American Family: Journey of Dreams

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Overview

American Family: Journey of Dreams is a PBS series created by Gregory Nava that follows the lives of a Latino family in Los Angeles. This was the first broadcast television drama series featuring a predominantly Latino cast. It also was the first original primetime American episodic drama to air on PBS in decades -- since the series I'll Fly Away moved to the network. Nava initially created the series for CBS, which passed on the pilot. PBS picked up 12 remaining episodes for its first season. Edward James Olmos plays Jess Gonzalez, a Korean War veteran and barber with a cranky disposition as well as five adult children. He and his wife Berta seek a better life for their children. Conrado is a medical school student, who, at the end of the first season, enlists in the Army. In an interview with Bill Moyers during the airing of the series, Nava was asked if he wasn't angry that Latinos were invisible during prime-time television. "I think we’re reaching a point right now where Latinos are moving from the fringes into the mainstream of American life. And our time has come right now for us to make our contribution to this country," he said. "So it doesn’t make me angry; I just see it as a challenge. And I think that as a population and as a community we have to rise to that challenge."