Before "Glee," there was TV favorite "Rags to Riches." When millionaire Nick Foley (Joseph Bologna) learns that his public "playboy" image could impede a highly profitable company merger he's trying to negotiate, he adopts five orphan girls (including Martin's Tisha Campbell). Now, bachelor Nick must struggle between his time-consuming business commitments and the girls' need for a real father. Set in the early 60s, the cast performs musical numbers from the period which further the story lines of each episode. Stars: Joseph Bologna (Blame It On Rio, My Favorite Year), Tisha Campbell-Martin (Martin, My Wife and Kids), and Kimiko Gelman (The Hunger Games). Guest Stars: Bill Maher (Politically Incorrect), Alex Rocco (The Godfather, Just Shoot Me), Dick Van Patten (Eight is Enough), and Richard Grieco (21 Jump Street, Booker).
In the early '80s, Joseph Bologna became a household name due to a string of appearances in films which became cult favorites after appearing in theaters and on cable televsion:
My Favorite Year, Blame It On Rio, The Woman In Red and
Transylvania 6-5000. In the '90s he appeared in two episodes of
Married...with Children, and was well-received enough that his character was spun off into a show called
Top Of The Heap. But that was Bologna's second starring attempt at a TV show: his first was the late-'80s musical series
Rags To Riches. This is a show that has been compared to
Glee by both the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper ("
...'Glee'… probably most resembles the 1987-88 NBC series 'Rags to Riches' ") and
Rolling Stone ("
...precursor-to-'Glee' 1987-88 series 'Rags to Riches' "). It ran on NBC for 2 seasons (a short 8-episode first season in early 1987 that included a pilot telefilm, and 11 more episodes in the second season from September 1987 to January 1988 that included a double-length season premiere).
Now Image Entertainment has given us the scoop on their announcement that
Rags To Riches is coming to DVD on
June 5th. This will be a 5-disc set priced at $29.98 SRP. Although no bonus features will be included, it seems that we'll get all 20 episodes as originally broadcast: full screen video, and
English mono audio. Guest stars spotted in episodes include Julie Payne, Bill Maher, Khandi Alexander, Richard Herd, Sandy Ward, Marc McClure, Priscilla Pointer, Alex Rocco, Robin Curtis, Dick Van Patten, Sid Melton, Shannon Tweed, K Callan, Wolfman Jack, Danny Bonaduce, David Coburn, Robert Pine, and the voice of Frank Welker. The box art hasn't been finalized yet, but here's an
early look at the direction they're heading in
(could be subject to change):
UPDATE/CORRECTION (3/5): As you can see from the paragraph just above, we've struck out wording about "English mono audio" and "early artwork, subject to change" because Image has informed us that the audio info they originally sent us was incorrect: the audio will be English stereo. And the artwork shown below (only VERY slight modified from the original version we showed you...so close that you probably can't tell the difference!) is indeed the final front cover.
Pin It
