This was one of my favorite programs on PBS because, at the time, it was highly original - looking at life through a group of multi-cultural high school kids who formed ... a band and wanted to be...famous. Of course, there were lessons to be learned, and most lessons were dead on to the bridge between childhood and real-life situations.
The people I do remember from this series are Elizabeth Daily (E. G. Daily), Mikel T. Williamson (Mykelti Williamson), Phillip Michael Thomas (as a bad music producer!), Kutee, Dominique Dunne, and the Carews of course. The "thing" about Elizabeth was that you knew this teen lead singer was going to go further in music - and she did. I couldn't wait for her to get a recording contract and "shoot the moon". She got quite a bit of music/soundtrack credits (i.e. - pay attention to the 80's Al Pacino's "Scarface", yes that is HER voice in one of those songs!) as well as film Her vocal talents were obvious, and (just my view) WAY ahead of the Mariah Carey explosion to come a decade later. Elizabeth had the octaves, and the range, and this was featured nicely on this program.
Whatever was going on at the time, the Righteous Apples seemed to be a part of. It was about more than the "music", it was about music and life. Today it may seem dated, and most things were wrapped up in 22 minutes. (Such as the one program I remember that chokes me up still today featured Dominique Dunne.) The musical numbers? Short but sweet, done by the actors and actresses themselves (to my memory)...and were written to fit into the theme of the episode. A song the Carews did write was "Poverty" (used in the same episode as Ms. Dunn) and sung by Ms. Daliy which displayed her gritty to high octave range.
Doing something like this today would take putting a program together with socially conscious themes that later aged teenagers (17-19) who are on the brink of adulthood would have to deal with. Wasn't always rosy, but there was always...hope. I liked the angle that these teens were "like me", that they were not "rich", that they did not get booked at "famous places", although that was the goal and that the people they met, had a reflection on them.
In addition to PBS, in 1980 this program had a second run as well on the Showtime Cable Network. At that time, Showtime ran a lot of educational movies and programming during the day (too bad, it was a programming thought!) and they still might have the licensing as well as PBS in Boston.
Hopefully this will come out out on DVD and folks can get to see this.
The people I do remember from this series are Elizabeth Daily (E. G. Daily), Mikel T. Williamson (Mykelti Williamson), Phillip Michael Thomas (as a bad music producer!), Kutee, Dominique Dunne, and the Carews of course. The "thing" about Elizabeth was that you knew this teen lead singer was going to go further in music - and she did. I couldn't wait for her to get a recording contract and "shoot the moon". She got quite a bit of music/soundtrack credits (i.e. - pay attention to the 80's Al Pacino's "Scarface", yes that is HER voice in one of those songs!) as well as film Her vocal talents were obvious, and (just my view) WAY ahead of the Mariah Carey explosion to come a decade later. Elizabeth had the octaves, and the range, and this was featured nicely on this program.
Whatever was going on at the time, the Righteous Apples seemed to be a part of. It was about more than the "music", it was about music and life. Today it may seem dated, and most things were wrapped up in 22 minutes. (Such as the one program I remember that chokes me up still today featured Dominique Dunne.) The musical numbers? Short but sweet, done by the actors and actresses themselves (to my memory)...and were written to fit into the theme of the episode. A song the Carews did write was "Poverty" (used in the same episode as Ms. Dunn) and sung by Ms. Daliy which displayed her gritty to high octave range.
Doing something like this today would take putting a program together with socially conscious themes that later aged teenagers (17-19) who are on the brink of adulthood would have to deal with. Wasn't always rosy, but there was always...hope. I liked the angle that these teens were "like me", that they were not "rich", that they did not get booked at "famous places", although that was the goal and that the people they met, had a reflection on them.
In addition to PBS, in 1980 this program had a second run as well on the Showtime Cable Network. At that time, Showtime ran a lot of educational movies and programming during the day (too bad, it was a programming thought!) and they still might have the licensing as well as PBS in Boston.
Hopefully this will come out out on DVD and folks can get to see this.