Fame, unlike the actors who starred in the film and television show, will probably live forever. 29 years later, Fame is being remade with a new cast and a new vision. On the heels of this remake, the marketers at MGM decided that it was time to remind viewers about the Fame television series which ran for 6 seasons. I will likely make no further ventures into the Fame television franchise because I struggled to make it through 2 seasons.
Fame the TV show features basically the same characters as the 1980 movie. While a couple folks audition in the first episode, most of the cast seems to already attend the school and have their cliques. This is immediately strange since the movie covered all 4 years: freshman through senior year. This includes graduations, abortions, casting couches, failures—they go through college. There has never been any effort made to explain if this is a more detailed "what happens during the year" or if this is merely a bizarro world of the original. Regardless, the characters are already known to most of the viewers who were fans of the film.
Fame, as a television show, is shallow. While I love Debbie Allen and have admired her for a long time, most recently on So You Think You Can Dance, she is underused. She is a minor character in the film, but the TV show features her strongly. While she is a breathtaking dancer, her soul (which is very apparent in everything she does) seems like it's being forced out in the show.
Perhaps I'm merely not a fan of 80's television, or perhaps it was just an overall dodgy time for television, but the writing is atrocious and the jokes fall flat. The show promises two dance numbers per episode, but most of the "dance numbers" are shots of a room full of singers, dancers, and instrumentalists doing their thing. The choreography of the few actual dance numbers, while far better than I can do, are as weak as the acting. It's a mess.
The heart of the movie is nowhere in the show. The most compelling storyline involves Leroy Johnson (Gene Anthony Ray), the troubled child with no parents. His brother, recently released from jail, brings a gun into the house. When Leroy confronts him, his "hardass" brother throws a hissy fit and gives Leroy the gun. Of course, Leroy gets caught by a conveniently placed cop on a sting. Leroy eventually realizes he needs to kick his brother out in order to achieve his goals.
DVD Bonus Features
The only major one is a "FAME: Before and After" featurette. I don't know if this is a spoiler, but other than Debbie Allen, none of them have done much of anything in terms of film or television, so while their lives are interesting, they are no more interesting than yours or mine—if we'd done a film and television show over 20 years ago.
I won't make presumptions about the 2009 film and, having not seen it, I cannot tell you if you should or shouldn't watch it. What I can tell you, as a fanatic of dancing movies and shows, is that Fame the television series doesn't make the cut. Unless you had a soft spot for this show when you were growing up, you can go ahead and miss this.
"Fame: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2" is on sale September 15, 2009 and is rated NR. Drama, Musical. Directed by Debbie Allen, Robert Scheerer. Written by Christopher Gore. Starring Debbie Allen, Gene Anthony Ray, Albert Hague, Carlo Imperato.
