StageFright

The Kids put on 50s style show but when Chris messes up on stage he panics and this leads to a case of Stage Fright. Can his hero Elvis give him the strength to overcome the problem. Jesse tries to set a tap dancing record and Kate wants to transfer out of Lydia's dance class after accusing her of being a bully.

The idea of a story about stage fright seems like a good one for a show like "Fame" however I'm not convinced it really pulls it off that well here. I'm also not sure Chris is the right character to have this storyline. Nothing against Billy Hufsey but  I don't really feel the story works for his character. Loretta Chandler hasn't really had that many leads in this season so making Dusty the character suffering stage fright would work better in my opinion. Regardless of who did have this storyline it's yet again one of those things that needed to be referred to more than once. Something like this doesn't just disappear and never be mentioned again.  One huge issue I had was with some dialogue between Chris and Danny. I guess it was there to highlight how bad Chris was supposed to be feeling but Danny wasn't the right person to say it to. Chris shouts "Have you ever been so scared you think you're gonna die?" Danny falls silent but in reality he should have been able to shout right back "yes I have" and then refer to his fight against cancer! However, that is another storyline we never mention again. 

Jesse's storyline of trying to set a tap dancing world record, doesn't work for me at all and I feel it's way too over the top. Presumably it's there to lighten the episode but to me it is pointless nonsense. We learn that the teachers are covering Mrs Berg's work load?! Surely anything unwork related would have to be done on her own time and no employer is going to pay her for watching someone tap dance. Presumably someone is covering Shorofsky's work load too, although that's never mentioned. Then there's Jesse and Dwight's cousin missing classes to try and break this record. I doubt very much any school would allow that! Larry Spinak who plays Dwight's Cousin Leonard in this episode also featured in the episode "Choices" where he was auditioning, badly to get into the school. Although it appears he's a different character here, it's another example of bad continuity. If he is playing the same character how on earth did he get into the school? 

The 50's setting and the music is okay but not really my kind of thing but I suppose it gives us something a little different to the usual Fame music. At least everyone gets a chance to sing a little although I'm not impressed by Kate's singing voice. 

The Elvis idea doesn't work for me at all as the guy playing Elvis doesn't look anything like him. They try to disguise it with the huge dark glasses the guy is wearing but even that isn't enough. It wouldn't have been so bad if the episode hadn't started with real Elvis footage. Having the real Elvis in the show just highlights that the Elvis character looks nothing like him. It could have been a nice tool using real footage of Elvis and just a voice over of Elvis as a voice in Chris' head and then there's no need for the audience to see the fake Elvis.     

For me the best part of the episode is the Lydia storyline. Debbie is excellent in her portrayal of Lydia's teaching methods. When Kate accuses Lydia of being a bully in the dance class, Lydia looks very vulnerable. I would have loved a scene or two between Lydia and Sherwood  or maybe Lydia and Leroy or even both for Lydia to discuss her feelings but sadly we never really get enough time to do that. Although it is portrayed wonderfully by Debbie's acting it would have been great to explore this storyline more. Lydia could find herself acting differently in he classes as she questions her own teaching abilities. This leads to her teaching ineffectively and to more doubt, which would all tie in nicely as a different take on stage fright.  

Original  air date in U.S.A 29th March 1986

Original  air date  in U.K. on The Children's Channel  Broadcast early 1993.

Original air date in Italy 27th September 1987

Original  air date in France 02nd March 1996