| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 6 |
| Num Episodes: | 136 |
| List Episodes: | List of Fame (1982 TV series) episodes |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
Fame is an American musical drama television series based on the 1980 film of the same name. It followed the lives of the students and faculty at New York City's High School of Performing Arts.[1] Most interior scenes were filmed in Hollywood, California. In all seasons except the third, the show filmed several exterior scenes on location in New York City.
The popularity of the series around the world, most notably in the United Kingdom, led to several hit records and live concert tours by the cast.[2] [3] Despite its success, few of the actors maintained high-profile careers after the series was cancelled. Several of the cast members were seen again briefly in Bring Back...Fame, a reunion special made for Channel 4 in the United Kingdom in 2008.
See main article: List of Fame (1982 TV series) episodes.
| Actor | Character | Seasons | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||
| Debbie Allen | Lydia Grant | colspan="6" | |||||
| Lee Curreri | Bruno Martelli | ||||||
| Erica Gimpel | Coco Hernandez | ||||||
| Albert Hague | Benjamin Shorofsky | colspan="6" | |||||
| Carlo Imperato | Danny Amatullo | colspan="6" | |||||
| Carol Mayo Jenkins | Elizabeth Sherwood | ||||||
| Valerie Landsburg | Doris Schwartz | ||||||
| P.R. Paul | Montgomery MacNeill | ||||||
| Gene Anthony Ray | Leroy Johnson | colspan="6" | |||||
| Lori Singer | Julie Miller | colspan="4" | |||||
| Morgan Stevens | David Reardon | colspan="2" | |||||
| Cynthia Gibb | Holly Laird | colspan="1" | |||||
| Billy Hufsey | Christopher Donlon | colspan="4" | |||||
| Ken Swofford | Principal Quentin Morloch | colspan="1" | |||||
| Jesse Borrego | Jesse Velasquez | colspan="3" | |||||
| Janet Jackson | Cleo Hewitt | colspan="2" | |||||
| Nia Peeples | Nicole Chapman | colspan="3" | |||||
| Ann Nelson | Mrs. Gertrude Berg | colspan="3" | |||||
| Loretta Chandler | Dusty Tyler | colspan="2" | |||||
| Carrie Hamilton | Reggie Higgins | colspan="2" | |||||
| Page Hannah | Kate Riley | ||||||
| Graham Jarvis | Principal Bob Dyrenforth | colspan="2" | |||||
| Michael Cerveris | Ian Ware | colspan="1" | |||||
| Elisa Heinsohn | Jillian Beckett | colspan="1" | |||||
| Eric Pierpoint | Paul Seeger | colspan="1" | |||||
| Olivia Barash | Maxie Sharp | colspan="1" | |||||
| Dick Miller | Lou Mackie | ||||||
Notable guest stars include Paul Bartel, Frances Bay, Milton Berle, Carol Burnett, Art Carney, John Carradine, Nancy Cartwright, Marge Champion, Don Cheadle, Brian Patrick Clarke, Keith Coogan, Elizabeth Daily, Fran Drescher, Dominique Dunne, Greg Evigan, Fionnula Flanagan, Randee Heller, Arte Johnson, Russell Johnson, Tuesday Knight, Kevin McCarthy, Donna McKechnie, Dermot Mulroney, Bebe Neuwirth, Anthony Newley, David Paymer, Sydney Penny, Richard Simmons, Brenda Vaccaro, Gwen Verdon, Nancy Walker, Ray Walston, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and Betty White.
The show was produced by MGM Television and aired Thursday nights at 8:00–9:00 on NBC beginning on January 7, 1982. NBC promoted its Thursday line-up (Fame, Cheers, Taxi [later ''[[Night Court]]], and Hill Street Blues) as "The Best Night of Television on Television!" Despite glowing reviews from critics, ratings were less than impressive, and NBC cancelled Fame after only two seasons. However, by special arrangement with LBS Communications, MGM revived the series for first-run syndication in the fall of 1983, where it continued for four more seasons, with the last first-run episode airing in the US on May 18, 1987.
Four cast members from the original movie appeared in the television series. Lee Curreri portrayed the character Bruno Martelli, an introverted musical genius. Gene Anthony Ray portrayed Leroy Johnson, a tough hood from the projects with a natural talent for dance, who muscles his way into an audition and wins. In the film, Leroy is also semiliterate, but this was dropped in favor of him having "fourth-grade reading level" in the television series.[4] Albert Hague played teacher Benjamin Shorofsky, a German music teacher who constantly battled with Bruno Martelli over musical styles. The final cast member from the film was Debbie Allen, who portrayed Lydia Grant. Allen only appeared briefly in the movie, but her character was expanded in the series. She also became the show's original choreographer, in addition to directing several episodes and co-producing one season.
