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Rags to Riches aired from March 1987 until September 1988 on NBC.

The '60s were fun and games for a group of young orphans in this frothy TV version of a B movie musical, set in 1961. Nick ( Joseph Bologna) was the millionaire bachelor playboy businessman who adopted them, in order to look more respectible ( seems he could close more deals that way); and Clapper ( Douglas Seale)was the elderly Cockney butler who looked after them all in Nick's huge Los Angeles Mansion. The five girls were strong-willed Rose ( Kimiko Gelman), often the ringleader; charming Diane ( Bridget Michele); wisecracking Marva ( Tisha Campbell), who wanted to follow in Nick's entrepreneurial footsteps; tomboy Patty ( Bianca DeGarr); and insufferably cute little Mickey ( Heidi Zeigler). Another one, Nina ( Heather McAdam) was only in the pilot movie. They all engaged in lots of singing and dancing, often '60s tunes with new lyrics that commented on the story.

A Review from USA TODAY

TV PREVIEW/BY MONICA COLLINS

'Rags to Riches' finds a home for cute cliches

Ah, yes, the freeze-dried TV family. Doesn't take much to make one. Just some orphans, a rich playboy who secretly yearns to be a real daddy instead of a sugar daddy and a mansion to house everybody.

Voila. Instant family. Ready-made TV series.

Initially seeming much like Little Orphan Annie, Rags to Riches takes off into flights of strange fancy.

Set in the early 1960s, complete with music video adaptations of '60s tunes, this new series features a group of hip urchins who become wards of a Daddy Frozen-Food Bucks.

Millionaire food king Foley ( played by Joe Bologna) must prove publicly that he's more than a bubble-headed rake before he can close a big business deal. So when he reads about the plight of six orphans ( five in later episodes)-all girls ages 7 to 16-who want to stay together when their orphanage closes down, he makes his generous ( and public) gesture.

Take it from there. In the inevitable first episode cliche-will the invaders stay? ( of course they will)-Foley and the foundlings flounder all over each other.

They cause him grief. He causes them to roll their eyes heavenward and burst into appropriate song. His girlfriend can't stand them.

A crisis is precipitated when one of the girls runs off with her boyfriend. Although he is annoyed by the whole mess, Foley pursues the runaway, and, in the process, realizes that he cares about these girls.

The '60s musical angle of all this is odd. Every once in a while, when you least expect it, the peppy ,talented actresses who play the orphans burst into song-girl-group '60s hits rewritten to suit the occasion. Meanwhile the production itself doesn't look very '60s at all. Sure, the period cars look authenic , but little else feels '60s.

Yet Bologna is rather engaging as Foley, the emotionally clumsy millionaire lunk with a gilt-edged heart. He has one scene-when he realizes he wants the girls to stay-in which the camera closes in on a tough face rubbery with sentiment.

So Rags to Riches cutely assembles another instant family, complete with reborn sensitive daddy.

For more on Rags to Riches go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rags_to_Riches_%28TV_series%29