Jul. 22, 2006 - Lynn Barker
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You probably remember her as cute
Brittany Snow’s annoying, brainy little
sis Patty Pryor on the ‘60’s themed
drama “American Dreams” but now 15-
year-old Sarah Ramos is nobody’s
teeny tyke anymore. She’s a hot young
lady and, this new season on the new
CW network, she’ll play Donnie
Wahlberg’s teen daughter in the
action/drama “Runaway”. Sarah will
leave her California home (she loves
going to the beach) for Toronto,
Ontario, Canada where the show is
shot and her mom will go with her.
Sarah has been hanging out on set
with hottie Dustin Milligan who plays
her slightly older bro in the show but
mom won’t let her date officially until
she’s 16 so don’t look for any hook-
ups there.
Sarah Ramos
Credit: sarah-ramos.com
At the big CW lawn party and inside
the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Pasadena
recently, we caught up with the young
actress who wore Lucky Jeans and a
very hot-looking purple top and silver
sandals early in the day and later
appeared in her first designer dress, a
cute Betsey Johnson brown and white
sundress. Once we recognized her
(she’s grown up a lot), we trotted over
to get the scoop on Sarah’s new show
and her plans for transitioning to older
roles.
TeenTelevision: You played Brittany
Snow’s younger sis on “American
Dreams”. Now you are a younger sis
on this show…
Sarah: I guess I’m just good at being
‘annoying younger sister’ [laughs].
TeenTelevision: We just interviewed
Brittany for John Tucker Must Die. Do
you also have it in your game plan to
do feature films?
Sarah: I’d love to. I’ve been auditioning
for movies but it’s hard to transition I
guess.
TeenTelevision: They need to
realize you are 15 now and not a 12-
year-old.
Sarah: Yeah! Hopefully this new show
will help.
TeenTelevision: We just
interviewed Brittany for John
Tucker Must Die. Do you also have
it in your game plan to do feature
films?
Sarah: I’d love to. I’ve been auditioning
for movies but it’s hard to transition I
guess.
TeenTelevision: They need to
realize you are 15 now and not a 12-
year-old.
Sarah: Yeah! Hopefully this new show
will help.
TeenTelevision: “Dreams” was a
great ensemble show. Are you
enjoying this cast as well?
American Dreams Cast
Credit: NBC
Sarah: Definitely. I was kind of
worried. I didn’t know how it was going
to compare because we all became
such a close family [on “Dreams"] but
the whole cast here, we’ve become
pretty good friends and I’m sure it will
just get better.
TeenTelevision: Have you ever
had to leave a school or friends
like your character has to?
Sarah: I’ve never had to leave to go to
another town but when we had to film
the pilot, I had to leave my school for
three weeks and it was after all my
friends and I had asked all our guy
friends to go to Sadie Hawkins with us.
So, I didn’t get to go.
TeenTelevision: Awwww. That’s no
fun. So do you get to have any
input into what your character
Hannah will get to do on the show?
Sarah: I haven’t done that yet but I’m
sure they would take what I say and
think about it.
Definitely. I was kind of worried. I didn’t
know how it was going to compare
because we all became such a close
family [on “Dreams"] but the whole cast
here, we’ve become pretty good
friends and I’m sure it will just get
better.
Cast of Runaway
Credit: CW
TeenTelevision: Do you have any
interest in some day directing or
writing?
Sarah: I’d love to direct or write. Yeah.
I think all the other parts of show
business, even casting directing, all
that is so interesting and I’d like to
learn about that.
TeenTelevision: Didn’t you once
write a pilot script or something?
Sarah: I wrote that when I was about
nine and they are these awful little
scripts that I wrote that I thought were
funny and they’re just so dumb so that
doesn’t even count.
TeenTelevision: Any cool movies
that you liked lately?
Sarah: I saw The Break-Up with my
mom and critics didn’t like it a lot but I
liked it. I thought it was good.
TeenTelevision: What types of
music are you into?
Sarah: I like older music like I’m right
now listening to Simon and Garfunkle
but I also like this guy Matt Costa. He’s
from Huntington Beach and he’s really
good.
TeenTelevision: What would your
ideal guy be like?
Sarah: Well, he’d be hot. He would be
really funny and just laid back and fun.
The funny thing is most important.
