there was an entire group of people who needed to be catered to. Nickelodeon -- led by Hey Dude! and Salute Your Shorts -- had its fair share of teenage oriented shows but the shows were not quite accessible as shows and channels are now. The Disney Channel was still a few years away from cornering the market on teen oriented shows (It had tried, with the failed attempt of Good Morning, Miss Bliss.)
Enter Peter Engel.
Engel took advantage of the market, creating the TNBC lineup and serving as executive producer of Saved by the Bell, Hang Time, and City Guys, among others.
Leading us to -- after recently re-watching all five seasons -- would could be the best of them all: California Dreams.
This show never quite received the notoriety of its predecessor Saved by the Bell. Until my recent viewing, outside of the basic premise and a few hazy memories, California Dreams had not stuck with me like the others.
Reruns of California Dreams didn't have the longevity of SBTB (which still airs on Sunday mornings on MeTV.) So let us take a trip down memory lane. Surf dudes. Attitude. Laid back moves.
California Dreams
The show ran for five seasons, starting in 1992, and followed the lives of five (later as many as seven) teenagers in California.
And it was all about their band trying to make it big while handling the day-to-day life of a teenager.
The first season originally centered around siblings Matt (Brentley Gore) and Jenny (Heidi Lenhart) Garrison and their bandmates Tiffani (Kelly Packard) and Antoine "Tony" Wicks (Williams James Jones) along with the band's manager Sylvester "Sly" Winkle (Michael Cade).
The second season saw the departure of Jenny and the arrival of Samantha Woo (Jennie Kwan), as well as Jake Sommers (Jay Anthony Franke).
Brother Matt left the show after season 2 as the program moved away from the Garrison family completely. Band rehearsals -- and a fair amount of action -- moved to new character Lorena Costa's (Diana Uribe) loft. Sly's cousin Mark (Aaron Jackson) also joined the band in season three.
The first three seasons of the show were the high points, as these seasons provided deeper writing and, I even hate to say this, better acting than the more popular SBTB.
Story lines dealing with racism and steroids were two of the more serious issues tackled in this show. There was even a three-episode arc in season three that saw Sly dating a blind girl. Comedy was deftly balanced with rooting these relationships in more realism than SBTB. Were there still outrageous stories and antics? Of course But on a whole, these first three seasons could rival the best seasons of any of these other teen shows.
Things didn't drastically change in the last two seasons, but we did see more of recycled stories and tropes from the other shows. There was even a slightly clueless principal who at times seemed like a close friend of the central gang.
In season five, there was a valuable episode on teenage drinking. The gang grew up, kept putting out bangers, and before we knew it, the crew at California Dreams rode off into the sunset.
Where are they now?
Unlike most of their counterparts from SBTB, the crew from California Dreams didn't really continue to be in the spotlight after the show ended.
Packard was probably the most recognizable of the Dreams crew, as she enjoyed a stint on Baywatch. Kwan has enjoyed quite a run on Broadway, appearing in Avenue Q.
Other have found successful ventures in music and the independent scene, while others have simply stepped away from the business altogether.
Long before it was the standard to remake/reboot the classic television shows of 1980's/90's, reunion shows were all the rage. Jimmy Fallon capitalized on this, including one in which he reunited most of the members from the cast(s) of California Dreams.
Future Hollywood players
Also like SBTB, who saw the likes of Denise Richards, Scott Wolf, and Leah Remini among others grace an episode or two, California Dreams also had appearances from people who would make a mark on pop culture.
Brooke Langton (Melrose Place, The Replacements) was an early series regular. Jamie Kennedy (Scream, Malibu's Most Wanted) had an appearance in a later season as did Tara Reid (who was in the aforementioned underage drinking episode).
Also appearing? None other than the mom of Buffy the vampire slayer, Kristine Sutherland, plus a handful of others, including Elise Neal.
Part of the joy of watching shows from the 90's -- ranging from the likes of ER to Roseanne on down the line to California Dreams -- is seeing the performers who are popular now (or achieved popularity in the interim) who got their starts as minor characters or even background talent.
So much of today's teen-oriented fare owes their success to shows like Saved by the Bell, California Dreams, and even a fixture of ABC's TGIF lineup, Boy Meets World. Without them, perhaps we may have never seen the likes of the juggernaut the Disney Channel created in the mid-to late 90's.
And while SBTB will always be number one in my heart when pertaining to those early teen years, I can now say California Dreams has again found a place in the lexicon of my brain.
Kind of groovy.
picture credit: flickr.com
To keep up with more sports, entertainment, pop culture and writing, follow on Twitter: @jasonrh_78
Comments