Favorite Melrose Place character?

Kimberly

Michael

Sidney

The awesome, haunting music in seasons 2 and 3.

I loved when Alison went off the rails with both her alcoholism and her marriage to the silver daddy.

My favorite hot mess was Lisa Rinna aka Taylor McBride

The other shu

Always Amanda for me but Sydney/Kimberly close behind. I jerked off many times to Grant Show back then so I feel like Jake deserves a mention.

Amanda's "bitchiness" was way over stated. If you watch season 4 through 7, she never did anything really that bad/evil/twisted. She rarely got into physical fights with anyone. She was never a true villainess.

Michael's sexyness was so underrated...there was a reason he was the only male character to bang all the female leads. Always kinda got a bi vibe from him too...he was such a sex addict. The actor who played him was hot too

So hard to choose. Toss up between Kimberly and Sydney and Amanda. Loved drunk Alison but she was annoying a lot of the time outside that storyline.

I enjoyed the Amanda/Alison rivalry.

Stupid Jake

Amanda and Allison’s scenes at Allison’s desk always seemed to go this way:

AMANDA- Alison, where were you? Why were you (late/absent /disappeared from the office for 6 months)?

ALLISON (roll eyes)- I have personal problems.

AMANDA (annoyed)-we have a presentation due to the client today and your personal problems do not excuse you from completing it. I expect it on my desk in an hour.

(Amanda walks away and Allison rolls her eyes)

R6 - agree. I lived for the eps in which he had major scenes.

Amanda cunting out harried Allison for 3 seasons straight still makes me laugh. She. Just. Didn’t. Like. Her. Even when the competition for Billy was a distant memory…

I never understood why Thomas Calabro’s career died after the show. Both Grant Show and Doug Savant went on to do more.

R13 - in my dirty imagination he became a willing sex slave for me and didn't mind living in the basement in-law.

In its fading days, Jamie Luner brought back a bit of the old luster as Lexi Sterling.

Most of the rest of the later cast brought nothing.

R15 Agreed. I always loved Luner in the last two seasons. She became a clown to rival Michael's clownish behavior. I hated Kyle and his brother though. Would have loved to have tossed both of them into a live volcano. They were both wooden and charisma free. The cheerleader who supposedly went to school with Amanda and killed somebody and went to jail for it was the absolute bottom for MP. Luner was the only one to keep the show afloat in season 7. By that season, all the fans had moved on.

The Real Melrose is so nice.

Kimberly was my favorite, followed by Sydney. Alison abd Jane irritated me so I loved watching them suffer but I never thought Amanda was a villain, just a bitch. In the later years, after the original cast mostly left, I liked Rinna's character and then Rena Sofer's but the show limped to its death during those years.

Ugh Allison was the worst …. But I loved most of the others. The Kimberly scar reveal an amazing moment .

I lived for Kimberly’s wig being snatched, and drunk Allison pretending to be blind.

My favorite moment was Jane becoming "temporarily" quadriplegic (!), Michael moving her into the beach house, and then trying to have sex with her when she couldn't move.

Thomas Calabro and Laura Leighton clearly had the time of their lives playing cartoonish villains.

R21 Good point. Those two were always written as clowns, so how could you hate them for their shenanigans.

Kimberly: "It's ... it's not what you're thinking!"

Devilish smile.

"It's WORSE."

* BANG *

Michael, Sydney and Kimberly made the show for me. Their characters were so messy (more like sociopathic!) that they made you love them anyway and see what devious things they'd be up to next.

Leighton was a great find, she had really just done a few commercials and had minimal acting training, but she picked things up very quickly. She became very good quickly at both comedy and drama.

I agree with Jamie Luner being a good addition to the show. Most of the characters added later on were middling to awful, but she really stood out and added a lot the show at a low point.

I love them all, but Allison is my favorite. She was such a functional trainwreck and alcoholic mess. She and Amanda going tete-a-tete was always my favorite.

Jasmine Guy was criminally underused for a few episodes I think it was season 3? And she was Peter's secretary? Anyway she was a great counter bitch to Amanda buythen she suddenly disappeared. I wonder if the show didn't want to pay her what's she worth, or Heather Locklear may have felt upstaged?

Sorry that should've been "but then she suddenly disappeared" oh dear!

[quote]or Heather Locklear may have felt upstaged?

Heather Locklear was the nicest cast member on the show. No way would she do this. I’ve followed her career since TJ Hooker, and absolutely no.

Sydney is underrated. She was a fucking mess. Loved her. She was right up there with Amanda and Kimberly.

As far as the guys by hotness: Billy, Michael, and then Jake.

[quote] Jasmine Guy was criminally underused for a few episodes I think it was season 3? And she was Peter's secretary? Anyway she was a great counter bitch to Amanda buythen she suddenly disappeared. I wonder if the show didn't want to pay her what's she worth, or Heather Locklear may have felt upstaged?

She disappeared because it was storyline dictated. Peter went to jail for drugging Amanda and their whole plan of taking over D&D was thwarted.

Agree r6. I always wanted to watch the game with Michael, have a few beers, and give him a blowjob before I left. He would gladly accept.

R29 what about Matt?

Matt was gay. No thanks.

R33 😂

He was cute for a gay guy, though. I bet he blew Michael a couple of times.

I only like Straight guys, R34.

Male or female, R33 is a cunt.

Favorite: Billy. One hot fuck.

Paraphrased: "Just remember, I'll always love you honey." Alison's father, kissing her on the cheek on her wedding day - which suddenly caused her to remember he had sexually abused her as a child. The story line literally came out of nowhere. No signs or suggestions of Allison ever being abused.

Drunk Alison was THE best Alison.

Lmao r37.

I need to do another 90210/MP rewatch soon.

[quote] The story line literally came out of nowhere. No signs or suggestions of Allison ever being abused.

Did you miss earlier episodes in the season? When she went home to Wisconsin for her father's birthday, she reacts when Billy asks her to come down to the basement. Then she starts having nightmares, then she tells Billy no sex before the wedding.

R39 is right. They set up the wedding reveal.

So nobody thinks I'm HOT? REALLY?

I also kind of liked antonio sabato's son playing Amanda's abusive husband I think in season 4? Anyways he dies rather mysteriously and then Amanda makes play for the guy's brother. Haha typical Melrose

[31] I wanted to sniff Michael's shorts after he came back from a run on the beach and blow him.

R42, she was always in love with the brother but married the abusive ASJ for…reasons or something, right?

R44 it didn’t make sense. MP really started to unravel in season 4. It peaked early. Seasons 2-3 are such an amazing ride, though.

I agree with every poster who listed the Kimberly/Michael/Sydney trio. They made Melrose Place for me. If the show was made today (and on a streaming platform) I think they'd make a good literal threesome. Watching them team up -- then double-cross each other depending on who was dishing out the good loving that week -- would be amazing. Couldn't you just see Kimberly literally licking away any wounds Michael caused poor, stupid Sydney? And then, of course, using Syd's infatuation for her own ends.

Loved to hate Jane. She was sickly sweet in the beginning. Enjoyed watching her devolve into a bitchy, bitter Karen toward the end.

Michael was the sexiest, by far. He seemed to literally drive those women nuts. That dick was deadly.

[quote] Michael was the sexiest, by far. He seemed to literally drive those women nuts. That dick was deadly.

