Fame: Seasons 1 & 2

There is a very powerful drive that resides in the psychological depths of most people that strives for the attention of others. It may start out as a child trying to be funny in front of the other kids in the neighborhood by causing trouble on front of the teachers. Later on they may always have a need to be the center of attention. In any case there is a certain fascination with people over that elusive quality known as fame. The public has always been intrigued by fame; how it manifests in others and how to achieve some measure of it for themselves. Billion dollar industries have sprung up based on the hold fame has on people. The tabloids permit you to peek behind the veil at the private lives of the famous while the myriad of so called reality shows offer some the glimmer of hope to be famous themselves helping to fulfill the prediction made by Andy Warhol that everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes. Fame assures a measure of immortality where you will be remembered long after the conclusion of your life. One of the traditional means a person has to rise to stardom is through music and the arts. Millions of children spend endless hours in lessons for everything from tap dancing to piano just for that slim strand of hope at making it big. Here in New York City there is a specialized high school to help achieve such a goal; the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. St one point in my life I had to decide whether to study Bass Violin there or go for the more pragmatic course of study at Brooklyn Technical High School. I picked up the slide rule instead of the Bass bow but now decades later I wonder about the path not taken.

In 1980 the film ‘Fame’ hit the theaters capturing the imagination of audiences becoming a hit. Based on the high school it followed a group of students entering the strange new world of this very special school. Two year later the film was turned into a television series that lasted five years and helped to define the decade. The series had a lot going for it that translated to being fondly remembered twenty years after its cancellation. The main reason it had such a strong effect on the viewers is inherent in how the high school was structured. Since it was a NYC public school it had to provide education in the standard state approved high school curriculum alongside classes in dance, singing, acting and musical instruments. In this way viewers could identify with the typical teen angst that is a universal part of the high school experience blended with the wish fulfillment of making big in show business. The format of the series was also conducive to fairly elaborate musical numbers especially in the hall ways, lunch room and the street outside the school. This at least provided some modicum of rational from people breaking out in song and dance.

As with any high school cliques are formed almost immediately, albeit along different criteria than usual. Instead of groups of jocks, stoners, cheerleaders etc. here we have dancers, singers, musicians and drama majors. There is also a sense of intense competition right from the start. These are very talented, highly motivated young people who are determined to make in their corner of performing. As with any elite school like this there is the reality check; you may have been the best in you previous school but now you are up against the best around. It also provides a natural reason to center the various stories on the time in school. For most kids this age home is a pit stop at best; their primary social environment is between classes when adult influences has diminished. Of course therefore are storylines that require some home background and the parents do make an appearance then. All of the student basically crave the same thing; fame and it is the job of the faculty to make them earn it. This is made clear in the famous monologue given by the iron willed dance teacher Lydia Grant (Debbie Allen). She makes it clear that even a moderately successful career in the performing arts demands complete devotion, concentration and effort no matter what degree of raw talent you may have. One student that gives her the most problems is Leroy Johnson (Gene Anthony Ray) he has an almost none existent home life, struggles with the required academics but on the dance floor his abilities are nearly magical. He is also defiant pushing back against Grant’s sage advice. In every high school there is a resident queen bee. Here the position goes to diva in training Coco Hernandez (Erica Gimpel). She has a massive ego that she uses to mask her deeper insecurity. When coco targets a shy newcomer, Julie Miller (Lori Singer, fresh from the Midwest, brash, outspoken New Yorker, Doris Schwartz (Valerie Landsburg) intervenes risking her own popularity. Some of the clashes are generational based on form and style. An example is the conflict between classical music teacher Benjamin Shorofskym (Albert Hague) and Bruno Martelli (Lee Curreri) who favors a newer, computer influenced type of keyboards.

This was one of the few times a hit film was successfully transported to television due in no small part to the inclusion of several actors reprising their roles. In any case the series is entertaining on several levels and well worthwhile the series was a January replacement so season one was short, by those standards then at only 16 episodes. This allows the first two seasons to be packaged together making this a really great deal.

Posted 09/14/09