''Dream On'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

television series created by

Marta Kauffman Marta Fran Kauffman (born September 21, 1956) is an American television writer and producer. She is best known as the co-creator of the NBC sitcom ''Friends'' with her longtime friend, David Crane. Both Kauffman and Crane were also executive pr ...

and David Crane, the team who would create the show ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Li ...

''. It follows the family life, romantic life, and career of Martin Tupper, a divorced New York City book editor played by Brian Benben. The show distinctively interjected clips from older black-and-white television series to punctuate Tupper's feelings or thoughts. It ran for six seasons on HBO between July 8, 1990, and March 27, 1996.

Premise

The show centered on Martin Tupper's (Brian Benben) life in an apartment in New York City with his young son, and relating to his ex-wife, while trying to date other women and succeed as an

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, or ...

for a small book publisher with Toby, his brassy secretary. Judith, his ex-wife, went on to marry Dr. Richard Stone – the never-seen (until the end of the series), most impossibly successful man on the planet (astronaut, brain surgeon, the fifth Beatle and consultant to the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

); despite Martin's undying love for Judith, he could never compete with the legendary Dr. Stone. The opening indicates Martin's mother parked him in front of the TV and he then grew up engrossed in it. It briefly shows a babysitter making out with a boyfriend behind young Martin, hence the association of sex with his memories. The show was notable for its frequent use of clips from old movies and TV shows to express Martin's inner life and feelings, which lent it much of its quirky appeal, reminding viewers about the impact of TV on their consciousness. The show was also significant for being one of the first American sitcoms to use uncensored profanity and nudity.

Cast

* Brian Benben as Martin Tupper, a book editor for a smaller publishing house that usually specializes in romance novels and other less prestigious literary fare. Having practically been raised by television in the 1950s, his thoughts are shown to the viewer through clips of classic black and white programming. He struggles to find love (or something like it) while sorting out the feelings he still has for his ex-wife, Judith. *

Wendie Malick Wendie Malick (born December 13, 1950) is an American actress and former fashion model, known for her roles in various television comedies. She starred as Judith Tupper Stone in the HBO sitcom '' Dream On'', and as Nina Van Horn in the NBC si ...

as Judith Tupper Stone, Martin's ex-wife who has since remarried the ''literal'' perfect man, Dr. Richard Stone. *

Chris Demetral Christopher Peter Demetral (born November 14, 1976) is an American former actor best known as Jeremy Tupper, the son of newly divorced New York book editor Martin Tupper (played by Brian Benben) on the HBO series '' Dream On'' and also Jack in ...

as Jeremy Tupper, Martin's teenaged son. * Dorien Wilson (seasons 2–6) and Jeff Joseph (season 1) as Eddie Charles, a talk show host and Martin's best friend. * Denny Dillon as Toby Pedalbee, Martin's secretary/assistant *

Michael McKean Michael John McKean (; born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, singer, and musician known for various roles in film and television such as Lenny Kosnowski in ''Laverne & Shirley'', David St. Hubbins in ''T ...

as Gibby Fiske, Martin's boss (recurring during seasons 2–6) *

Renée Taylor Renée Adorée Taylor (née Wexler; born March 19, 1933) is an American actress, screenwriter, playwright, producer and director.Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award for co-writing the screenplay for the film '' Lovers and Other Strangers' ...

as Martin's mother, Doris Tupper (occasional during seasons 3–5)

Production

The show was created by Marta Kauffman and David Crane, who also served as producers. ''Dream On'' was executive produced by

Kevin Bright Kevin S. Bright (born November 15, 1954) is an American television executive producer and director whose credits include '' Dream On'' and ''Friends''. Early life Born to a Jewish-American family in New York City, Bright attended the East Side ...

and

John Landis John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American comedy and fantasy filmmaker and actor. He is best known for the comedy films that he has directed – such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''National Lampoon's Animal House'' (1978 ...