I loved the way you phrased this. 😂

Doug Savant always played Matt as if he had a crush on Michael, and Thomas Calabro played Michael as if he knew that and used it to get Matt to do what he wanted.

This thread brings back so many memories. S2-S3 Melrose was must-see television.

Amanda was never a villainess; she was a bitch.

The real stars were Kimberly and Sydney (and Michael to some degree), and the show definitely slid into oblivion when they killed Sydney on her wedding day.

I’ve switched to streaming and this and BH90210 are always on. I don’t remember a lot about it, just that I liked it much better before Amanda, which ironically did save the show. I liked the more normal storylines, not the OTT crazy it became.

Lexi was my fave. She had such a hate boner for Amanda, but was really the only female who had the balls and the wealth/means to take her down.

My favorite Lexi moment was when she bought out the apartment building from Amanda and then evicted her ass LOL.

R48 it was subtle, but it definitely came across that way. They were both great in their roles.

Oh shit R2 I totally forgot Rinna was on MP. My fave was Sidney. I did like Jack Wagner with Heather Locklear as a show couple.

^^Really?? R 53? I never thought Heather and Jack made any sense as a couple both onscreen and off. It didn't make sense that out of all the men on the show Amanda would end up with Peter. I'm mean sure he was a rich doctor but he had a hideous face, always looked way too old for her and he antagonized her from the start. In real life Heather could have and DID in the past do so much better. Tommy Lee is more attractive than Jack.

R54 I consider him one of the first in a long line of General Hospital actors who got very popular but whose appeal I’ve never understood.

It’s true that Jack Wagner isn’t conventionally handsome or buff but straight women did seem to respond to him.

I liked Amanda and the redheads.

For a show set in the early-mid '90s, Matt Fielding (Doug Savant) got some pretty hot tail from Jeffrey, the closeted military officer who ended up contracting HIV on shore leave.

But it got weird when Matt was gay bashed for a second time and ended up in a domestic violence situation with the police detective assigned to his case. And don't get me started on the bi-curious doctor that killed his wife and framed Matt for the death.

Kristen Davis as Brooke Armstrong was a really hot mess, for the short duration that she was on the show.

[quote]And don't get me started on the bi-curious doctor that killed his wife and framed Matt for the death.

Great story like. Season 3, of course.

*line

Kimberly and Sydney.

I just wanted to suck Thomas Calabro's cock.

I watched the show on and off for years. Of course Amanda was awesome because I love Heather Locklear. Michael Mancini was cute, but too short. I did love his house though. Kyle was beautiful.

I always got the redheads mixed up. Which was Marcia Cross and which was Laura Leighton? I do know Marcia Cross was the one with the scar. And who was the blonde hooker who was friends with Doug Savant’s character? I liked her too.

Jamie Luner’s character, I think, was kind of brought over from her Peyton in Savannah. Like if Peyton lived in So. Cal.

R59, Kristin Davis was a mess! You’re so right. Her death in the pool was beyond satisfying.

A few years back, Tiffani Amber Theissan who played Valerie on BH 90210 did a talk show and when introducing her incorrectly said she was on Melrose Place, Theissan corrected them when. She came out but did say that when she left 90210 in 1998, Aaron Spelling offered her a very handsome sum to bring her Valerie character to Melrose Place but she declined because she thought there wasn't anywhere else for Valerie to go

That would have been interesting, Valerie living at Melrose Place in season 7

R59 - yes! I forgot about her stint on the show. Fantastic. I'm definitely in the Michael, Kimberly, and Sydney adoration camp. Damn, I really want to re-watch this series again.

Not a character but Letters to Cleo ‘Here and Now’ has stuck with me more than anything.

MARY! me all you like, but I loved the moody opening theme song for Melrose.

The city at night ... neon lights ... storefronts ... then electronic percussion speeds up ... and the synthesizers kick in. Perfection.

Here's some fan edit of all the main players edited into one opening. At 0:08 you briefly see the butts of two guys in '90s jeans. Are they supposed to be a couple?

Bump

R68, the MP theme is underrated even though it was widely appreciated in its day. The opening credits as a whole are superb. The ghastly reboot didn’t even have opening credits, just a title card a la Lost. I remember when I saw that in the premiere I had a sinking feeling that the people running the reboot didn’t understand the original show. I was right!

Re: the baggy jean butts, I think they stayed in the credits for the show. I thought it was two women but now that you mention it it could easily be guys.

I wanted some Peter. Loved the suspenders.

The Models Inc. theme was the better

Sydney! Amanda! Kimberly!

And H.M drunk Alison.

R72, no. Too gimmicky with the shutter sounds.

I'm not a big Jack Wagner fan, but he really meshed well into the show and had chemistry with a lot of the cast.

I think Tiffani would've fit well on Melrose Place. Imagine her feuding with Amanda and Lexi. Or teaming up with Lexi to go after Amanda. Since Valerie slept around a lot, she would've no doubt slept with Michael too. I'm not sure if she would've saved the show from being canceled but would've given the last season a shot in the arm.

I've always disliked Lisa Rinna (too much of a annoying tryhard and hard to look at) and couldn't stand her as Taylor. Wasn't a big fan of Hunter Tylo either, but she would've been more tolerable.

They never would've did it at the time, but they really should've pushed the envelope with Michael and Matt. At least had Michael play sexual mind games with Matt to get him to spill a dirty secret of Michaels. I think both Calabro and Savant would've been game. Calabro played gay in the play Wild Blue when he was still mainly a theater actor back in the 80s.

More hot younger shirtless Thomas Calabro from the play Wild Blue.

Pluto runs MP in 3-4 hour blocks several times a day (in fact I'm watching it now). The first 4 seasons are even better than I remember, with season 1 being a pretty straightforward time capsule of the early 90's.

In hindsight, they should've had Rhonda get divorced and move back to the building. "I can't, I've got Cardio Funk in 10 minutes!"

Hot mess Sydney and Michael are favorites. I always hated that dimwit Alison got choice dick from Billy Moses and Perry King (on the show).

Rhonda didn't really fit on the show. They needed to cast a sexier and edgier actress in the part, then she might have worked. The other Vanessa Williams would've been much better choice, for one.

^^ I agree with you. Light skinned Vanessa Williams would have been perfect

I love how Rhonda is basically in her own series once she starts dating that dullard Terrence. She has like two scenes with Matt and then never sees the rest of the cast again.

At least they gave Rhonda more of a chance than Sandy. Both were totally expendable though.

Sydney and Michael. I saw Jasmine Guy/Caitlyn get mentioned earlier. They wanted to bring her back season four but she was unavailable. So they ended up bringing back Matt’s lawyer, Alicia and she got the storyline that was meant for Caitlyn (I assume they tweaked it a little.

I have been watching late night reruns on PLUTO……the show really kicked into gear when Locklear came on board and the character combinations were like amazing chemistry experiments…Sidney and Kimberly could both push it right to the edge of being over the top…Leighton grew into her role and was always able to make Sidney a sympathetic character even when her behavior was totally devious.

Sydney crying in the confessional about being a prostitute on Christmas is classic TV.

It was ^. Was she nominated for an Emmy for that?

Here is the Sidney confession scene.

I loved Taylor McBride, and, of course the WIG snatcher.

Michael was great. I agree they should have gone there with Michael and Matt. Loved him with all the cast. Especially Sydney.

Jack Wagner’s Peter had the chemistry with Amanda but the way they brought him on and had him try to kill her made it hard to overlook.

