Fame and Fortune

Nicole not only gets the chance to meet but actually work with her idol Frannie Fortune and make a record. When Frannie struggles with the song Nicole suddenly finds herself as the lead singer of the track and thinks she's finally about to get her big break.

Meanwhile Danny and Jesse try to help Dyrenforth find love and romance!

It's Nia's last proper episode in which she actually appears and I always wondered why they didn't use this episode to write her out using this story. Although she doesn't actually cut the demo here, the record producer like her so much she gets to record her own demo. I know they were going for drama in "Go Softly Into Morning" by killing a cast member but I want Nicole to be alive!

Anyway this episode isn't too bad. As usual in these later episodes there a little too many coincidences for my liking. For instance Frannie Fortune just happens to be listening to Nicole's School of the Arts radio programme (why would she listing to some small school radio?)  and just happens to go down to the school at night and some how not only finds a way to get into the school but also finds the room where the station is based, no problem! It just so happens she about to cut a record and after talking all night offers Nicole the chance to record backing vocals!

All of that aside it's an interesting story, that a fading star messes her up her own career by being difficult  and nearly loses the opportunity to an up and coming youngster who stabs her in the back. Would the Nicole we know really take someone else's shot like that without even trying to explain first?  I'm not convinced but a least it makes for an interesting story.

Danny and Jesse trying to help Dyrenforth a date is okay but really just light filler. One curious thing is that Dyrenforth's first date with Ellen. Ellen is listed in the credits but we don't actually get to see her. In the script there is a brief scene where we seen Leroy introduce her to Dyrenforth. As She appears in the credit's I can only assume that the scene was filmed but edited out. It makes me wonder what happened to all the deleted scenes from the Fame episodes. Are they still in the MGM vaults somewhere?  I'd love to see what rare unseen clips they have. They would certainly make great extras on DVD releases!!

The music in this episode is okay and I really like the song "Damaged" which was co written by Bonnie Bartlett's soon to be husband Danny Sheridan. In the script the song was is titled "Tearin' Us Apart". So at some point it got changed. However, one thing that annoys is that we don't get to hear the full song in one go. I'm not so bothered about Bonnie Bramlett's version but when Nia sings it would have been nice to hear the whole song.

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

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

Original air date in Italy 14th January 1989 

Original air date  in France 18th March 1996