Debbie Allen delivers her definition of fame

Even though it's been nearly 30 years since Debbie Allen first starred in the original "Fame," "Fame" has never left her.

She starred on the TV series for six seasons.

She taught aspiring dancers at her own dance academy.

And Marguerite Derricks, choreographer of the new "Fame," was one of her best dancers.

So "Fame," and Allen's love of it, has never changed - there was even talk of remaking the movie a decade ago - but what has changed is fame itself.

"You can get famous now because you lost weight," Allen said in an interview last week, "or because you ate a frog."

"Dancers have to train - it's not something that can happen overnight. But now fame is so immediate. People have created their own fame just by setting themselves up on Facebook and Twitter."

But simply because more people can become famous, it doesn't necessarily mean more people deserve it.

"How many Michael Jacksons, Gregory Hines and Mariah Careys are there?" she asked.

Fame is one thing, Allen said, but to have a career is "a path, a journey - it's different seeing who's going to stick."

Allen said "Fame" is such a great brand it's perfect to bring it back for a new generation striving more than ever to achieve it. Since performers younger than ever now seek fame the way past generations of kids sought ice cream cones, one big change in "Fame" 2009 said Allen, is that the "first movie was R-rated and this one is PG."

The new film also deals with hip-hop, which Allen calls "the greatest export in America today. It's in the Middle East, China, everywhere I go."

The new "Fame" has a new, tough dance teacher - Allen's Lydia has married and become the school's principal - and "Bebe [Neuwirth] does that really well," she said.

"But 'Out Here on My Own' is still in the movie," Allen reassured, "and Naturi [Naughton] sings it beautifully."

Allen said that the young talent in the film is also "basically the same."

As a teacher, Allen said, "I always get involved in their private lives, their issues at home. Many of them trust me more than they trust their parents."

Would Allen like to see "Fame" again return as a TV series?

"Absolutely," she said. "I wouldn't have to work as hard as I did the first time."

And if "Fame" doesn't become as famous this time around? No worries.

Allen has completed the indie film "A Star for Rose," in which she plays a homeless woman and which soon should be on the film festival circuit. She recently completed directing a Mariah Carey video. She's a sought after director of episodic television. She sold the film rights to her autobiography "Dancing in the Wings" and is developing the project for a 2010 shoot. She's bringing her musical "Oman . . . O Man!" to Los Angeles. And the Broadway production of "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof," which she directed, opens in London on Dec. 1. James Earl Jones and Phylicia Rashad (Allen's sister) star.

"You don't want to know about Debbie Allen," she joked. "She wears me out, honey."

In Allen's case, "Fame" is great, but talent is better.