Remember the dude at D&D that Amanda drove to hang himself? That was as I recall a pretty explicit scene.

Great clip, R86. I was always surprised Leighton didn't do more. She had a unique look and was great at drama and comedy -- which is rare. The last I saw of her in any regular capacity was when she was one of the Pretty Little Liar moms.

That confessional scene with Syndey was great. She did some other good, heartbreaking acting scenes after Sydney became a hooker like when a date with one older john's talking about her dreams then him getting horny at her crying and starts kissing her and wanting sex, her pleading with Jane to help her and later confessing to Jane after getting arrested that she worked as a hooker and Michael found out and blackmailed her into helping him break up Jane and her new boyfriend.

She should've had better career post Melrose Place.

R76 - oh dear God. He's divine.

Sloppy drunken Allison was a favorite with my group of friends who gathered weekly to watch the series. We tried our own version of a drinking game connected to her appearances on the show, but I can't remember the details (I wonder why!?)

I'll probably be all by myself on this, but my favorite character was Jo. I need to emphasize: Jo as she was when she first arrived. She was tough, mysterious, troubled, independent, but decent. Daphne Zuniga. was peak-gorgeous in season one. She and Grant Show's Jake had the best chemistry of the many actresses they paired him with.

I don't think the writers really knew who to sustain that kind of character, though. She got watered down more each season. I hated to see her turn into a serial victim, falling for a string of awful guys. Still, she had some great moments even later, like decking Kimberly at the hospital.

Obviously, I did love the bitch trio of Amanda/Syd/Kimberly too, and Michael for being the only male character of the "classic cast" who could get down in the gutter.

R45 is exactly right in pinpointing when the show started to go bad. The best period, IMO, was latter-half season 1 (with Jo and Amanda) through the end of season 3 (the explosion). Season 4 was a mess writing-wise, but at least it had most of the characters we think of when we think of Melrose Place. After that...eh. Slow march to the grave.

Jo looked pretty good and interesting when she first arrived and then they started making her look and act very frau-ish. They really dropped the ball with her character.

I loved when a knocked up Jo murdered her drug smuggling high school boyfriend. And then Kimberly stole her baby. And then the bf's parents hired a British nanny who stole her baby. And then Jo said "fuck it" and gave her baby away.

Okay I'm rewatching the series now and I think season 3 right up until Kimberly blew up the building was the best. Season 4 was still entertaining, but started too slide in melodrama that would traumatize normal real life people. Richard crawling out of that grave like Jason vorhiees was jumping a huge shark. Season 5, on was a mess and I think that'd when core fans started abandoning the show

^^Sorry it should say "that's when core fans started abandoning the show" My bad!

Darren Star and Frank South left after season 3.

^^I didn't know that but it makes total sense.

I thought Alyssa Milano was a lot of fun as Michael's sister but by that point the show was already way past its prime. One of my favorite scenes was her interviewing with Amanda for a job at D&D.

Darren Star left for Sex in the City, and I’m pretty sure Frank South left too, R100.

Kristen Davis followed Star mid-way through season 4.

Did Kristen Davis ask to be written out of the show or did they always plan to kill off Brooke?

I think Brooke’s time was coming to a close, so I think they may have planned to kill her off.

Brooke became incredibly annoying, so I'm sure it was planned to kill her off.

I did love her last drunk, whiny scene where she called Billy, Jake, Allison and Jane "two pea brains and a couple of sluts."

It was easy to tell there had been a change once Darren Star left. The people in charge in season 4 threw a lot of couplings, conflicts, and catfights up on the screen, but nothing had any weight because the pacing was so erratic. Even when they had a promising idea, like Sydney and Michael trying to make Kimberly believe she was crazier by hiring an actor to play "Henry," her childhood tormentor, it wasn't well developed. It was rushed through. Jane's stroke from a spiked drink was another example.

Star had left to work on Central Park West, CBS's attempt to get back into prime-time soaps. That actually was a better show than MP had become post Star, and Madchen Amick made a great villainess, but it bombed and was off the schedule by November. CBS tried to bring it back in a version more attractive to older viewers (out with Mariel Hemingway, in with Raquel Welch and Gerald McRaney), but it didn't work.

I never bought the idea that after the building explosion, it was difficult to top theory. Darren Star leaving was pretty much the end of Melrose.

I wonder if the cast felt the same after he left, because the quality of the show dropped considerably after he left.

He left even before the third season was over. He had written the first half until Jo was shot. The second half of the season sucked until the end. I'm sure there was a lot of eye rolling when the scripts came in.

Kimberly was supposed to fly a plane into Melrose.

There was a point where it became a nonstop train of has-beens like Loni Anderson and Linda Gray and it was just too much. Like every episode there was a new character who wandered in off The Love Boat and you didn't know if you'd be stuck with them for a season or just an episode or two. And it felt like the producers were relying on these guest stars to get abd keep viewers instead of plotting out the season so you had storylines getting really fucked up but--oh, look!--Shirley Jones!

I liked that, it made Melrose very soapy. ^

They had way too many episodes a season. Like 33 or so. They should've kept it at the normal 22 and could've had another season before jumping the shark.

Matt was a great character. He had relationships, spoke of love, he was way more three dimensional than so many gay characters that came years later.

Jeffrey the gay marine who was HIV positive, who Matt still loved.

Why didn’t they bring Denise Richards onto this mess?she could have been a good fit for the show long term.

Kristen Davis was fun but really stood out as a bad actress with horrible deliveries. Shocked she went onto bigger things.

Kristen Davis was pretty bad on the show. She was lucky she was very pretty and a type that gets cast on TV shows often.

Andrew Shue and David Charvet in particular were really bad actors that were the in main cast. Like Kristen, they were lucky that they were good looking.

Denise's movie career was going pretty well while the show was on, so I don't think she would've done it.

Charvet was the hottest man on the show and his acting wasn't great but he was adequate for the lame storylines they gave him. It was funny when he was crying over dead Sydney when he knew her all of 4 minutes.

Great thread. Melrose is one of those shows you remember with fondness.

I always think of the trio of Michael, Sydney and Kimberley too. They were so damn entertaining. And all three actors really seemed to enjoy playing their characters.

I was also disappointed that Jasmine Guy didn't return. She was a great foil for Amanda.

Also agree that Jo became watered down. She seemed like a different character by the time she left.

The first season of Melrose is so hilarious to watch now. The soapier elements didn't come into play until later in the season.

Michael was so much more interesting as a cad than a well-meaning doctor.

And Leighton was just perfection. My favourite scene is when Sydney realizes she is now a porn producer. Her comic timing was brilliant.

Something I remember about MP is that it was one of the earliest shows to have major online fandom. People had group chats going during the episode or immediately after the episode. I mean EARLY in its run, in seasons 2 and 3. This is largely forgotten now. There are people old enough to be in media who think the general public wasn't online in significant numbers until 2000. But MP's audience always skewed younger, so it stands to reason that early adopters were more likely to be chatting about Melrose Place (and genre shows such as The X-Files and Lois & Clark) than Coach and Murphy Brown.

Wow, that's early R122. I was 18 or so when Melrose Place came out and had no idea these places existed. I remember going into the college computer lab and "going online," but that was either to check my school email or go onto to this random chat room where you write to strangers to discuss whatever. I was still posting letters to friends until the late 1990s. I don't think I went really online until social media rolled around and became a big thing. I guess I was a bit behind the times, lol.