. Landis also directed several episodes of the series. ''Dream On'' first aired on July 8, 1990, on HBO, and was cancelled by HBO in March 1996. One season of the show, with language and nudity edited for broadcast, aired in

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

on the

Fox Broadcasting Company The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations ...

in 1995: Sunday at 9:30-10:00 p.m. from January to April and Monday at 9:00-10:00 p.m. from June to July. This

bowdlerized Expurgation, also known as bowdlerization, is a form of censorship that involves purging anything deemed noxious or offensive from an artistic work or other type of writing or media. The term ''bowdlerization'' is a pejorative term for the practi ...

version was later made available in

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

. The static shown on the TV towards the end of the opening credits has since become part of the opening credits or introduction for every show made by HBO.

Episodes

Broadcast

Syndication

The edited version of the series aired in syndication on Comedy Central in the United States.

International airings

In Canada, ''Dream On'' aired on the cable movie station Superchannel, in late-night timeslots on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French- ...

, and later on SexTV: The Channel,

The Comedy Network CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy and formerly known as The Comedy Network) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming. The channel first launched on Octob ...

, and with French subtitles on

Télé-Québec The Société de télédiffusion du Québec (; en, Quebec Television Broadcasting Corporation), branded as Télé-Québec (), is a Canadian French-language public educational television network in the province of Quebec. It is a provincial Cro ...

. In

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, the edited version screened on TV2, while the unedited version appeared on

SKY 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

. The show aired on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

in the United Kingdom (for the first two series, before the remainder was shown on

Sky1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

– the majority of the Sky episodes were later shown on

ITV4 ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a line-up that consists of sports, cult clas ...

in a late-night slot around 2006–07), in France, the show aired on

Canal Jimmy Jimmy (formerly Canal Jimmy) is a satellite digital television channel in France and now defunct in Italy and France. It was part of Sky Italia at n.140. History Canal Jimmy was launched on cable on November 29, 1990, by Michel Thoulouze who ba ...

, in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

on TSR, in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

, in Germany on RTL2, in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television * Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by E ...

, in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

ANT1 Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece. The alternate spelling is wordplay in Greek; ''ena'' (ένα) is the Greek number ''1'' (one), thus ''ANT1'' is pronounced the same as ''Antenna'' (Αντέννα). It laun ...

(only the first season in 1994 on Saturday afternoons) and on

Raisat Cinema Rai Movie is an Italian movie television channel, owned by state-owned television network Rai and broadcast on digital terrestrial television in Italy and on satellite platform Tivù Sat. The channel was launched in 2003 as ''RaiSat Cinema World ...

Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have a national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a ...

, and Rai 4 in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It was also broadcast by

(as one of its first shows) and Polsat in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. Also Canal+ in Spain had it and was one their main titles. In

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, the entire show aired on Bip; it is still aired on a regular basis, usually at night as it managed to retain its popularity.

Reception

Critical reception

''Time'' magazine called the show "engaging", noting that its use of old clips was "a clever gimmick

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

perks up familiar material" and later called the second season of the "decidedly adult sitcom...better than ever." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' had mixed opinions about the show. In their first-season review, John J. O'Connor said ''Dream On'' was not "different from ordinary network fare...except for, as might be expected, the more freewheeling language and treatments of sex"; by the season's third episode, the show's

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

is "already becoming just another nice bachelor father, not all that different from the one John Forsythe played on television several decades ago." About a year later, O'Connor said, while the show "has its weak spots, most notably in a pointless tendency to be smarmy" with "clips... that are sometimes less witty than painfully obvious. But ''Dream On'' takes unusual chances and has a habit of turning out to be refreshingly original."

Awards and nominations

Home media

Seasons one and two were released on DVD for both regions 1 and 2; seasons three through six have not been released.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1990 American television series debuts 1996 American television series endings 1990s American sitcoms English-language television shows Fox Broadcasting Company original programming HBO original programming Television series about Jews and Judaism Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series Television series about divorce Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in New York City Television series created by David Crane (producer) Television series created by Marta Kauffman