I was watching Nia Peeples on Perry mason and remembered her from Fame.
ah, Fame.
Based on the movie (which was better), I recalled the TV show. It began Thursday night, followed by Cheers, Night Court and Hill Street Blues.
This was supposed to be a ratings block, which bombed incredibly. Fame was cancelled and went into syndication, which made it even worse.
Gimme A Break and Family Ties replaced Fame in the thursday night lineup, with Cosby eventually replacing Gimme A Break, giving NBC its true Thursday night block (possibly eventually replacing Hill Street with LA Law).
But Fame. What Fame. Changing the world with dance and music, I guess.
From Mr. Shorofsky trying to equate pop music with Mozart and Beethoven (a better comparison for our fickle tastes in music would be comparing them to the minstrel musicians of old, Alan-a-dale types) to Danny, Leroy, Chris and Jesse having attitude in tight pants, this show was a horrendous nightmare.
One of the worst moments was truly when Nia Peeples left the show so her character, Nicole, was killed off by a kid drinking and driving. Danny would also be in the car.
The entire episode then gave way to Jesse, without a doubt one of the worst characters ever to appear on the show, saying and doing what he pleased and no one would say anything to him as he was grieving. Let him set the school on fire (oh, if only), we mustn't stop him, he's in mourning.
Now Jesse is permitted to even beat up the kid in his grief, but then enter Danny. What about me, Jesse? I was in the car too! What about me? Jesse and Danny grieve, leaving the poor kid who drove the car, standing all alone in the snow. Truly horrible message.
Then there was its nauseating soap opera approach with the characters.
Miss Sherwood had to romantically be paired up with Ken Swofford, the principal, but when he left and was replaced with Graham jarvis, now she had to be infatuated with him?? The show had a difficult time thinking the characters had to have a life outside of the school! But I could also never forget an episode with Nicole (again!). She got a two-bit walk-on part on a Broadway show, in which she comes in at the end, says "where did everybody go?" and the play was over. This was said to be the scene-stealer line in the play, followed by thunderous laughter and applause.
Unfortunately, the deal with the school was, if you got a job on Broadway, then you had to leave the school.
What I kept pondering was how a character, not seen for the entire play, could enter with the audience not knowing who she was, having not seen her, and she could say 'where did everybody go?' and it be so hilariously funny? Ironically enough, at this time, I was studying how bit characters would appear on WKRP, Gimme A Break, Family Ties, Mary Tyler Moore, Frnak's Place and the like, and how they could get all the laughs. There was no way an unseen character, unattached and with a detached line, could get the laughs and notice, wasn't happening.
I would watch this oddball show just to see how odd it was, how closed off and isolated it's outlook on life was.
ah, Fame.
Based on the movie (which was better), I recalled the TV show. It began Thursday night, followed by Cheers, Night Court and Hill Street Blues.
This was supposed to be a ratings block, which bombed incredibly. Fame was cancelled and went into syndication, which made it even worse.
Gimme A Break and Family Ties replaced Fame in the thursday night lineup, with Cosby eventually replacing Gimme A Break, giving NBC its true Thursday night block (possibly eventually replacing Hill Street with LA Law).
But Fame. What Fame. Changing the world with dance and music, I guess.
From Mr. Shorofsky trying to equate pop music with Mozart and Beethoven (a better comparison for our fickle tastes in music would be comparing them to the minstrel musicians of old, Alan-a-dale types) to Danny, Leroy, Chris and Jesse having attitude in tight pants, this show was a horrendous nightmare.
One of the worst moments was truly when Nia Peeples left the show so her character, Nicole, was killed off by a kid drinking and driving. Danny would also be in the car.
The entire episode then gave way to Jesse, without a doubt one of the worst characters ever to appear on the show, saying and doing what he pleased and no one would say anything to him as he was grieving. Let him set the school on fire (oh, if only), we mustn't stop him, he's in mourning.
Now Jesse is permitted to even beat up the kid in his grief, but then enter Danny. What about me, Jesse? I was in the car too! What about me? Jesse and Danny grieve, leaving the poor kid who drove the car, standing all alone in the snow. Truly horrible message.
Then there was its nauseating soap opera approach with the characters.
Miss Sherwood had to romantically be paired up with Ken Swofford, the principal, but when he left and was replaced with Graham jarvis, now she had to be infatuated with him?? The show had a difficult time thinking the characters had to have a life outside of the school! But I could also never forget an episode with Nicole (again!). She got a two-bit walk-on part on a Broadway show, in which she comes in at the end, says "where did everybody go?" and the play was over. This was said to be the scene-stealer line in the play, followed by thunderous laughter and applause.
Unfortunately, the deal with the school was, if you got a job on Broadway, then you had to leave the school.
What I kept pondering was how a character, not seen for the entire play, could enter with the audience not knowing who she was, having not seen her, and she could say 'where did everybody go?' and it be so hilariously funny? Ironically enough, at this time, I was studying how bit characters would appear on WKRP, Gimme A Break, Family Ties, Mary Tyler Moore, Frnak's Place and the like, and how they could get all the laughs. There was no way an unseen character, unattached and with a detached line, could get the laughs and notice, wasn't happening.
I would watch this oddball show just to see how odd it was, how closed off and isolated it's outlook on life was.