TeenTelevision: What are you
wearing? Cute top.
Sarah Ramos
Credit: sarah-ramos.com
Sarah: Thanks. It’s from Nordstrom
but I don’t know what designer. I’m
wearing Lucky Jeans. I go to Urban
Outfitters a lot but I’ve got this cool
Betsey Johnson dress to wear to the
party tonight.
Segue to the lawn party at the Ritz
Carlton Hotel. Sarah looks fresh and
pretty in her brown and white Betsey
Johnson sundress. We corner her as
she comes down the long stone steps
to the lawn party.
TeenTelevision: Here we are
again. So, you’ll be working in
Toronto. Is it a whole new world for
you?
Runaway Cast
Credit: CW
Sarah:
It’s funny because when I go up there
everybody is like ‘oh, you’re so tan’.
Then I come home and my friends are
like ‘oh, you need a tan. You are sooo
white’.
TeenTelevision: Do you like
working up there?
Sarah: I think it’s going to be fun.
Dustin [Milligan who plays her bro on
the show] said he’d hang out with me. I
have no friends up there so hopefully
he’ll come through.
TeenTelevision: Did you guys get
to bond a little?
Sarah: Yeah. I’ve hung out with Dustin
a lot and Donnie [Wahlberg who plays
her dad] and Leslie [Hope who plays
her mom] and everybody’s great, really
fun and funny.
TeenTelevision: I know that you
work for a teen violence
prevention program. Can you talk a
bit about that?
Sarah: My aunt started it; the non-
profit organization. It teaches kids what
crosses boundaries, shows how you
should treat each other. It hopefully will
teach them and cut down the number
of abusive families out there. I don’t
have personal experience with it but I
know people who have.
TeenTelevision: Were you glad to
get out of all those nerdy ‘60’s
clothes you wore for “American
Dreams”?
Sarah plays little sis on
American Dreams
Credit: NBC
Sarah: Yeah, I was in a school uniform
every day. I got used to it and didn’t
have to worry about costume changes
but it’s more exciting to have stuff that I
would actually wear. I like some of the
wardrobe. Some of it is a little out there
and I told the costumer, ‘this is really
my style’ and she’s like ‘well, you’re not
the character’ but she’s really nice.
She thinks we’ll be setting some trends
with the clothes.
TeenTelevision: Your mom will be
with you in Toronto. Do you two
always get along?
Sarah: I do get mad at her sometimes.
[points] She’s right over there. Today, I
got home from the beach and we fight
all the time but it usually just ends up
like ‘well, you’re being mean’ and I’m
like ‘oh, I’m sorry’. But I feel bad. She’s
actually a lenient mom. I think that’s
good because I’m a pretty good kid. I
don’t cross the boundaries.
TeenTelevision: You mentioned
the beach. What do you like to do?
Sarah Ramos
Credit: sarah-ramos.com
Sarah:I like to go to the beach with my
friends, ride bikes and go get ice
cream. I like to shop. I like shopping for
dresses even though I don’t wear them
very much. This Betsey Johnson is my
first designer dress. I went to her
boutique. It was sweet.
***
Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based
entertainment journalist and produced
screen
writer.
http://www.teentelevision.com/d.asp?
r=128214&c=1002
Nostalgia
By KATE AURTHUR
Published: March 9, 2005
NY Times
Jonathan Prince, the creator of "American
Dreams," the family drama that takes place
during the 1960's, recently recounted how he
pitched the show to NBC: "I said, 'This is
about 10 years in our country's history, from
Camelot to Watergate.' "
The pitch continued, "What did we lose and
what did we learn in those 10 years?"
That was in the summer of 2001. Now, after
a five-week hiatus, the show resumes its
third season but in a new time period: tonight
at 8 , Eastern and Pacific times; 7, Central
time. Mr. Prince, in a telephone interview
from Los Angeles, said he had always
imagined that "American Dreams" would be
a topical show. Its plots would dramatize the
whiplash-inducing changes of the
1960's before a nostalgic backdrop of the
music of "American Bandstand," on which
two teenage characters are dancers. He
planned to end the pilot episode with
the main characters - a Philadelphia family -
hearing the news that President John F.
Kennedy had been assassinated.
After Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. Prince said, he
realized that the show would no longer be
rooted in nostalgia: that in the series's fall
2002 debut, the mourning in the aftermath of
Kennedy's death would remind viewers
of the days following the terrorist attacks the
previous year. "After 9/11, suddenly there
were people saying, 'I know what it's like to
have that sense of loss in our country,' " he
said. With this new idea of making "American
Dreams" reflect today's political landscape,
Mr. Prince went forward. " 'A nation
grieves' became the first parallel," he said.
But not the last. In its two and a half years on
television, "American Dreams" has illustrated
the struggles of the 1960's - over roiling
issues like civil rights, women in the
workplace and abortion - through their effect
on the show's characters. Throughout, the
central character, Meg Pryor (Brittany
Snow), has continued to dance on "American
Bandstand," which, on the series, stands
apart from the political turbulence she's
witnessing.
Kevin Reilly, the president of NBC
Entertainment, said
that narrative touchstone had allowed
"American Dreams" to achieve a tonal
balance between comfort and
cultural disarray. "It started in a relatively
benign place and has had to evolve with the
chronology of history," he said in a recent
telephone interview. "It's true to the tumult of
the era, but it still leaves you with a warm
feeling."
The show was moved from the Sunday slot it
had occupied since its debut because after
two years of decent ratings, it lost a chunk of
its audience last fall to ABC's "Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition."
Mr. Reilly said he was committed to giving
"American Dreams" a chance, having paired
it with another topical drama, "The West
Wing." "Anytime you have a show of quality
that is also advertising-friendly - and there
are several significant advertisers that
have really backed the show - that's a
business we can live with even if it's not a
major hit by the numbers," he said.
In the last year, the show has focused on the
Vietnam War, both overseas and on the
home front, as the conflict expanded in 1965
and 1966. Meg's brother, J. J. (Will Estes),
became a marine and viewers watched
his experience in Vietnam. In turn, worried
about his enlistment, the high school student
Meg was swept up in the burgeoning antiwar
movement.
In telling this 40-year-old story, Mr. Prince
said, the series "became the most
contemporary show on the network." He
listed the analogous threads between then
and now, as he has written them into the
show: "This nasty little war we're fighting in
'63 and '64, like the war in Iraq, starts to feel
like this isn't going to be a quickie. You have
a country that's divided. And if you don't agree
with the Texas president, you're
un-American."
To chronicle a realistic story about a soldier's
experience in Vietnam, as well as how that
reflected on Iraq, Mr. Prince said, he had to
send J. J. away for a length of time that made
him uncomfortable as a producer. But when
it became clear that the United States military
was not leaving Iraq anytime soon, he
decided it was safe to put J. J. in combat for a
year to show "the grunt's-eye view," he said.
In episodes that began last January, J. J.
was in Saigon and the Cambodian jungle,
held captive, wounded and eventually sent
home.
Sgt. Maj. James Dever, the show's military
consultant and a retired marine who served
in Vietnam, said in a telephone interview
from California that he brought in as extras
marines who had served in Iraq, to make the
action scenes realistic. "Nobody has really
shown the earlier version of Vietnam,"
Sergeant Major Dever said of "American
Dreams." A lot of the Vietnam veterans
I've talked to love that it shows how things
were changing at home."
Through the series's family prism, what was
changing at home was Meg's political
awareness. In the finale of the second
season, she was arrested at a protest.
Last fall, she directed a school play, "Henry
V," and turned it into an antiwar parable. Mr.
Prince chose Meg as the activist character
because "when Meg is screaming about the
war, it comes from her body and her heart
because of her brother," he said.
"It's not an intellectual treatise about Abbie
Hoffman and the boys at Brandeis," he
added. "We've seen that a million times."
Mr. Prince described his political bent without
hedging: "I'm a staunch left-leaning liberal
Democrat." But he said the show wasn't
meant to
reflect those views. "The red states think that
this is their show, because it's about family
values," he said. "And the blue states think
it's their show because it's about a sister
protesting an unjust war that her brother's
fighting in. I'm content to live on both sides of
the aisle."
He will need viewers of all party affiliations to
watch "American Dreams" for the rest of the
season if it is to be renewed. He said he was
hopeful. "I've produced a lot of shows, and
I've had a lot of failures," he said. "And I know
how and when to give up. With this one, I
can't give up."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/09/arts/televi
sion/09drea.html
