Never a strong performer in its Sunday 8pm timeslot, the show's third-season ratings dropped 33% from its first season and 13% from its second season. In the third season, the show was regularly beaten in the Sunday night ratings by ABC's ' and CBS's "Cold Case". On February 2, 2005, NBC reduced the number of third-season episodes of "American Dreams" from 19 to 17. The network also moved the program away from its original Sunday night timeslot to Wednesday nights, airing before "The West Wing". This put the show up against CBS's ' and ABC's "Lost", and "American Dreams" could not compete against these popular programs.