YMMV / The Jacksons: An American Dream

• Awesome Moments:
  • The recreation of the famous Motown 25 performance was near-perfect. There's a reason Wylie Draper, who originally appeared as a nondescript backup dancer in Michael Jackson's "Remember The Time" music video, was hand-picked by the King of Pop himself for the role
  • Tito standing his ground with Joseph when he objects to his decision to marry Dee Dee.
• Awesome Music: Being a biopic about the Jackson family, this comes by the dozens.
• Harsher in Hindsight: After Tito and Jermaine's marriages, an upset and ignorant Michael scolds them for "betraying" their fans. Once Michael becomes a teenager, the same fans turn on him and call him ugly due to his acne, something which affects him deeply.
• Narm:
  • The recreation of the infamous Pepsi commercial got this from many viewers. Especially Michael's frantic yelping and inexplicably rolling down the stairs he’d been dancing on. Even worse is how the scene plays over some generic pop music instead of "Billie Jean" (and made all the more confusing since their music rights were permitted in the film).
  • Much of Joe's mannerisms and freak outs. One particularly memorable scene has him railing over finding a towel left in their swimming pool and proceeding to yell out "MICHAEL! MARLON! YOU'RE GONNA GET IT!" in the middle of the night and over Katherine's desperate pleading for him to stop.
  • Young Michael's apprehension about flying on a plane out of fear of it crashing would normally be understandable. However, his subsequently freaking out in the rain to the point of hitting Joe as he tries to drag him on the plane which results in him carrying him over his shoulder on board becomes this.
• Narm Charm: As melodramatic as it was, Katherine's reaction to Joseph's infidelity still packs an emotional punch.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Terrence Howard, now probably best known for Empire, broke into the film and TV industry portraying an adult Jackie Jackson in the miniseries.
  • Jason Weaver, who appeared as Motown-era Michael Jackson, became best known for providing the singing voice of Simba as well as playing Marcus Henderson on Smart Guy.
• Spiritual Successor: Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story was framed as a spiritual sequel to An American Dream, but it did not have Michael Jackson's blessing, causing him to publicly blast it when he found out about it.
• Tough Act to Follow: And how. This miniseries set a high bar for later miniseries and made-for-TV movies about the Jackson family and portrayals of Michael Jackson. Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story, though an intentional spiritual sequel, was compared unfavorably to An American Dream and outright hated by Michael himself.

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