''California Dreams'' is an American

teen sitcom A teen situation comedy, or teen sitcom, is a subgenre of comedic television program targeted towards young people (Preadolescence, tweens, Adolescence, teenagers and, to a lesser extent, Young adult, young adults). In general, these types of prog ...

that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. It was part of the network's Saturday morning block,

TNBC TNBC (or Teen NBC) was an American teen-oriented television programming block that aired on NBC from September 12, 1992 to September 28, 2002, due to its replacement with the children's-oriented '' Discovery Kids on NBC'' educational lineup. T ...

, premiering on September 12, 1992. Created by writers Brett Dewey and Ronald B. Solomon, and executive produced by

Peter Engel Peter Engel (June 30, 1936 – March 4, 2025) was an American television producer who is best known for his teen sitcoms that appeared on TNBC, a former Saturday morning block on NBC which featured all teenage-oriented programs for educational ...

, all known for their work on ''

Saved by the Bell ''Saved by the Bell'' is an American television teen sitcom created by Sam Bobrick for NBC. The series premiered, in prime time, on August 20, 1989, a Sunday night. Targeted at kids and teens, ''Saved by the Bell'' was broadcast in the United ...

'', the series centers on the friendships of a group of teenagers (shifting toward a

multi-ethnic The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mult ...

makeup beginning with the show's second season) who form the fictional titular band. The series ran five seasons, airing its final episode on December 14, 1996. The series featured 40 original songs performed by the band throughout the show's run, primarily written by

Steve Tyrell Steve Tyrell (born Stephen Louis Bilao III, December 19, 1944) is an American singer and record producer. He won a 2004 Grammy Award as the producer of the Rod Stewart studio album '' Stardust: The Great American Songbook, Volume III''. He also h ...

Episodes

Cast

* Brent Gore as Matt Garrison (seasons 1–2), founding member of the band, main songwriter, singer, guitarist, and keyboard player, eventually moves away with family *

Kelly Packard Kelly Chemane Packard (born January 29, 1975) is an American actress and television personality. She is best known for her roles as Tiffani Smith on ''California Dreams'' and April Giminski on ''Baywatch'', as well as co-hosting ''Ripley's Beli ...

as Tiffani Anne Smith, bass player and singer * William James Jones as Antoine Bethesda "Tony" Wicks, drummer and singer * Heidi Noelle Lenhart as Jenny Garrison (season 1 & first 3 episodes of season 2), Matt's sister, singer and keyboard player, eventually leaves to attend a

music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger i ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

* Michael Cade as Sylvester Leslie "Sly" Winkle, the band's incompetent manager * Michael Cutt as Richard Garrison (season 1; recurring season 2), Matt and Jenny's father * Gail Ramsey as Melody Garrison (season 1; guest season 1), Matt and Jenny's mother * Ryan O'Neill as Dennis Garrison (season 1), Matt and Jenny's younger brother * Jay Anthony Franke as Jacob Samuel "Jake" Sommers (seasons 2–5), lead guitarist, singing voice performed by Barry Coffing *

Jennie Kwan Jennie Kwan is an American actress and singer. She played Samantha "Sam" Woo on ''California Dreams'', and voiced Satoko Hojo in ''Higurashi When They Cry'', Suki in ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'', and Chun-Li in ''Street Fighter 6''. Career Kw ...

as Samantha "Sam" Woo Deswanchoo (seasons 2–5), a

foreign exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or higher education study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, bu ...

from

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, replaces Jenny as singer and keyboard player * Diana Uribe as Lorena Costa (seasons 3–5), the privileged daughter of a wealthy family who takes Sam into their home after the Garrisons' departure * Aaron Jackson as Mark Winkle (seasons 3–5), Sly's cousin from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, keyboard player, guitarist, drummer, and bass player, singing voice performed by Zachary Throne

Syndication

Reruns of ''California Dreams'' briefly aired on TBS in the late 1990s. The show aired on channel 4 and

The Children's Channel The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a British-based pan-European children's television channel in Europe, Asia and Africa, which was owned by Flextech in London, England, UK. It began broadcasting on the original Eutelsat satellite ...

and later

Trouble Trouble may refer to: Film and television * ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin * ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film * ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Trouble'' ...

in the UK in the 1990s.

Home media

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

released the first four seasons of ''California Dreams'' on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in Region 1 between 2009 and 2011. Seasons 3 and 4 were released as Shout! Factory Exclusives titles, available exclusively through their online store. As of 2016, Seasons 1-4 and ''The Best of...'' DVDs can be purchased on Amazon. It is unknown if season 5 will be released. On July 19, 2011, Mill Creek Entertainment released a ten-episode best-of set, ''The Best of California Dreams'', a single-disc set that features episodes from the first three seasons. ♦ - Shout! Factory Exclusives title, sold exclusively through Shout's online store

Reception

Critical response

''California Dreams'' was not well received critically. Rebecca Ascher-Walsh of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' gave the series a grade of "F", and stated that "''California Dreams'' can be accused of a lot of things, but originality isn’t one of them", and added that "''California Dreams'' producer Franco E. Bario (who is also behind ''Saved by the Bell'') may have good intentions, but it’s hard to imagine what they were." ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' reviewer Lynne Heffley considered the show nothing more than "a ''Saved by the Bell'' clone set in an upscale beach town".

Awards and nominations

Cast reunion

The main cast members from the first two seasons of ''California Dreams'' reunited on ''

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of the '' Late Night'' franchise. Hosted by Jimmy Fallon,

'' on March 4, 2010, and played the show's theme song. The version they sang was a unique mash-up that featured both Heidi Noelle Lenhart and Jennie Kwan, who replaced Lenhart in Season 2. While present, Jay Anthony Franke was not a featured vocalist in the performance, given that he did not perform the singing voice of Jake Sommers. Aaron Jackson and Diana Uribe were not present.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1992 American television series debuts 1996 American television series endings 1990s American high school television series 1990s American multi-camera sitcoms 1990s American musical comedy television series 1990s American teen sitcoms American English-language television shows American television series about teenagers Fictional musical groups Television series by Universal Television Redondo Beach, California Television shows set in Los Angeles County, California TNBC NBC sitcoms