American Dreams (TV Show) - Schiavo-like

[Joz]

Did anybody catch "American Dreams" last night? It was very Schiavo-like. The father's brother was in a car accident and went into a coma and couldn't breathe without the help of a respirator (which was presented as brand new technology at the time), and the brother had to decide if to keep him alive or turn off the machine. I was like "did they do this on purpose? How much in advance do they film these episodes?" They pulled the plug on him in the end, surprisingly fast.

[Soopercali]

1. And they had support from their Catholic faith.

Which clearly taught if extraordinary means were a financial OR emotional strain on a family, it was okay to discontinue them.

[LostinVA]

2. OMG, I know!

I love this show -- one of the best on TV, IMO. We were watching it last night, and my partner and I looked at each other. She was like, "They HAD to refilm this." I don't think they did -- I suspect they did do it to parallel with the Schiavo case, and the timing was just eerie. They have also done an excellent job with the Vietnam?Iraq parallels.

For those who don't watch the show, the father is a hard-assed, very conservative, religious, Patriotic, sexist semi-Freeper. And his stance was very anti-life support.

Please don't let this show be canceled!

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

3. I agree, American Dreams is a great show, but I fear it will be

cancelled.

However, the father's stand on life support was very similiar to my own parents. They both wanted no extraordinary means used on them either.

I think a lot of people in that era understood that when their time came, their time came and yes, in the case of my father, in 1991, our priest backed us up as a family when his time came.

[Rainbowreflect]

4. I was amazed at the timing myself.

It is such a great show. The issues they deal with are so relevant today.