Courtney Thorne-Smith was hilariously awful as drunk Allison. Her idea of playing drunk was to stagger around like Otis from "The Andy Griffith Show."

I was and still am fascinated that Alison kept her vodka in a random cabinet and would drink it warm from a water glass. She also adopted this tic of caressing the glass and holding it close to her body like a little girl with a kitten that cracked me up.

I'm doing a revisit. I'm watching "Pushing Boundaries" from Season 1. Billy just got promoted by his boss Nancy at the magazine. She is sweet on him and complemented his latest article.

With so much negativity and vileness that we can encounter these days in DL, this line made me think of how I feel sometimes.

The captions left out "and humorous" after satirical.

I appreciate the posters here who write biting, but funny comments.

It was hard to imagine satire, or good magazine writing of any kind, coming out of Andrew Shue's Billy. Soccer, abs-toning tips, sure.

^An example of why I come to DL.

[quote]Also agree that Jo became watered down. She seemed like a different character by the time she left.

I wondered at the time whether Zuniga's leaving was a jump or a push, but apparently it was her decision. She gave an interview in which she said she was kind of over it by season 4, felt she'd gone as far with it as she wanted to go. Producers wanted to keep the old gang together and offered a story for season 5 in which Jo became a bitch or went crazy, but she still left.

Could there be anything more Melrose Place than that? "Stay! We'll make your character a bitch or have her go crazy!" The good/sane people on that show never had as much fun.

BTW, even though I didn't like seasons 5-7, I thought the best later cast addition was Kelly Rutherford's Megan. I had liked KR ever since she played scheming bad girl Samantha on Generations.

Denise Richards was on MP. She played Brandi, Loni Anderson's daughter. She fucked Michael for his vote in a beauty pageant, but accused Peter of statutory rape.

Thomas Calabro’s perfectly hairy tits were a part of my gay sexual awakening as a teen.

Loved Kelly Rutherford but Megan was a dud. She didn’t have that spark she had in earlier soap roles.

R132 Hooker with a heart of gold? Puke. No one but Julia Roberts and her huge teef could make that work.

I liked Milano on MP but was a second rate Syd.

I'm a third of the way into Season 2 and I had forgotten how "unethical" Matt is (green-card marriage; changing Kimberly's BAL to a legal limit for MIchael so she doesn't get into trouble). I agree with R75. The show wouldn't have done it (push the envelope with Matt/Michael), because the series at the time was probably trying to push a "chaste" version (at least on the sexual aspects) of one of primetime's first regular gays, but it would have been brilliant. Looking back, it would have fit in with the series' tone, especially in later seasons. Matt also dated a very young Jonathan Penner (the art gallery guy), R58, who was super hot back in the day (I remember his abs from The Last Supper). Upon rewatch, I think I'd place Thomas Calabro as the guy I'd want to fuck the most. But, I have a thing for Italian-Americans.

I agree with R18. Amanda was definitely more of a bitch than a villain. She has been pretty above-the-board thus far, aside from not giving Allison his message when they were on the work-related event (but, then again, Allison was the first to "erase messages" ... and then Billy eventually did it to Allison lol). I can't believe how much Allison was the "lead" of the show. She really got a lot of storylines. So far, she's already had the Billy/Amanda love triangle, getting almost raped by Keith (Settle stalker played by Billy Moses from Falcon Crest), and romantic entanglement with Steve (computer mogul played by Parker Stevenson), and they've dabbled a bit into her alcoholism. She never seems to know what she wants lmao, and she always seems to get another woman tangled up with her male interests. Interesting juxtaposition is that they show Amanda not being able to hold her slivovitz, which she seems to learn from. Courtney Thorne-Smith isn't that bad of an actor, either. Actually, most of the cast is pretty all-right.

I think thus far, Sydney has brought the most life into the first third of Season 2. She has shown how messy she is. She sleeps with her sister's soon-to-be ex (!), and is getting tangled up with the call girl ring run by Kristian Alfonso (Hope Brady from DL's favourite DOOL), which includes a yet-to-be-star Gina Gershon (!). I also really like Jo more than I remember. The footage of her riding the motorbike through the "bad" part of Los Angeles to take photos of the homeless (!) was hilarious, especially when she gets arrested. Who would have thunk that Jo was on the frontlines of BLM way before its time (only kidding). She also liked to make fun of Jake's intelligence to Amanda. He looks similar to Brad Pitt (Grant Show is two years older), who had just became widely noticed in Thelma & Louise a year before the series debuted.

Janet Carroll has just appeared as Kimberly's mother. Brilliant casting.

[quote] Courtney Thorne-Smith isn't that bad of an actor, either.

She's pretty good for the most part. Though the scene where she tells Billy Keith tried to rape her is God AWFUL!

I had first seen CTS in the 1986 film Lucas. She played Charlie Sheen's bitchy girlfriend, who realizes that the nice girl played by Keri Green (whom Corey Haim's title character is in love with) likes Sheen and vice versa.

Whenever Alison's nasty side emerged on MP, I would be reminded of CTS's rant about Keri Green in Lucas. "I don't want you talking to her anymore! I don't wanna see you walking with her and smiling at her! I don't want her in this car on Friday. We're not giving her a ride. She can put her fat ass on Lucas's bicycle, where it belongs!"

That movie did well with its casting. Winona Ryder was in it too, as the nerdy girl who cares about Haim but is invisible to him.

I like CTS but Alison was so mopey and whiney, no wonder Amanda antagonized her. Alison and Billy were Dumb and Dumber.

During the pandemic, there was a Melrose reunion and I was struck by how fond the cast was of Heather Locklear. Marcia Cross absolutely loves her, so it speaks to Heather's professionalism. Cross worked on the cuntier-than-cunty set of Desperate Housewives, so for her to go out of her way to praise Heather, you know Heather is well-liked. In fact, the entire cast seemed fond of each other.

[quote]The ghastly reboot didn’t even have opening credits, just a title card a la Lost. I remember when I saw that in the premiere I had a sinking feeling that the people running the reboot didn’t understand the original show. I was right!

That reboot was a horrible missed opportunity. I suspect the only thing most of us who watched can remember about it, 12-13 years later, is the appearances by the old guard: Michael, Jane, Jo, Amanda, and Sydney. (Sydney was somehow not dead...just so she could die again.) The only new character I remember at all is the medical student who resorted to prostitution to pay her school debt.

When one of the returning cast members from the old show mentioned in an interview that she had to fill the producers in on what her character's personality/occupation/storylines/love interests/etc. were, something that was already clear became even clearer.

I thought Thomas Calabro and Marcia Cross were both wonderful on Melrose. They both played evil so well, and each slightly differently. Calabro’s performance always seemed to be verging on comedy. Honestly, in some episodes he really should have been twirling a moustache and tying a damsel in distress to a railway track. The actor really had fun with the role, and got the most out of it. It helps that he’s incredibly beautiful too…

I think Cross was by far the best actor in the show. Just as in Desperate Housewives, she’s great at making an ostensibly unlikable character rather sympathetic and finding some reality in utterly bonkers storylines.

I also really enjoyed looking at Antonio Sabato Jr as Amanda’s psycho ex. God, he was just stunning in those days. Nowadays, his looks reflect his personality, sadly.

A fun Kimberly clip.

One thing I realized reading this thread: while character inconsistency was one of the worst things on Dynasty, it was all fun on Melrose.

