The Beach Boys: An American Family

The Beach Boys: An American Family is a 2000 miniseries written by Kirk Ellis and directed by Jeff Bleckner. It is a dramatization of the early years of The Beach Boys, from their formation in the early 1960s to their peak of popularity as musical innovators, through their late-1960s decline (and Brian Wilson's beginning battle with mental illness), to their re-emergence in 1974 as a nostalgia and "goodtime" act.

The movie was shown in two parts on ABC Television, and featured a good deal of original studio and session material by the band, which forms the backdrop to the story. Music that couldn't be licensed for the production, but was important to the story (such as the Smile album sessions, and music by criminal Charles Manson, who had collaborated with Dennis Wilson), was filled in with sound-alikes, reminiscent of the original recordings.

In 2000, Brian Wilson stated of the film: "I didn't like it, I thought it was in poor taste. ... And it stunk. I thought it stunk!" He elaborated further: "I didn't like the second part. It wasn't really true to the way things were. I'd like to see another movie if it was done right. But I just sort of turned my back to this one, or my other cheek, or whatever you wanna call it. It was best just to ignore it because it really wasn't true to life."

Awards

The Beach Boys: An American Family was nominated in nine individual categories at different award ceremonies.

The film won three out of those 8 categories that it was nominated in. Listed below is the categories that the movie was nominated in as well as for what award:

2000

Emmy Awards

Outstanding Mini-series

Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Mini-series, Movie Or A Special

Single-Camera Sound Mixing For A Mini-series Or A Movie

Artios Awards

Best Casting For TV Mini-Series

2001

Eddie Awards

Best Edited Miniseries or Motion Picture for Commercial Television (won)

Excellence In Production Design Awards

Best Television Movie or Mini-Series

C.A.S. Awards

Outstanding Achievement In Sound Mixing For A Television Movie-of-the-Week, Mini-Series (won)

DGA Awards

Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Movies For Television (won)

Golden Satellite Awards

Best Mini-series (nom)