FAME

"Fame" started life in 1980 as a movie directed by Alan Parker following the lives, over a 4 year period, of  8 students at the High school for Performing Arts . The film was successful and  in December 1980 a Pilot for a TV series was filmed on location in New York. Debbie Allen, Lee Curreri, Albert Hague and Gene Anthony transferred from the movie to the TV Show and new actors were found to make up the rest of the cast. 

The show premiered in the U.S. on 7th January 1982 and despite strong reviews from critics, ratings were weak. A second season was commissioned for the 1982/83 season  but still ratings weren't strong enough and NBC cancelled the show.

However, in the U.K., Italy and other Countries in Europe  "Fame" was an instant hit; topping TV charts and generating huge record sales. MGM along with financial help from the BBC in the U.K. and RAI in Italy put together a deal to fund further episodes and put the show in first run Syndication, something which had never happened before in American TV until the 1983/84 season.  

The show began to find it's U.S. audience and became the number one syndicated show, where it continued to grow and aired 4 further seasons, until it was cancelled in 1987.

The format was revived for one season in 1997/98 with the show Fame L.A. and with a reality show in 2003.

Meanwhile the Original TV show cast have reunited for a number of Charity Concerts in Italy and the U.K. over recent years as well as for a number of TV Documentaries and Interviews. 

Life in the U.K. in 1982 seemed pretty bleak. There was high unemployment, war with Argentina over the Falklands, race riots on the deprived city streets and the constant threat of Nuclear annihilation! 

For a 14 year old at school it felt like there was no future. even less so for this gay guy struggling to come to terms with his sexuality in a World that appeared to hate gay people at that time.  

Then came "Fame" it exploded on to U.K. TV on 17th June 1982 with energy, colour and passion. 

BBC1 had been running promos for about a month beforehand and they would mention the show followed the lives of the Students and teachers and this teenager, who wasn't paying too much attention thought it was a documentary! However, each promo would be accompanied by the Fame theme song, which totally got into my head. I decided the next time the promos were on I needed to take more notice. I then realised it was a drama and that was it for me. At 8.10pm that first Thursday night, after Top of the Pops, I was glued to the TV with tape recorder at the ready to record the theme tune.    

The energy, the dancing, the characters, the theme were amazing and I was instantly hooked. It wasn't just me and for the next 6 months Fame Mania swept the U.K. High Ratings for the TV show, huge sales of the Kids from Fame album, which became the 2nd biggest Selling U.K. album of 1982 and contained 2 top 5 singles "Starmaker" and "Hi Fidelity" led to 4 further albums and merchandise galore as well as 2 Sell out U.K. Concert tours.

In fact my very first concert was the Kids from Fame at the N.E.C. in Birmingham on New Years day 1983.  

1983 started off well however by the end of the Summer when the 2nd season concluded, ratings had dropped, record sales had dropped and the interested seemed to be lacking. The show remained on air for Season 3 and 4, as the BBC had given financial help to fund those seasons  but it was moved around the schedules until it was dumped in the killer slot against Coronation street, which was the number one TV show in the U.K. at that point. 

Citing a drop in quality the BBC did not purchase the final 2 seasons and in 1986 repeated Season 1and the odd episode of Season 2. I managed to keep up a little the show via imported America magazines but at that time never thought I'd ever get to see the episodes. 

Then in 1992 a small Satellite station call The Children's Channel began airing the show again. It included 2 episodes  from season 3 that the BBC yad never broadcast but thiey missed out 2 episodes from Season 6. Still I finally got to see most of the episodes and had a copy on video. Although the quality wasn't great and the colour faded over the years.  

In 2001 Granada Plus began airing episodes from the first 3 seasons and even brought over Valerie Landsburg who played Doris and Lee Curreri (Bruno) to promote the broadcasts. Valerie did a meet and greet at Costa Coffee in Leicester Square in London and I finally got to meet one of my heroes.   

I was now on the Internet and finally I found my tribe of fellow Fame fans and in 2009 set up Kids From Fame Media Blog to post about the show. This led to the Fame TV Archive Site, where you can watch the episodes, read my reviews and find out anything and everything about the Show. 

In 2015 seven members of the cast performed a reunion concert in Italy and I had to be there. It was amazing meeting the cast and Italian fans in person. It was such a profound experience that I knew I needed to be involved in bringing the Cast back to the U.K.  

Two years later in 2017 there was another Italian Reunion and one of the fans, Sue Hinds was talking about a U.K. Reunion. I joined her team and we brought the cast back to the U.K. for 2 concerts and a convention in Liverpool in 2019, raising money for Claire House Children's hospice.

In 2022 Sue repeated the Reunion in Birmingham this time for 3 concerts and a Convention. To coincide with the run up to the Reunion Now 80s TV began airing seasons 1 & 2 again and a Live in Liverpool CD was released to celebrate the show's 40th anniversary.

The Theme tune declares Fame will live forever, well for 40 years it's been a major part of my life.