Dominique was an international Woman of Mystery, later revealed to be a global superstar singer and finally a torch singer in a Denver hotel bar. Made no sense. Same with Adam being adopted and not adopted depending on the season. Irritating.

On Melrose, you just went along for the ride after Kimberly went from trying to blow up the apartment complex and later got a call-in radio advice show. Or when Michael went from serious young doctor and doting husband to supervillain almost overnight.

R142 Gee, imagine ya fucking turd. Almost like these characters were written and fictitious. Like your love life, queen.

My favorite character was Rhonda.

Said no one ever.

Said a gay white woke^.

Poor Rhonda got screwed in plot/character development. The only thing she ever talked about was being late to Cardio Funk class.

I liked Rhonda, but like Matt, she really got the worst of stories, if any stories at all.

I wonder how Vanessa would have fared if she had been able to stay with Melrose when it crossed over to full-on soap.

Amy Locane didn't really work out here. The character just didn't click.

Locane is probably nostalgic these days for a time when not being able to sustain a Southern accent was her biggest worry.

Re: Rhonda, the character and actress were likable; she wasn't as much of a first-season drag as Sandy. She just seemed to be on a different show. Her stories were always disconnected from the rest. That was true of Matt to an extent too, but they ultimately did a better job of integrating him with the other people in the complex.

I always thought Amy Alicante got a raw deal. The character might not have clicked as originally written but neither did Michael and they gave him an entirely new personality halfway through the first season. Kimberly had about 12 different personalities over the course of the series.

I actually liked the character of Jane a lot…especially once Michael turned into a dick.

Is Amy Locane still method out/in jail?

Locane is still in prison, yes. She will not be eligible for parole until Dec 2024.

So glad to see my fellow guys finally come around to the sexiness that was Michael Mancini.

My friends thought I was crazy back when the show originally aired cause I thought he was so hot. They were more into Billy (ugh) and Jake (yawn).

The evil characters were so hot. Dan Cortese was sex on a stick back then using Jo as a punching bag and that scummy Australian boyfriend of Jane's who kidnapped Sydney and took her to Vegas to gamble away all of Jane's money was delicious, too.

John Haymes Newton was cute as fuck too but I don't remember him being a villain.

I remember reading some article that said the producers didn't want to constantly address Sandy's acting pursuits. Um, okay, then how about not make her an aspiring actor from the get go?

The should’ve made her an aspiring actress who gets caught up in the porn industry.

Maybe they felt that that was such an obvious thing they had to do in a show about young people in Los Angeles. There HAS to be one pretty girl trying to make it in movies/TV.

Then when they started trying to write it while keeping everything else going, all their enthusiasm for the subject went away. They preferred Michael and his doctoring, Billy and his magazine, Jane and her dee-signs.

It's often said that Cheers and Seinfeld would never have become such phenomena had they premiered in later decades, because they started very low-rated and were given time to grow. That's also true of Melrose Place. It launched with a lot of hype, got strong ratings at first, and fell fast. What saved it was not just Heather Locklear, as is often said. It was Fox being slower with the cancellation hammer than the big three and not really having a better prospect to put in its place. It's important to remember that in the summer MP premiered, the Fox network was still very young. Their first prime-time shows were in '87.

So, Darren Star and company got some room to figure it out, find a tone that worked and one that made MP distinct from the more wholesome series that spawned it. By the end of season one, it was a great show of its kind, and it had a real following. In another era, it would have been the failed 90210 spinoff that lasted one season. Like the lousy reboot was.

John Enos/Bobby was also quite hot on the show.

The gay guy who got the hell out of there.

Fox has always been edgy. They should’ve made Amy Locane’s character an actress turned escort. Amanda Woodward could’ve entered the canvas as a former colleague.

No, Amanda being a successful, hyper-ambitious businesswoman was a deliberate break with her Dynasty character of Sammi Jo and part of what made her character interesting. She was a rich snobby daddy's girl who got into advertising for REASONS and then took that occupation as seriously as pediatric cancer. Of course they eventually retconned her past to include a troubled first marriage to ASJ and first love with Jon Enos but that was a while later.

R157 - John Enos from that time could do unspeakable things to me. I loved his meaty body.

R161 I loved when they made him a “horse dick” dude on SATC too. That was him, right?

Sure was, R162

Locane could have been great on the show if they kept around when the transitioned from wholesome plot of the episode to full on soap…Sandy could have made for a real great bad girl!

Sandy dropping her accent after a few episodes was so jarring it actually made me start laughing when I did my rewatch last year.

The only thing I remember about her is the episode where Fisher from Roseanne stalked her. I wonder why he always had to play the creepy love interest in the 90s.

[quote] During the pandemic, there was a Melrose reunion and I was struck by how fond the cast was of Heather Locklear. Marcia Cross absolutely loves her, so it speaks to Heather's professionalism. Cross worked on the cuntier-than-cunty set of Desperate Housewives, so for her to go out of her way to praise Heather, you know Heather is well-liked. In fact, the entire cast seemed fond of each other.

I had a friend who worked in entertainment journalism i the 1980s and 90s and 00s who told me the three most beloved people in television were Henry Winkler, Angela Lansbury, and Heather Locklear. He said all three of them were absolutely unpretentious, uninterested in being divas or the centers of attention, and that they always knew everyone on the set and treated them like they were people with interesting lives, from directors to co-stars to gaffers to key grips. He said Locklear would always bake cookies and brownies for the people who worked on "MP," and that everyone just adored her.

Seeing how many blond white women they started off with (Jane, Allison, Sandy) and then Amanda later Season 1, it's probably for the best they dropped Sandy. It's interesting that Jo was the only white brunette regular in the early seasons (and she wasn't even there at the very start). There were even more redheads added (Kimberly and Sydney).

It's too bad, Rhonda couldn't have more fun, but I suppose as one of the few black females on primetime in the early 1990s, producers probably thought it was more important for characters like hers (and Matt's), to be a bit more "virtuous" (Matt always wasn't, but it was coupled in good intentions like helping a friend).

That being said, I feel like Tia Carrera would have fit into this world and would have given us a great and memorable character if the writing supported her. She was beautiful, the right age (almost four years older than Bissett, who I think was the youngest regular at the start?), and had the right acting style. She also had a soap background (General Hospital). At the time, I think she was more focused on films (she turned down Baywatch to be in Wayne's World, which was probably a good decision). She probably peaked with her tango-dancing character in True Lies in 1994, which is around the time Melrose Place was building. I can see how at the time, TV would have been seen as "a step down," but it might have improved her legacy.

Speaking of that time, I'm now early into Season 3 and I'm surprised by how many issues they've already tackled the first two seasons (abortion, domestic abuse, stalkers, sexual abuse, alcoholism, etc).

No love for Linden Ashby?

R156 90210 was only somewhat wholesome until the college years

Their college years, which coincided with Melrose Place at it's peak, saw the show adapt a lot more trashier and soapier style as well

90210 even had their share of psychos as well (Emily, serial rapist Garrett Slan, Evan who tried to run over Donna, stalked her and held her hostage, Tara who kidnapped and tried to kill Kelly with carbon monoxide poisoning, Laura who falsely accused Steve of date rape, plotted to destroy Brenda and tried to kill herself in front of Brenda and Steve etc)

[quote]Their college years, which coincided with Melrose Place at it's peak, saw the show adapt a lot more trashier and soapier style as well

Yes. By "wholesome," I just meant that MP when it launched was pretty close to an older version of (early) 90210. We had a group of friends who were very tight-knit and did things together; some were romantically paired or else we were supposed to be rooting for that, and there were self-contained episodes exploring Important Issues of the early '90s. Maybe "earnest" would have been a better term.

