Meg Pryor

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Meg Pryor
American Dreams character
Meg Pryor as portrayed by Brittany Snow
Gender	Female
Hair color	Blonde
Eye color	Blue
Portrayed by	Brittany Snow

Margaret "Meg" Pryor (born c. August, 1948) is a fictional character in the NBC television drama American Dreams, who is played by Brittany Snow. Due to her central involvement in the plot of every episode, Meg is arguably the show's main character. It is also quite clear that present-day teenage girls watching the show are meant to relate to her and Snow is identified with the series more than any of her co-stars.

As of the mid 1960s, Meg lives in Philadelphia with her father Jack, her mother Helen, her sister Patty and her younger brother Will. Her older brother, JJ, has been fighting in the Vietnam War, but returned to the U.S. in the show's third season. Meg has recently graduated from the fictional East Catholic High School with her best friend, Roxanne Bojarski.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the pilot of American Dreams (set in November of 1963,) Meg persuades her father to let her appear on her favourite TV show, American Bandstand. Soon afterward, she and Roxanne are invited to be regular dancers on Bandstand, fulfilling a lifelong dream of hers. However, Meg's other plans are thwarted throughout the first season. For instance, her attempts at befriending Sam Walker are constantly criticised by her father and her brother, who warn her that it is unwise. The relationship between Meg and Sam is put to the test at the end of Season 1, when the pair find themselves in the middle of the 1964 Philadelphia riots. (In fact, fans have speculated whether Sam and Meg might become romantically involved, noting that there is a certain degree of sexual tension between the two.)

While Meg is good-natured in Season 1, in the following season she becomes rebellious and argumentative. Jack takes a harsh attitude to Meg's behaviour, especially after Meg begins dating Drew, a college student who is also an anti-war activist. Even Helen, who normally gets along well with Meg, is frustrated by her daughter's change in personality. Finally Meg runs away from home after she is forbidden to see Drew again. She soon leaves Drew and reconciles with her parents.

At the beginning of the show's third season, Meg's opposition to the Vietnam War, which JJ was fighting in at the time, gets her into trouble with the police. At school, she is made to produce an adaptation of Henry V, which she decides to redo as a commentary of present-day politics, taking her inspiration from West Side Story. East Catholic's principal stops the play's production, but Meg becomes even more determined to make her views heard after JJ is reported missing in action.

She also becomes romantically involved with Chris Pierce, though she is often at odds with him. Chris seems to be somewhat unscrupulous, shamelessly lying to Meg about his father. Due mainly to Meg, Chris becomes involved in anti-war protesting and constantly tries to coerce her into doing more than she would have liked (such as graffiting a peace sign on the school wall.)

When Chris and friends burn down a recruiting station, injuring a janitor, Chris lies to Meg and tell her he tried to stop. Despite the warning of her Uncle Pete that Chris is a bad kid, Meg beileves him. However, Chris eventually does admit the truth and apologizes. Meg decides Pete was right about Chris after all, but, shortly after her graduation, she finds out he left town. This causes Meg to feel guilty (something for which Chris has a talent.)

Chris reappears at the end of the season (set in August of 1966) and explains to Meg that he's been drafted to fight in Vietnam. Chris decides to run from the long arm of the law and hide in Berkeley, California. Despite initial protests from Chris, Meg decides to go with him. Jack soon found out about Meg's plans from Patty (who evesdropped on a phone conversation between Meg and Roxanne with the telephone in the foyer). Though he decided to let Meg go, he warned her, "If you walk out that door...then don't come back". The third season ends with Chris and Meg riding away on a motorcycle together the night after Meg films a television commercial for her father's store, Pryor's TV and Radio.

Meg's fate from there on out could be unknown to fans of American Dreams for some time to come. NBC cancelled the program on May 16, 2005, and the show's sets have reportedly been torn down. Not knowing if the show would be re-newed for a fourth season at the time of the third season finale, creator Jonathan Prince filmed a 12 minute alternate ending to air in case NBC made an early decision to cancel American Dreams. NBC opted not to run the alternate ending when the season finale aired, but then cancelled the show anyway. The alternate ending was a 12 minute segment set on July 20, 1969 (the day Neil Armstrong landed on the moon), with a changed Meg returning home to face her family after a 3 year absence. In late July, 2005 NBC announced that the epilogue would air in late August or early September, but the network appears to have reneged on its promise. The epilogue never aired, though it may be included in the DVD release of the show's third season. [1]

Prince told the American Dreams Fan Club that his plans for the fourth season would have had Meg returning to Philadelphia sometime in 1967, perhaps after being convinced by a family member who came to California to bring her home.[2]