Rags to Riches (TV series)

Rags to Riches
Genre	Musical; Comedy-drama;
Created by	Bernie Kukoff
Starring	Joseph Bologna; Douglas Seale; Kimiko Gelman; Bridget Michele; Tisha Campbell; Blanca De Garr; Heidi Zeigler;
Opening theme	Mark Mueller (lyrics)
Composer(s)	J. Peter Robinson (1.1)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	20
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bernie Kukoff; Leonard Hill; Andrew Schneider;
Cinematography	Paul Onorato
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	48 minutes
Production company(s)	Leonard Hill Films; New World Television;
Distributor	20th Television
Release
Original network	NBC
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	March 9, 1987 –; January 15, 1988

Rags to Riches is an American musical comedy-drama that was broadcast on NBC for two seasons from March 9, 1987 to January 15, 1988. Set in the pre-British Invasion 1960s, the series tells the story of Nick Foley, a self-made millionaire who adopts six orphan girls. Each episode included musical scenes of hit songs from the era performed by the girls integrated into the plot (with the lyrics modified to provide commentary on the storyline).

Plot

Nick Foley (Joseph Bologna), the millionaire owner of Foley's Frozen Foods, is a streetwise New Jersey-born businessman with a playboy lifestyle. In the TV movie pilot which launched the series, Foley attempts to develop a family man image by bringing a group of six orphaned girls, who were featured in a newspaper story, saying that they refused to be separated from each other to live in the mansion in Bel Air where he lives with his butler, John Clapper (Douglas Seale). Foley does this to seal a business deal and does not intend to keep the girls permanently, but Foley's plans change as he grows attached to the girls, and he ends up adopting them as his legal daughters

The adjustment is huge on both sides, as the girls acquire a new father with no parenting experience. Having spent the past few years in a rundown orphanage, the girls suddenly find themselves in a life of luxury (hence the series' title). The series follows the trials and tribulations of the girls and a man who has previously never loved anyone but himself, and often struggles to cope with his new family.

In the pilot for the series, Foley takes in a group of six girls; however, Foley only adopted five of them for the remainder of the series' run: Rose, 17; Diane, 16; Marva, 15; Patti, 14; and Mickey, 8. The sixth girl, Nina, appears only in the pilot (after the pilot was produced, it was decided that six children was too many for the series cast, so Nina was written out of the series as having been reunited with her birth mother).

The series differed from regular comedy-dramas in that the girls would frequently burst into song to help explain their feelings or move along the plot. Each episode therefore contained at least two musical scenes with covers of popular songs from the early 1960s with the lyrics changed to provide commentary on the storyline of the episode.

Reception

Promoted with the tagline, "If you liked Annie, you'll like Rags to Riches", ratings for the series were not strong enough for its Friday night time slot, and NBC canceled the show part way through its second season.[1][2]

Musical numbers

Mark Mueller wrote new comedic lyrics for existing hit songs from the '50s and early '60s that were featured in most episodes of both seasons of the show. He also wrote the lyrics to the show's theme song. Many of the songs used were not around yet during the time frame when the series takes place; 1961-63.

Cast and characters

Actor	Role
Joseph Bologna	Nick Foley
Douglas Seale	John Clapper
Kimiko Gelman	Rose
Bridget Michele	Diane
Tisha Campbell	Marva
Blanca De Garr	Patti
Heidi Zeigler	Mickey
Heather McAdam	Nina
Sarah Buxton	Amy Hillerman
Sue Ball	Marnie
Jeff Harlan	Marty
John Christy Ewing	Mr Donovan
Sandy Ward	Al Schweikert