It was a formula that worked less well for MP than it had for 90210. And I think the reverse was true: lurid melodrama worked less well for 90210. I really only liked the Brenda seasons and the first Valerie season. I checked out around the time of Kelly's Single White Female rip-off.

R167 "Speaking of that time, I'm now early into Season 3 and I'm surprised by how many issues they've already tackled the first two seasons (abortion, domestic abuse, stalkers, sexual abuse, alcoholism, etc)."

I've been watching, too, and they've also tackled gay bashing, workplace discrimination, racism, HIV exposure/testing. As soapy as MP became, none of these seemed heavy handed or "after school special-ish" like on 90210 or other shows.

Rae Dawn Chong had a memorable guest turn in season 1. First as Rhonda's OCD roommate who moved in after Sandy left. Then they brought her character back as a wedding planner for Rhonda and Terrance, and she tried to make a move on Terrance. Might have been amusing to bring her back in a later season as a tenant at the complex, or doing work on a D and D advertising shoot so she could clash with either Amanda, or better yet Allison when she was briefly President of D and D advertising.

Speaking of D and D, always amused that Allison of all people had one of the swiftest rises up the corporate ladder from receptionist at D and D (at start of the show) to President by Season 3.

On the reboot, the new advertising agency Amanda co-owned was named WPK. I kept hoping the P was for Alison Parker and that it meant the producers were hoping to get Courtney Thorne-Smith at some point. (If I recall correctly, Amanda spoke with an unseen Alison on a phone call at one point.) But one season in and Amanda got carted off to jail and the show canceled. The reboot team just had no idea what they were doing.

The L.A. Complex was a much better interpretation of the MP concept than the reboot. But it didn't last, either.

R173, I remember that! Were there theories about the K?

[quote] It's too bad, Rhonda couldn't have more fun

It also didn't help that Williams was the least conventionally attractive member of the cast. If Rhonda had been played by, say, Robin Givens or Garcelle Beauvais, I think the character would have gotten more romantically entangled with the other characters and had a longer shelf life. But it wouldn't have really been believable that the guys would have been fighting over Williams.

I feel bad that Rhonda is getting so much abuse. Everyone during season one was basic, except Jake when he was shirtless.

Allison was my most hated character. I couldn't stand her annoying ass.

1992

Would love a models inc reboot with original cast member Garcelle Beauvais running the agency in the Linda Gray role. Could be more contemporary and still soapy camp.

I haven't watched since it originally aired, but was there any explanation for why people working in advertising and making big bucks wanted to live in a shitty little apartment complex? Struggling actors, photographers, etc. I get.

R181, they all had bad credit. Allison Parker, in particular, was a financial deadbeat.

R181, Amanda owned the building. Michael bought the beach house once he finished medical training. Jake lived near his business, as did Jane with her dee-zighn store. Allison…maybe she just liked the supply of hot dick the building reliably supplied her?

This was around the time a lot of TV shows and movies were starting to be aimed at the post-collegiate young adults of Gen X, and 1992 was a lousy time economically ("It's the economy, stupid" wasn't the winning presidential candidate's slogan for nothing). The set actually looked like a place they might be able to afford in that market at that time. Decent-sized apartments, a pool, but it didn't scream "luxury."

Matt was a social worker. Rhonda taught exercise classes. Sandy was an aspiring actress. Jake was initially doing construction jobs (his ill-fated bike shop and successful bar came later). Billy was an aspiring magazine writer. Alison was low on the totem pole at D&D. Michael was a doctor, but still a resident with debt. Jane was a young designer, still working for that bitchy boss. Jo was a freelance photographer.

When the show became a hit and some of the characters were doing better for themselves, they kept most of the cast there for convenience. It didn't make sense in every case if we dwelled on it, but it was better for storytelling. A character could see two people kissing across the courtyard while she was carrying a laundry basket downstairs; Kimberly could put everyone's life in danger at once, etc.

Kimberly was nice. Idealistic. She became that towards the end by season 5, as a psychiatrist. She became the voice of reason, she had a talk radio show. Too bad they didn’t explore this further, and went the route of Betsy. It was a great arc for Kimberly to basically become “Matt”. Then maybe move to New York or something, not kill her off.

[quote]Kimberly was nice. Idealistic.

I should say “again”. She became a good character again towards the end.

I love reading the Wikipedia synopsis of the first season's episodes. It starts off so light and placid and becomes more soapy and lurid.

Kimberly was still quite twisted or at least unconventional, hiring Megan to “console” Michael as she died of cancer.

[quote] It also didn't help that Williams was the least conventionally attractive member of the cast. If Rhonda had been played by, say, Robin Givens or Garcelle Beauvais.

Maybe they thought they were hiring the other Vanessa Williams and were too embarrassed once the contract was signed, they kept the other one.

[quote] Would love a models inc reboot with original cast member Garcelle Beauvais running the agency in the Linda Gray role. Could be more contemporary and still soapy camp.

Points for wokeness but Cynthia was a fucking snooze. That Aussie cunt Julie would be a much better choice.

[quote]Kimberly was still quite twisted or at least unconventional, hiring Megan to “console” Michael as she died of cancer.

I hated what they did to Kimberly.

Fake Vanessa Williams did a stint on DOOL recently. She’s still a bit of a snooze though she’s aged superbly.

Didn’t they want to bring Kimberly back for the last scene in the last episode? Or was that just a rumor?

Agreed R192.. She looked great.

R190 I loved the Aussie actress. She married rich and is no longer acting.

That was fan made, R193. Fake.

Kimberly was actually talking to Sidney on the couch.

In the real episode. Season 5, I believe.

[quote] Didn’t they want to bring Kimberly back for the last scene in the last episode? Or was that just a rumor?

The producers did talk about trying to bring back all the dead characters for a scene with them drinking it up in hell, but they weren’t able to make the logistics work.

From the LA Times back in ‘99:

[quote] R.I.P. “Melrose Place”: 1992-99. But before it makes an exit after seven steamy, schemey years, consider this finale: A major character dies in the last episode, goes straight to hell and comes face to face with all the deranged killers and psychopaths (Kimberly, Sydney, Brooke . . .) who’ve bitten the dust during seasons past. The kicker: The infamous apartment complex pool begins to bubble like a caldron, revealing Melrose Place and hell to be one and the same, with all the old villains chained to their apartment doors. Sound farfetched? It isn’t. This was one of the writers’ early concepts, but re-signing the veteran villains proved far too expensive. The story line was revised: To make way for a new highway, the body of deceased doctor Kimberly Shaw is exhumed back in Ohio, revealing an empty coffin. At the end of the hour, when another femme fatale goes insane and is locked away, Kimberly reappears as her psychiatrist. Then again . . . this scenario also had to be scrapped after Spelling Television, which produces the show, and Kimberly’s portrayer, actress Marcia Cross, failed to reach a financial agreement.

On an episode of the second season of MTV's The Real World, set in Los Angeles and produced in early 1993, cast member Dominic (a hard-drinking 24-year-old writer from Dublin) is giving an interview about conflicts in the house and says, "This ain't Melrose Place. We don't have to love each other."

