The series was created by Jonathan Prince and developed by Josh Goldstein and Prince; the latter was also one of the executive producers with Dick Clark. It debuted on September 29, 2002 and initially aired on Sundays at 8:00 pm Eastern Time, but moved to the same time on Wednesdays from March 9, 2005, to the third-season finale (March 30, 2005). The show was known as "Our Generation" when it debuted in Australia; however, it was changed back to "American Dreams" when it returned for the second season.