History Series / RagsToRiches

** While the show did a passable job of recreating the 1960’s, the girls’ clothing just smacked of 1980’s fashion.

Nick Foley (Joseph Bologna), the millionaire owner of Foley's Frozen Foods, is a street-wise New Jersey-born businessman with a playboy lifestyle. In the [[PilotMovie TV movie pilot]] which launched the series, a group of six girls, living together in an orphanage, [[TrueCompanions have formed a tight-knit group]], but face being separated when the orphanage closes down. Foley desperately needs to cultivate a family man image to seal a business and when he reads an article about them, invites them all to live in his Bel-Air mansion. His motives are entirely selfish, and he doesn't plan to keep them after the deal is complete, but his [[HeelFaceTurn plans change]] as he grows attached to the girls, and he ends up adopting them permanently.

* PlayboyHasADaughter: Nick starts as a millionaire playboy before adopting the girls; and even as an adoptive father doesn't completely shake his playboy image.

* JustInTime: Marva buys a food truck and quickly learns she’s not cut out to be an entrepreneur. She attempts to collect the insurance money by torching the truck. After dousing the truck with gasoline, Nick shows up and stops her from committing arson (and InsuranceFraud.)

''Rags to Riches'' is an American musical comedy-drama that was broadcast on NBC for two seasons from 1987 to 1988. Set in the pre-British Invasion 1960s, the series tells the story of Nick Foley, a self-made millionaire who adopts five 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).

* DroppedAfterThePilot: Nina, as mentioned above. Her disappearance is explained in the episode, "Patty's Mom", where it’s revealed she was [[PutOnABus living with her birth mother]]. (Given how close-knit the six girls were in the pilot movie, it’s odd that she never wrote or called.)

* FoolishSiblingRespobsibleSibling: Explored in Season 1's "Bad Blood" when Nick's previously unmentioned brother Frankie unexpectedly shows up, rekindling tension between the two (due to Nick being the responsible brother after their father's death) until Frankie's [[WhamLine announcement that he had leukemia and had only a couple of months left to live]].

* TheWoobie: With each of the girls having been in an [[OrphanageOfFear orphange]] prior to Nick adopting them, three of the girls have their situations examined in greater detail.
** In "High Society"; an argument between Nick and Rose leads to Rose mentioning not wanting to end up like her mother, a young Nisei (2nd generation Japanese-American) girl who got pregnant by an American soldier who left and whose parents forced Rose's mother to give her up; with it being strongly implied Rose's mother [[DrivenToSuicide committed suicide shortly afterwards by jumping in front of an oncoming car]].
** The confrontation in "Business is Business" as Marva attempts to torch her food truck sees her mention having been passed from foster home to foster home after the death of her parents.
** "Patty's Mom" has Patty briefly reunited with her biological mother, a prop comedienne named Gloria Lang, only for Gloria to have no parental skills or interest in her daughter.

* AmbitionIsEvil: Played with. Nick's excessive devotion to the success of his company is presented as a problem, but when he starts to care about others, he doesn't abandon his ambition, just learns to balance it against other priorities. Similarly, Marva is captivated by the idea of wealth, and Nick seeks to nurture her ambitions, but also has to teach her that there are more important things in life.

* WildTeenParty: The penultimate episode, "Guess Who's Coming To Slumber?" Marva hosts a slumber party while Nick is away in an attempt to win votes for a student government election.

* NonIdleRich: Nick is a wealthy playboy, but it's made clear that he's a [[SelfMadeMan built his own company from the ground up]]. Having grown up on TheWrongSideOfTheTracks, he's no stranger to hard work, and not easy to intimidate. This is made clear in the pilot, when he personally retrieves Nina from a biker bar and starts a fistfight with the gang she's been running with.

* JustInTime: Marva buys a food truck and quickly learns she’s not cut out to be an entrepreneur. She attempts to collect the insurance money by torching the truck. After dousing the truck with gasoline, Nick shows up and stops her from committing arson (and InsuranceFraud.)'

* JustInTime: Marva buys a food truck and quickly learns she’s not cut out to be an entrepreneur. She attempts to collect the insurance money by torching the truck. After dousing the truck with gasoline, Nick shows up and stops her from committing arson (and InsuranceFraud.)

Nick Foley (Joseph Bologna), the millionaire owner of Foley's Frozen Foods, is a street-wise New Jersey-born businessman with a playboy lifestyle. In the [[PilotMovie 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 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 them there permanently. But Foley's [[HeelFaceTurn plans change]] as he grows attached to the girls, and he ends up adopting them permanently.

The adjustment is huge on both sides, as the girls acquire a father with no parenting experience. Having spent the past few years in a run-down 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.