MTV aired those RW seasons over and over through the '90s and beyond, and people later would say that and think, "Has this guy ever SEEN Melrose Place? It wasn't about people who got along; it was about fighting in the pool and ripping off wigs." But Dom only had the early episodes to go on.

The pilot is on this morning. It's funny to think (and watch) that this was a spinoff of 90210. The BH kids look ridiculous in this episode.

For someone with limited talent (and who wasn't flashing boob), Thorne-Smith certainly has had a long run.

This was my coming-of-age era and so I guess I am probably imprinted, but women's styles during this period of the 90s is so delicious to me—the warm earthtoned makeup and hair colors, rich jeweltoned fabrics, chokers. The whole package just comes together for me and I find it gorgeous. It's probably the effect of coming off the cruchy-banged, dayglo '80s era that makes the earthiness so great to me, but I loved it.

Sydney, Kimberly, Jo, Amanda and boring blonde Jane looked gorgeous in the show. I'm totally gay and not sexually attracted to women, but I really thought they were gorgeous to look at.

Grant Show and Thomas Calabro turned me on bigtime, but mostly when they took their clothes off.

I think Michael was the only male character I found interesting at all. Most of the men were boring and/or annoying.

NO R168 he was Never hot.

What about John Haymes Newton? No love for him? After all, he was also once Superboy.

I watched the entire series and don't remember a single thing about him, r204. Who did his character interact with?

Newton joined in the forgettable final season. He played Kyle's brother, Ryan. He worked at D&D. His main love interest was hooker with a heart of gold Megan.

[quote] Newton joined in the forgettable final season.

I'd say anyone who joined after season 4 was mostly forgettable. Or at the very least joined after the show was already on the decline.

R204 Worst fucking actor EVER. But still not as awful as Henry Cavill. Kyle and his brother were both signs MP was fucking finished. Scraping the bottom of the barrel after firing all the originals.

Lexi was pretty good, but others ranged from so-so to terrible. Rob Estes and John Haymes Newton were nice to look at.

Charvet to me was the hottest guy added late season. I don't normally go for pretty boy like him but he was super hot. I also strangely liked that his character was a total wimpy bitch. It was endearing.

Zuniga was smart to bail when she did. She should've asked to be a casualty in the apartment bombing and got out even earlier.

He looks like a retarded Osmond brother R204

This morning, Amanda took Billy and Alison to her family's lake house. Alison is a worthless cunt.

Amanda savages Allison on that trip, r213. So many laughs.

Charvet looks quintessentially '90s in the scene where he is harpooned by Jo.

Harpooned!

I always wonder if the writers of such things take their work seriously and think they are writing a drama or if they understand how ridiculous and campy their work is.

That was James Wilder, although he and Charvet did have a similar aesthetic.

As long as the check cashes, I think the writers are fine.

Jo initially hooked up with Reed (Wilder) at her high school reunion, didn't she? I suspect the writers had seen Something Wild, which had a similar arc to that story. Except that Melanie Griffith's character seemed spooked by Ray Liotta's from the get-go.

Didn't she wear a caftan to the reunion?

No idea how the characters met. All I remember is the harpoon and the sexy bad guy. I mean, death by harpoon on a show about people who live in an L.A. apartment complex.

I think they were from high school. I think it was through a high school reunion.

They went to high school together.

I would go to a high school reunion if I knew I'd be able to choose someone to harpoon with indemnity...

Kassie DePaiva was great as the annoying reunion host/organizer.

kitty kitty

Always enjoyed those scenes in which Amanda reams out Allison. Yet for some reason Amanda always re-hired Allison. Those two had a complicated psychological S and M sort of relationship.

Yes. Amanda had battles with a lot of other women in the main cast (Jo, Taylor, Lexi), but Alison is the one we remember as her biggest "rivalry." And it was the most lopsided of them all. Except for the brief period when Alison was running things, it mostly consisted of Amanda dishing out the abuse and Alison playing the martyr. I remember Courtney even saying in an interview that their "catfights" were no contest: Alison was the defenseless little kitten.

Amanda cared about Alison the most.

Frances McDorman's character Bridget. No drama, no nonsense, no makeup.

Frances was on Melrose? Was she a temp at D&D?

Bridget was my favorite because of her astute political commentaries. She was the Julia Sugarbaker of Melrose Place, but as a white woman who grew up in Tanzania, she had a unique perspective on American consumerism and how it results in exploitation, especially by executives like Amanda. Her occult subplot was also an unexpected twist.

I like that OG Days of Our Lives prostitute Kate and her two stolen offspring, Billie and Austin, all appeared on MP (although never together).

[quote] Frances McDorman's character Bridget. No drama, no nonsense, no makeup.

Wasn't she in one of the early lame episodes that addressed homelessness? In the end, all eight pitched in for a bucket for her to shit in? I think the episode was called Crate & Barrel.

Lots of DOOL on Melrose: Kate, Patch, Austin, Billy.

Hope.

Plus one of the several Jack Deverauxs. Steve Wilder played Alex Bastian in the last season. I think he was involved with Jane.

Steve Wilder was so hot. I think he got into some trouble though.

I’d forgotten about Steve Wilder. According to IMDB, he continues to act.

I'm at the beginning of the fourth season of my revisit. There are obvious highlights, and some good camp. But, some of the writing and acting in season 3 felt similar in quality to soft porn. Maybe I'm getting exhausted from the marathon pace I'm taking.

New additions Dan Cortese and Patrick Muldoon are both pretty bad. But, Kristin Davis is kind of fun. Jake got a really stupid storyline with his brother. Daphne Zuniga really sold her character. She has definitely grown in my estimation through the rewatch. And Tom Caballero is a good actor. I can't decide if that weird clenching thing Jack Wagner does with his jaw is hot or annoying.

It's funny how the show glosses over/forgets how truly awful some of the characters are in subsequent storylines.

Thomas Calabro's acting strength is the same as Pamela Anderson's.

Uh, that’s Michael Cade (California Dreams), R239.

Thomas Calabro is a legit good actor. He could do humor quite well, and anger. He also had chemistry with a lot of his leading ladies, which may not correlate with acting talent but did make him fun to watch.

He is. He’s done quite a bit of theatre. Has his degree in theatre from Northwestern, I believe? Same place where Michael went to medical school.

I think Calabro, Leighton and Cross were the best actors, which made the Michael/Sydney/Kimberley triangle so much fun.

I don’t think Thom and Michael would get along.

Did Sydney and Billy ever have a scene together?

I can't believe no one is talking about the "Big Cutaway"! There was all this hype about poor sexless Matt finally being the slightest bit sexual by kissing Jason Beghe (now on Chicago Fire). And just as they were going in for a big romantic kiss, they cut away. This was huge at the time, especially at gay bars who had Melrose Place nights each week. Will & Grace later did a whole episode based on it.

Coincidentally, when I was waiting to see Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss (starring Sean Hayes in the role that got him W&G) Thomas Calabro walked by. He was short enough that I could clearly see the top of his head (an Im not that tall) and his very large bald spot.

They later showed Matt kissing and no one cared. Like, maybe two years later.

It wasn’t Jason Beghe that was in the scene that had the kiss that was cut it was Ty Miller.

Thomas Calabro has been open about wearing a hairpiece on the crown of his head, even during his MP days.

It wasn't Jason Beghe Matt was kissing, it was Billy's college buddy/best man at his "wedding," Rob.