Several characters were carried over from the movie, played by different actors. Irene Cara portrayed Coco Hernandez in the film, but the part on TV was played by Erica Gimpel. Actor Paul McCrane played gay student Montgomery McNeil in the film, but P.R. Paul portrayed Montgomery for TV and the character was no longer gay. English teacher Elizabeth Sherwood was played in the film by actress Anne Meara, but in the series was played by actress Carol Mayo Jenkins. The character Doris had her name changed from Doris Finsecker (portrayed by Maureen Teefy) to Doris Schwartz (Valerie Landsburg). The character of Ralph Garci (Tommy Aguilar inheriting the role played by Barry Miller in the film) appeared only in the pilot.
Also, two new characters were introduced in the TV series: cello player Julie Miller (Lori Singer), and actor-comedian Danny Amatullo (whose last name is named after the associate producer, Tony Amatullo) played by Carlo Imperato.
Ira Steven Behr wrote 12 episodes of the series. He recalled: "I did three years on Fame, which was a lot of fun and was also in syndication. We had no one looking over our shoulder. We got to do some wonderfully bizarre things on the show..."[5]
Following its cancellation, two versions of the series were syndicated in reruns: the original hour-long episodes, which usually contained a primary plot, a subplot, and two or more musical numbers; and a second version, stripped of the musical numbers and the subplot 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 titled "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 went on to co-write and sing the theme from Cheers. In the United Kingdom, two singles credited to The Kids from "Fame", "Hi-Fidelity" and "Starmaker", peaked within the top ten of the UK Singles Chart.
The arts-focused cable network Ovation began airing reruns of Fame in 2011 for a period.
The Kids from "Fame" was the group name of several cast members from the series. The main vocalists of the group were Debbie Allen, Lee Curreri, Erica Gimpel, Carlo Imperato, Valerie Landsburg, Gene Anthony Ray, and Lori Singer. They performed live concerts and released several albums.
| Year | Title | Details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [10] | FIN [11] | NL [12] | NOR [13] | NZ [14] | SWE [15] | UK [16] | |||||
| 1982 | The Kids from "Fame" |
| 34 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 1 | ||
| Again |
| – | 7 | 5 | – | – | 3 | 2 | |||
| 1983 | Live |
| 88 | – | 10 | – | – | 28 | 8 | ||
| Songs |
| 73 | – | 17 | – | 8 | 12 | 14 | |||
| Sing for You |
| – | – | 17 | – | – | 32 | 28 | |||
| 1984 | Rock 'N Roll World |
| – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| Best of Fame |
| – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| 2004 | Ultimate Fame |
| – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 2022 | Live in Liverpool |
| – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| – | "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released | ||||||||||
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first season of Fame to DVD in Region 1 on November 1, 2005.
20th Century Fox, under license from MGM and MGM Television, released the complete first and second seasons of Fame on DVD in Region 1 and Region 2 on September 15, 2009.[18] On January 12, 2010, Fox released seasons 1 and 2 in separate collections.
DVD releases also followed a similar pattern in Europe and Australia. Due to licensing issues, all DVDs contain some unspecified music substitutions.
| US DVD | Ep # | Release Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 (MGM/Sony) | 38 | November 1, 2005 | |
| Seasons 1 & 2 (MGM/Fox) | 38 | September 15, 2009 | |
| Season 1 (MGM/Fox) | 16 | January 12, 2010 | |
| Season 2 (MGM/Fox) | 22 | January 12, 2010 |
See main article: List of Fame (1982 TV series) awards and nominations. The series won a number of Emmy awards, and in 1983 and 1984, it won 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.[19]
On 27 December 2008, Channel 4 in the United Kingdom (despite Fame having originally been aired in Britain on BBC One) aired a 90-minute special titled Bring Back...Fame, which sought out and reunited some of the original cast members of the television series.
Hosted 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 program 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 were Debbie Allen, Carol Mayo Jenkins, Lee Curreri, Erica Gimpel, Valerie Landsburg, and Carlo Imperato. Also interviewed were Irene Cara and the mother of the late Gene Anthony Ray. Whether other actors from the series had also been approached but had declined to take part was not stated. Excerpts from the TV series were shown throughout the programme. The final scenes showed the six principal actors and a number of backing dancers taking part in a recreation of the title sequence of the TV programme.
. Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. illustrated. St Ives, N.S.W.. 166. David Kent (historian).