Fame

Fame
Title screen
Format	Drama
Created by	Christopher Gore
Starring	Debbie Allen Albert Hague Carol Mayo Jenkins Lee Curreri Erica Gimpel Carlo Imperato Valerie Landsburg Gene Anthony Ray Lori Singer Nia Peeples
Theme music composer	Michael Gore Dean Pitchford
Opening theme	"Fame" Performed by: Erica Gimpel (Seasons 1-4) Loretta Chandler (Seasons 5-6)
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	136 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC (1982-1983) Syndication (1983-1987)
Original run	January 7, 1982 – May 18, 1987

Fame is an American television series originally produced between 1982 and 1987. The show was based on the 1980 motion picture of the same name and was hugely popular during its first few seasons. Using a mixture of drama and music, it followed the lives of the students and faculty at the New York City High School for the Performing Arts. Although fictional, it was based heavily on the actual Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York. Most interior scenes were filmed in Hollywood, California. In Seasons 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 the show filmed several exterior scenes on location in New York City.

The popularity of the series, particularly in the UK, led to several hit records and live concert tours by the cast. Despite its success, very few of the actors maintained high-profile careers after the series was cancelled. A number of the cast members were seen again briefly in a reunion programme made for UK television in 2008.

Details

The show was produced by MGM Television and was first broadcast on the NBC television network in the US on January 7 1982, producers William Blinn and Mel Swope. The last new episode was broadcast in the US on May 18, 1987. Some seasons of the show were produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom and Channel 7 in Australia where later seasons of the show were more popular than in the domestic market and in order to continue production they financed the later seasons.

Following its cancellation, two versions of the series were syndicated in reruns: the original hour-long episodes, which usually contained a primary plot, a sub plot and two or more musical numbers; and a second version, stripped of the musical numbers and the sub plot and reduced to 30 minutes in length.

The show's theme song was a pop hit for singer Irene Cara, having been featured in the motion picture. A re-recorded version of the theme, using similar instrumentation to the 1980 track, was used in the TV series and sung by co-star Erica Gimpel, who played Coco Hernandez. Although Gimpel left the series midway through the third season (after the show moved from NBC to first-run syndication in 1983), her opening vocals were still heard on the show for two more seasons. An updated version of the song, featuring a modern, synthesized hard-rock flavor, was introduced in the fall of 1985 and performed by new cast member Loretta Chandler (Dusty). This version ran for the final two seasons of Fame.

"I Still Believe In Me", from an episode of the series entitled "Passing Grade", was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Original Song. It was performed by Erica Gimpel and Debbie Allen and co-written by Gary Portnoy who would go on to co-write and sing the Theme from Cheers (Where Everybody Knows Your Name). In the UK, two singles credited to The Kids from "Fame", "Hi-Fidelity" and "Starmaker", reached the top ten.

Awards

The series won a number of Emmy awards and in 1983 and 1984 was voted the Golden Globe Awards: Television, Best Series, Musical/Comedy. Actress, director and choreographer Debbie Allen, who had a small role in the motion picture but played a major character in the television version, also won several awards.

The cast

Faculty

• Debbie Allen as Lydia Grant
• Albert Hague as Benjamin Shorofsky
• Graham Jarvis as Principal Bob Dyrenforth (episodes 98-136)
• Carol Mayo Jenkins as Elizabeth Sherwood (seasons 1-5)
• Eric Pierpoint as Paul Seeger (episodes 115-136)
• Morgan Stevens as David Reardon (season 2, recurring seasons 3 & 4)
• Michael Thoma as Greg Crandall (recurring season 1)
• Ken Swofford as Quentin Morloch (episodes 40-97)
• Ann Nelson as Mrs. Gertrude Berg (episode 66-136, recurring previously)

Students

• P.R. Paul as Montgomery MacNeil (season 1)
• Lori Singer as Julie Miller (seasons 1–2)
• Lee Curreri as Bruno Martelli (seasons 1–3)
• Erica Gimpel as Coco Hernandez (seasons 1–3,recurring Seasons 4 -6)
• Valerie Landsburg as Doris Schwartz (seasons 1–4)
• Carlo Imperato as Danny Amatullo
• Gene Anthony Ray as Leroy Johnson
• Cynthia Gibb as Holly Laird (seasons 3–5)
• Billy Hufsey as Christopher Donlon (seasons 3–6)
• Janet Jackson as Cleo Hewitt (season 4)
• Jesse Borrego as Jesse Velasquez (seasons 4–6)
• Nia Peeples as Nicole Chapman (seasons 4–6)
• Page Hannah as Kate Riley (seasons 5)
• Carrie Hamilton as Reggie Higgins (seasons 5–6)
• Loretta Chandler as Dusty Tyler (seasons 5–6)
• Michael Cerveris as Ian Ware (season 6)
• Olivia Barash as Maxie Sharp (season 6)
• Elisa Heinsohn as Jillian Beckett (season 6)

Additional characters

• Dick Miller as Lou Mackie (season 6, recurring previously on seasons 4 & 5)

Recurring characters

• Carmine Caridi as Angelo Martelli (seasons 1–2)
• Michael DeLorenzo as Michael (seasons 1–3)
• Denny Dillon as Corky (season 6)
• David Greenlee as Dwight Mendenhall (seasons 2–5)
• Robert Romanus as Miltie Horowitz (seasons 5–6)
• Carolyn J. Silas as Laura Mackie (season 6)
• Sam Slovick as Cassidy (season 4)
• Bronwyn Thomas as Michelle (season 1–4)
• Caryn Ward as Tina Johnson (seasons 5–6)

Episodes

• See List of Fame episodes

DVD releases

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first season of Fame on DVD in Region 1 on November 1, 2005. This is now out of print as the home video rights are now owned by 20th Century Fox.

20th Century Fox (under license from (MGM) released the complete first and second seasons of Fame on DVD in Region 1 and Region 2 on September 15, 2009. [1]

Bring Back...Fame

On 27 December 2008, Channel 4 TV in the UK screened a 90-minute special titled Bring Back...Fame, which sought out and reunited some of the original cast members of the television series.

Presented by Justin Lee Collins, and apparently filmed the previous summer, the show followed the presenter around the United States as he tracked down actors from the series and then staged a reunion. The programme showed Collins appearing to surprise the former cast members in locations including restaurants, a recording studio, a gym, LAX airport and a cinema, before interviewing them and persuading them to take part in the reunion.

The actors featured in the programme were Debbie Allen, Carol Mayo Jenkins, Lee Curreri, Erica Gimpel, Valerie Landsburg and Carlo Imperato. Also interviewed were Irene Cara, who did not appear in the TV series but sang the theme song and played Coco in the original motion picture, and the mother of the late Gene Anthony Ray. It was not stated whether other actors from the series had also been approached but had declined to take part. Excerpts from the TV series were shown throughout the programme. The final scenes of the programme showed the six principal actors and a number of backing dancers taking part in a recreation of the title sequence of the TV programme.

The programme was made for and broadcast on Channel 4, despite Fame having originally been shown in the UK on the BBC. No explanation was given for the reunion. There appeared to be no promotional purpose; no mention was made of the DVD release of the series or the forthcoming remake of the original motion picture, and the original TV series has never been re-run in the UK.

See also

• The Kids from "Fame" - an article on the recording group.
• Un Paso Adelante (TV series) (Spanish series based on "Fame")

External links

• Fame at the Internet Movie Database
• Fame at TV.com