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The Jacksons: An American Dream was a four-hour American miniseries broadcast in two parts on ABC. The miniseries was based on the history of the popular soul and pop act The Jackson 5, and covered the history of the Jackson family from 1948 (though the show had the timeline starting three years earlier in 1945) to 1984.
[edit] The "Early Years" and "Success Years"
The three-hour "Early Years" part of the series was broadcast on November 15, 1992, and covered the story of the Jacksons from their parents' courtship in Gary in the late-1940s up until the release of the early Motown #1 hits in 1969/1970. "The Success Years", broadcast on November 18, 1992, covered the period from the "Jacksonmania" years of the early-1970s until the Victory tour in 1984.
[edit] Production
The series was produced for KJ Films and Motown by Stan Marguiles, Suzanne de Passe, Jermaine Jackson, and Margaret Maldonado.
Among the actors featured in the miniseries were Angela Bassett as Katherine Jackson, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Joseph Jackson, Billy Dee Williams as Berry Gordy, Vanessa L. Williams as Suzanne de Passe, Bumper Robinson as teenage Jackie Jackson, Jason Weaver as pre-teenage Michael Jackson, Terrence Howard as adult Jackie Jackson, Garcelle Evans as young LaToya Jackson, Colin Steele as adult Jermaine Jackson, Angel Vargas as teenage/adult Tito Jackson, Jermaine Jackson Jr. as teenage Jermaine Jackson. Wylie Draper, who played the teenage/adult Michael Jackson, died of a rare form of leukemia on December 20, 1993 at age 24.
[edit] Popularity
The Jacksons: An American Dream became one of the most popular and successful music-biography miniseries of the 1990s. The first part of the miniseries was the highest-rated program broadcast during the week of November 10 - November 17. 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.
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