The Jacksons: An American Dream


The Jacksons: An American Dream is an American five-hour epic miniseries broadcast in two halves on ABC and originally broadcast on November 15 through November 18, 1992. It spans five decades, beginning with the rise of the Jackson family, one of the most successful musical families in show business, from a midwestern steel town to the early and successful years of the popular Motown group the Jackson 5.
The miniseries was executive produced by Suzanne de Passe and Stan Margulies, produced by Joyce Eliason, Jermaine Jackson and Margaret Maldonado, and directed by Karen Arthur. The movie was filmed in Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, where director Arthur had previously filmed her feature film Lady Beware. The miniseries features an all-star cast, including Lawrence Hilton Jacobs as the Jacksons' patriarch Joe Jackson, Angela Bassett as the family matriarch Katherine Jackson, Abolade David Olatunde, Alex Burrall, Jason Weaver and the late Wylie Draper, who died the following year, played Michael Jackson in different eras, while Bumper Robinson and Terrence Howard played Jackie Jackson in different eras. Shakiem Jamar Evans and Angel Vargas played Tito Jackson, Margaret Avery played Katherine's mother, Martha Scruse, Holly Robinson Peete played Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams played Berry Gordy, and Vanessa Williams played Suzanne de Passe.
The Jacksons: An American Dream is based on Katherine Jackson's My Family autobiography. A critical and commercial success, the program won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Choreography, while the performances of Hilton Jacobs and Bassett received widespread acclaim.

Plot

The opening sequence of the film features footage of the real Jacksons rehearsing and performing on stage, a few clips from the "Can You Feel It" music video, album covers, magazine covers, a snippet from 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 Scruse and Joseph Jackson 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 Michael Jackson as he faces his brothers marrying early into the Jackson 5's success, his problems with acne as a teenager, and the group's eventual switch to Epic Records in the 1970s, his eventual solo superstardom based on the success of his albums Off the Wall and 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: "Beat It", "Human Nature", "Billie Jean", "I Want You Back", "I Wanna Be Where You Are", "I'll Be There", "Rockin' Robin", "ABC (The [Jackson 5 song)|ABC]", and "Dancing Machine". On all other songs, the Michael Jackson vocal part is performed by Anthony Harrell, Jason Weaver or Kipp Lennon.

Cast

Production

Jermaine Jackson and his then-partner Margaret Maldonado helped with the production of the series. Stan Margulies described the miniseries as exploring fame, fortune, and family, as well as both the price and success of it. He described it as not a docudrama but made as accurately as it can be. Michael Jackson approved of the script and Angela Bassett as his mother Katherine.
Wylie Draper played Adult Michael Jackson. Draper died on December 20, 1993, at the age of 24 from leukemia.
The role of Young Marlon Jackson was given to actor Floyd Rogers Myers Jr., who would later be featured in the third season of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, portraying a young Will Smith. Myers Jr. died in October 2025 at age 42.

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. Part 2 of the miniseries was watched by 38.4 million viewers in 22.3 million households becoming the highest-rated program broadcast during the week of November 16–22 posting a 23.9 rating, and 36 share. Overall, the miniseries was watched in 38.3 million households and posted a 22.3 rating and 33 share.

Critical response

Todd Everett, writing in Variety, thought that the film was bland, particularly in the first part, but praised Bassett's performance and called the series "a commendable effort at approximating the truth". The site The Biopic Story gave a three-star review of the biopic: Ken Tucker gave the series a "C+", praising the acting but felt the series did not delve deeply into the later years of the family.

Accolades

The series was ultimately nominated for four Emmy Awards, with Michael Peters winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Choreography at the 45th Primetime Emmy Awards. The other nominations included Robert L. Stevenson for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Special, Claude Riggins, Daniel J. Leahy, Michael C. Casper, and Gary Lux for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Miniseries or a Special for "Part 2," and Outstanding Miniseries. 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 at the 14th Youth in Film Awards.

Home media

The miniseries was later rebroadcast on VH1 and released to VHS and DVD. 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 death of Michael Jackson. It has been shown on TV One, BET, Centric and VH1.

Soundtrack

Track listing

  1. "Who's Lovin' You" – 5:39
  2. * Recorded live in Gary, Indiana on May 29, 1971
  3. "Kansas City" – 2:19
  4. "I'll Be There" – 3:56
  5. "In the Still of the Night" – 2:51
  6. "Walk On/The Love You Save" – 6:05
  7. * Recorded live in Gary, Indiana on May 29, 1971
  8. "I Wanna Be Where You Are" – 4:21
  9. "Dancing Machine" – 3:17
  10. "The Dream Goes On" – 3:50
  11. "I Want You Back/ABC" – 3:23
  12. * Recorded live at the Forum, Los Angeles, California on August 26, 1972
  13. "Stay with Love" – 4:19
  14. "Never Can Say Goodbye" – 2:59
  15. "You Are the Ones " – 1:51
  16. "Dancing Machine" – 3:43