California Dreams was originally intended to be a family sitcom, mainly centering around the Garrison family. In the first season, the main characters of the show were Matt Garrison (the teenage son and leader of the band) and Jenny Garrison (the vocalist/pianist in the band who was also Matt's younger sister) along with the rest of the Garrison family, Richard (the dad), Melody (the mom), and Dennis (the 8 year old younger brother).
The other three main characters would be the only three characters to have appeared throughout the show's entirety. They are Tiffany Smith (the bass player), Tony Wicks (the drummer) and Sly Winkle (the teenage manager of the band).
Season 2
NBC executives, however did not like the show's original format. By Season 2, the focus of the show changed from the Garrison family, to the teens who formed the California Dreams band.
In Season 2, a fifth member of the California Dreams band was introduced. Jake Sommers became the band's second guitarist. Jenny's character was the first to leave the show very early into Season 2 (for a music school opportunity in
Italy).
In the following episode, the show brought in its first replacement character, Samantha Woo, a foreign exchange student from Hong Kong whom the Garrisons take into their home. When Sam's singing voice is noticed by the band she becomes the band's new vocalist in Jenny's old place.
Season 3
By Season 3, it became obvious that the band's (and the show's) original premise would come to an end when Matt left the show (signaling the idea that the entire Garrison family left the show). In Matt's place in the band was Mark Winkle, Sly's shy cousin from New York. Another character added to the cast was Lorena Costa, a band groupie from a rich family who takes Sam into their home after the Garrisons' departure. There were no more cast/character changes to the show after that.
California Dreams had much fewer cast changes compared to other
TNBC shows on during the show's run such as
Hang Time and
Saved by the Bell: The New Class.