FAME isn't always what it's cracked up to be

Scrolling through upcoming movies I could record and watch during this quarantine siege I noticed that HBO was showing FAME. I always loved FAME. Great music, some wonderful performances, Irene Cara, and really evocative of those exciting days of starting out. I always thought it would be great to go to a high school like that. Only trouble is, I can’t sing, dance, play instruments, or act so what the hell would I do? They didn’t have a section for potential baseball announcers.

So when FAME showed up on my menu a few nights later, my wife and I sat down to watch it. First we were surprised to see Kelsey Grammer in it. I don’t remember him in FAME. And Kelsey has always looked older than he is, but here he looked really old. Then Bebe Neuwirth was in it. She looked great. But I never knew they worked together before CHEERS. How did that never come up?

The movie continued. The story and the steps seemed right, but I said to my wife, “I guess it’s been a long time since I’ve seen this movie, but I don’t remember any of this.” She felt the same.

And we were fifteen minutes into it and I was saying, “Where is Irene Cara?”

So finally I went to imdb and discovered we were watching the 2009 remake. There was a remake in 2009? I have absolutely recollection of it.

I also can’t recall ever watching ten minutes of a movie I thought I had seen but hadn’t.

Lesson learned. When setting up recordings, check the year.

We watched the rest of the reboot of FAME. Meh. I look forward to finding the original. But isn’t that true in most cases?

Other reboots to avoid:

THE HEARTBREAK KID
THE OUT OF TOWNERS
ARTHUR
THE IN LAWS
THE PRODUCERS

from By Ken Levine