Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries - Dreams: Cast Photo

Dreams aired from October 3rd until October 31st, 1984 on CBS.

Gino Minnelli ( John Stamos), was a welder by day and a rock musician by night. He and the other young members of his group " Dreams" hoped that their music would be the ticket out of their blue-collar Philadelphia neighborhood. Gino was lead singer, lead guitarist, and resident ladykiller. Martha ( Jami Gertz), sang backup, Phil ( Cain Devore), wrote most of their songs and also played guitar, and Weiner ( Albert Macklin), was the flaky keyboard player. The newest member of " Dreams" was Lisa ( Valerie Stevenson), who's father was a wealthy U.S Senator, and who had been recruited mostly for her money. The pleasant surprise for all was that Lisa could really belt out a song. While they worked for their big break, " Dreams" performed regularly at a small neighborhood club owned by Gino's uncle Frank ( Ron Karabatsos). Music video segments were incorporated into each episode of Dreams in an attempt to merge a traditional situation comedy with the hot new fad for music videos. A "soundtrack" LP from the band was released after the show had left the air.

Here's how TV Guide described Dreams in their 1984 Fall Preview Edition.

" For a change , I'd like to have a girl that I can't have." That's an apt line for Gino Minnelli; he's played by John Stamos , the teen idol formerly of General Hospital. In this half-hour comedy Stamos is one of five young Philadelphians who are trying to make it as a rock band. Gino is the lead singer, lead guitarist and a human magnet for groupies; Martha ( Jami Gertz) is a singer; Phil ( Cain Devore) plays guitar; Weiner ( Albert Macklin) is keyboardest and resident jester; and Lisa ( Valerie Stevenson) is a singer, songwriter and pianist. The kids work at mundane jobs by day; at night they play at a neighborhood club owned by Gino's Uncle Frank ( Ron Karabatsos). So you can expect to see a lot of music videos, interspersed with comic exchanges-as when Gino, the ladies man, first spots Lisa in a record store. For once he's smitten. He slides up to her with what he thinks is a cool line: " If you could be any song in the world right now, what would it be?" Lisa: " Beat it." CBS

A Review from The New York Times

CBS Airs Sitcom

By JOHN J. O'CONNOR
Published: October 3, 1984

''Dreams'' takes another character from that old series and updates him in the ''Flashdance'' mode. Gino Minnelli, the lead singer in a struggling Philadelphia rock-and-roll band, is a straightforward resurrection of Fonzie, returned to the tender age of 22. Gino is played by John Stamos with the kind of tough-guy egotism that made Henry Winkler a television superstar for nearly a decade. Unfortunately, without a nice-guy Richie for a foil, Gino comes across less irresistible than obnoxious. Mr. Stamos seems to be doing a kind of young Robert Blake, off-putting belligerence and all.

The show is designed as a kind of extended music-video punctuated with dopey dialogue. Gino and his friends need $1,000 to replace a stolen amplifying system. Gino, the devastating ladies' man, is sent to talk a beautiful rich young woman (Valerie Stevenson) into giving the group a loan. She agrees only on condition that she be given a chance to sing with them. An audition is arranged reluctantly and, needless to say, the benefactor turns out to be a most excellent talent. When she's finished singing about ''Mah whole body's achin'/With every move ahm makin','' all present are awestruck. So, in a different sense, was this reviewer.

Ads for ''Dreams'' emphasize that the show comes from the executive producers of ''Flashdance.'' For the record, the executive producers of this first episode are Jon Peters and Peter Guber. The creator/writer is Andy Borowitz, the producer Ronald E. Frazier, and the director Bill Bixby. When not lifting weights in his factory clothes, Gino walks around in what look like rejects from a wardrobe for a Richard Gere movie. If a series can survive on little more than images, ''Dreams'' might have a chance. The prospect is depressing.

The Dreams Episode Guide:

1)-John Stamos plays Gino Minnelli, the lead singer of a Philadelphia rock band. In the opener the group's prospects of getting a regular club gig vanish with their stolen equipment , but an aspiring singer ( Valerie Stevenson) from a prominent family could be their ticket to stardom. ( aired Oct. 3, 1984)

2)-A magazine article crediting Phil ( Cain Devore) with making the band tick threatens his friendship with Gino ( John Stamos); and Weiner ( Albert Macklin) unwittingly becomes the missing link in a councilman's kickback scheme. ( aired Oct. 10, 1984)

3)-When Martha loses her apartment, Lisa offers her a place to stay in hopes of making peace between them.( aired Oct. 17, 1984)

4)-Martha ( Jami Gertz) is paralysed with fear and refuses to perform at the club after receiving letters and phone calls she thinks came from a demented fan. ( aired Oct. 24, 1984)

5)-Can Phil hold onto the dream...and get a hold on his future? featuring the song " Fortune And Fame." ( aired Oct. 31, 1984) Last episode of the series.

For a website dedicated to John Stamos go to http://www.johnstamos.net/

For another John Stamos website go to http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/johnstamos/

For a website dedicated to Jami Gertz go to http://jamigertz.org/

To watch the opening credits of Dreams go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLSM0tM3aKw