Episodes

Season 1 (1987)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1 2	1 2	"Pilot"	Bruce Seth Green	Bernie Kukoff	March 9, 1987 (1987-03-09)
3	3	"High Society"	Bruce Seth Green	Bernie Kukoff & Bill Daley	March 15, 1987 (1987-03-15)
4	4	"Foley vs. Foley"	Michael Lange	David Garber & Bruce Kalish	March 22, 1987 (1987-03-22)
5	5	"First Love"	Bruce Seth Green	Andrew Schneider	March 29, 1987 (1987-03-29)
6	6	"Business is Business"	Michael Switzer	Diane Frolov	April 5, 1987 (1987-04-05)
7	7	"Patty's Mom"	Chuck Braverman	Steven Baum & Neil Alan Levy	April 12, 1987 (1987-04-12)
8	8	"Bad Blood"	Michael Lange	Steve Johnson & Sharon Spelman	April 19, 1987 (1987-04-19)
9	9	"Born to Ride"	Bruce Seth Green	Andrew Schneider & Bernie Kukoff	April 26, 1987 (1987-04-26)

Season 2 (1987–88)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
10	1	"Vegas Rock"	Michael Switzer	Andrew Schneider	September 18, 1987 (1987-09-18)
11	2	"Once in a Lifeguard"	Bruce Seth Green	Chris Carter	September 25, 1987 (1987-09-25)
12	3	"That's Cheating"	Kim Friedman	Teleplay by: Molly-Ann Leikin and Harry Longstreet & Renee Longstreet Story by: Molly-Ann Leikin	October 2, 1987 (1987-10-02)
13	4	"Wilderness Blues"	Michael Switzer	Teleplay by: Deborah Baron & Andrew Schneider Story by: Deborah Baron	October 16, 1987 (1987-10-16)
14	5	"Dear Diary"	Daniel Cahn	Robin Schiff	October 23, 1987 (1987-10-23)
15	6	"Hunk in the House"	Bruce Seth Green	Harry Longstreet & Renee Longstreet	November 6, 1987 (1987-11-06)
16	7	"Marva in the Key of Cee"	Michael Switzer	Susan Goldberg	November 13, 1987 (1987-11-13)
17	8	"Beauty and the Babe"	Bruce Seth Green	Chris Carter	November 20, 1987 (1987-11-20)
18	9	"A Russian Holiday"	Charles Correll	Andrew Schneider	December 11, 1987 (1987-12-11)
19	10	"A Very Foley Christmas"	Daniel Cahn	Teleplay by: Andrew Schneider and Harry Longstreet & Renee Longstreet Story by: Susan Goldberg & Robin Schiff	December 20, 1987 (1987-12-20)
20	11	"Guess Who's Coming to Slumber?"	Michael Lange	Robin Schiff	January 8, 1988 (1988-01-08)
21	12	"Sweet 16"	James Kellahin	Steven Baum & Neil Alan Levy	January 15, 1988 (1988-01-15)

Home media

On June 5, 2012, Image Entertainment released Rags to Riches: The Complete Series on Region 1 DVD.[3]

DTP Entertainment released the entire series on DVD in Germany. Season 1 was released on May 13, 2011 and season 2 on October 27, 2011.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result
1988	Young Artist Award	Best Young Actress Under Ten Years of Age in Television or Motion Pictures	Heidi Zeigler	Won
1988	Young Artist Award	Best Family Comedy Series	–	Nominated
1988	Young Artist Award	Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress in a Television Comedy Series	Blanca De Garr	Nominated

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References

Shales, Tom (1987-03-09). "Rags: Moderately Rich; NBC Rips Off Annie, Hits Easy Street". The Washington Times.
McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present. Penguin Books. p. 683. ISBN 0-14-024916-8.
Lambert, David (February 29, 2012). "Rags to Riches - We've Got the Scoop on a DVD Release of the Show Starring Joseph Bologna and Tisha Campbell". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on April 3, 2012. Retrieved December 18, 2012.

External links

Rags to Riches on IMDb (Pilot TV-movie)
Rags to Riches on IMDb
Rags to Riches at TV.com
Rags to Riches at epguides.com

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Shales, Tom (1987-03-09). "Rags: Moderately Rich; NBC Rips Off Annie, Hits Easy Street". The Washington Times.

[2] McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present. Penguin Books. p. 683. ISBN 0-14-024916-8.

[3] Lambert, David (February 29, 2012). "Rags to Riches - We've Got the Scoop on a DVD Release of the Show Starring Joseph Bologna and Tisha Campbell". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on April 3, 2012. Retrieved December 18, 2012.