'FAME,' LAGGING IN U.S. RATINGS, PROVES A HIT WITH VIEWERS IN BRITAIN

BY SALLY BEDELL

Published: December 18, 1982

When ''Dallas'' captured the fancy of audiences in Britain two years ago the explanation was obvious: the machinations of J.R. Ewing and his family had become a phenomenon here and it was only a matter of time before they captured an audience overseas as well.

This season, another American show has created a sensation in England, but the reasons for that success are more elusive. Unlike ''Dallas,'' the show is one of the lowest-ranked in our national Nielsen ratings.

The show is ''Fame,'' NBC-TV's series based on New York's School of Performing Arts. After its introduction by the British Broadcasting Corporation last summer, ''Fame'' quickly found a place among the BBC's top-10 programs and became the channel's most popular American series. By contrast, the show currently ranks 60th out of 77 regularly scheduled programs for the television season to date in this country.

None of the executives in charge of ''Fame'' could explain conclusively why the show had caught on with the British and not the American mass audience. Mel Swope, the program's producer, believes that ''Fame'' would be just as well received here if it were not scheduled opposite CBS-TV's popular ''Magnum, P.I.'' series.

''When I talk to regular viewers of 'Fame,' they believe it is a hit in this country,'' said Mr. Swope. Explaining the universal appeal of ''Fame,'' Mr. Swope added, ''Young people really identify with the struggle of our young people striving for excellence.''

Mr. Stringer of the BBC had a less lofty view. ''I think the popularity of 'Fame' took everyone by surprise,'' he said. ''It is a good lively show, and I suppose it just hit the nerve, especially with the young audience. I don't think anybody is learning any great lessons from it.''

The first run of 12 episodes on the BBC has ended, and additional episodes are scheduled to appear early next year. But despite its temporary absence from the home screen, ''Fame'' has remained popular with the British in another medium. For the last 14 weeks, two record albums featuring the show's music, ''Kids From Fame'' and ''Fame Again,'' have been the top-selling albums in Britain, with more than two million copies sold.

''The record sales are really quite exceptional,'' said John Stringer, director of operations for the BBC in the United States. That response in turn prompted the producers of ''Fame'' to schedule 10 concerts featuring the show's cast members, including Debbie Allen, Gene Anthony Ray and Carlo Imperato, at the end of this month in London, Birmingham, and Brighton. ''When we announced that we were going to run these concerts, within three days 60,000 seats were sold,'' said Charles Koppelman, whose Entertainment Company produces the music for ''Fame.''