It's basic economics — it's cheaper to use a pre-existing property instead of developing something original. When the original "Fame" movie came out in 1980, it was a hit, winning two Academy Awards (it was nominated for six) for Best Score and Best Original Song. It also spawned a successful TV series, which ran for five seasons and earned a decent following. Since then, the brand actually has a bit of life to it as well. While the 2009 reboot only took in a paltry $22 million domestically, overseas it did more than double that number and wound up hauling in over $75 million worldwide. And with dance reality shows still doing quite well for some bizarre reason and with "Footloose" also doing relatively decent numbers, it seems that once again, folks are gonna live forever.
Nigel Lythgoe, the guy behind "American Idol" and "So You Think You Can Dance," is bringing "Fame" back to TV in a "re-imagining" that will be "set against the backdrop of today’s unprecedented access to the world of celebrity [and] expose the gritty struggle, heartache and pain endured in the search for stardom." So it's basically "Smash," but instead focusing on dancing? Probably.
MGM Television is pushing this along, but no writers or directors have signed on just yet. We suppose there are worse things out there to be happening, though we wonder if dance-related programming is reaching a saturation point yet. Maybe not. But if they can sell this in territories where "Fame" is still a big enough thing to have helped the movie reboot, why not, we guess. So if you were missing "Fame," don't worry, it will be back in your life soon. Let's just hope they don't fuck up that theme song. [Deadline]