I love his candor.

Sorry about that guys. I admit I haven't thought or watched MP since about then and got confused. Mea culpa.

In penance, here's a link.

The kiss wasn’t with Beghe, it was with another actor who played Billy’s best man at the wedding to Allison.

And, yeah, Calabro has a bald spot. When doing press for the Melrose reboot he admitted he’d been wearing a hair piece for years.

Bald spot or not, Calabro is hot as fuck. It's the swagger that he brought to Michael that made him so sexy. You know he was going to give Jane, Kimberley and Sydney a great fuck.

But Calabro is very attractive so it just adds to Michael's sex appeal.

The latter third season and fourth season borrow from Heathers (bomb in the basement; Kimberly calling into help line), as well as Twin Peaks (the unkempt male apparition haunting Kimberly ala Bob). The antics of Michael and Sydney hiring the actor to take advantage of Kimberly's vulnerable mental health haven't aged well IMO. Sydney was likeable because she is so daft and gets in her own way. By now, she has become a little malicious. It was an interesting choice to delve into Kimberly's schizophrenia afterwards, but it doesn't seem to work that well. I think Kimberly "peaked" when she blew up the apartment complex.

Season 4 feels mostly on autopilot, which makes me think it jumped the shark in Season 3 (the bomb cliffhanger?). Everyone has their own definition of jumping the shark and I'm sure most people would say fifth season or later, as that is when it starts to lose even more quality. But, a lot of material is getting recycled already in Season 4 (especially domestic abuse). Courtney Thorne-Smith playing blind and then pretending to be blind was funny, though. Heather Locklear's cancer storyline and then domestic abuse showed her limitations as an actor.

I'm a little obsessed with Michael's beach house (yeah, I know it's available on AirBnB). The simple layout with an incredible ocean view. All that open surrounding space that's now overtaken by giant homes. It must have been a lot of fun shooting there back in the day.

[quote]Heather Locklear's cancer storyline and then domestic abuse showed her limitations as an actor.

Don’t agree. I thought that was the best storyline for Amanda. Earned Heather Locklear an Emmy nomination too.

[quote] I'm a little obsessed with Michael's beach house (yeah, I know it's available on AirBnB).

It was torn down a while ago.

Thanks R257 . I guess they forgot to take it off VRBO.

You can tell the owner really maintained the Melrose Place vibe at R258. That was smart.

[quote]And just as they were going in for a big romantic kiss, they cut away.

To add insult to injury, the cutaway was to stupid Billy watching through a window with his mouth hanging open. Even more than usual.

I give MP credit, though. They were trying to give Matt a full life, but they had the network and the sponsors to answer to, and the early '90s were a weird transitional era. Matt's famous "goodbye hugs" with his romantic partners eventually led to his slo-mo-and-cutaway kiss, and as timid as it all looks now (and actually did then, to many of us), both were important steps toward something.

[quote] Earned Heather Locklear an Emmy nomination too.

She was never nominated for an Emmy. She was nominated and won a Golden Globe.

Yes, Golden Globe. Thank you, kween.

R172 Rae Dawn Chong should have been the in-house wedding planner and showed up for every nuptial on MP.

[quote] To add insult to injury, the cutaway was to stupid Billy watching through a window with his mouth hanging open. Even more than usual.

And what's even funnier is that Billy and Alison's kitchen window doesn't look out into the courtyard, their living room window does. I think he was washing dishes.

Billy’s mouth was always open in case Michael or Jake wanted to pop their cock in there

First scene of Melrose Place. They should have brought back Natalie at some point.

Lol Natalie! Allison’s flaky roommate. Yes, her return would have been such a fun callback.

I love how they had extras in the earlier episodes play other tenants.

They actually did consider having Natalie come back in the series finale. But enough time had passed that they thought people either wouldn’t remember Natalie or wouldn’t care.

The kiss episode is on now. It's a shame they didn't let that character move into the building. He and Matt could've adopted Nikki, the little Russian girl with the lisp.

Make room for daddy

Ugh, Matt and Katya was one of the most boring storylines they had.

They’re doing a gay foster dad storyline on Hollyoaks right now. It’s such a tired trope. I’ll take a gay slut phase storyline over that any day. Matt should have had one of those.

90210 and Melrose are very much products of the 1990s. They did not age well at all.

The best of 90210 was 1991-1994, start of Brenda/Dylan relationship to Brenda's exit.

The best of Melrose was 1993-1995, Heather Locklear joins the cast to the bombing.

Both shows were done for creatively by Spring 1997. Whatever was left of the original 90210 gang graduated college and really what post-college stories could be told for them that hadn't already been told on Melrose. Over on Melrose, a good portion of the first season cast had either already left or was about to leave so really no point continuing with a bunch of newcomers.

R266 I like how Jake opens the door, primped and ready to pose, mere seconds after Allison knocks. He must stand by the door all morning every morning waiting for someone to come calling and gawk at his pecs.

Kimberly and Sidney, definitely.

Jake was pretty but boring.

Andrew Shue had the personality of a Croc.

Courtney Thorne Smith had the personality of an unpedicured foot inside of a Croc.

Jane looked like a supermodel and had the charisma of lukewarm bathwater.

My faves were Sydney, Kimberly and Jo in that order.

Of course there was this iconic scene.

People forget (mostly under 40s) how edgy scenes like Matt's kiss were back in the day. Same goes for Ellen's coming out episode and the two gays in bed on Thirtysomething. It all seems pretty stupid and prudish now, but we could return to those days sooner than you'd think. No one thought Republicans would outlaw abortion and look what happened.

That is true r279. And for many of us, it really wasn't that long ago. I was a kid when the Thirtysomething scenes made headlines. And I remember watching the cutaway from Matt's kiss to Billy's dopey face.

Don't forget this scandalous, graphic sapphic scene that got networks to boycott this episode of Ally McBeal!

And Roseanne, R279.

I watched an episode of 30 Rock from 2008 or something and the word 'fag' was used for a laugh.

The problem with the kiss episode was that it was hyped beforehand and lots of us who werent big MP watchers were waiting for it. The bar I was at that night was vocally into it, cheering and gasping, and it turned to boos when we realized we had been hoodwinked.

[quote]The best of Melrose was 1993-1995, Heather Locklear joins the cast to the bombing.

100% R274

After that, they start to go through the motions . Fun at times, but already on the decline. I did like seeing Kimberly getting some of her agency back. And Josie Bissett relished Jane getting more to do. I think she may have delivered some of the best emotional acting out of the cast.

Always loved this sketch.

Rinna convincing Peter he had rage epilepsy by slamming a door into her own face was the only good MP storyline from the later years. And even that might have happened when the original cast was still partly there. I just remember the last two seasons as being dull and unwatchable.

I'm not sure I got to that part. I have been mostly fast-forwarding through Season 5. It is so bad. The only part I've liked is when Edith McClurg trips over the store display to commit insurance fraud.

The last three seasons were awful.

Someone upthread mentioned how Calabro was so fun reveling in Michael's villiany. This scene really illustrates it well.

And one reason the Rage epilepsy story worked (it was ridiculous story in concept) was that Michael was involved in the scheme and Calabro worked well with Rinna--he managed to make Rinna and Taylor seem fun rather than annoying.

"Mother, was Father's stroke caused because I used to be a prostitute, or not? You have to tell me the truth."

Megan

Michael. He had thick sausage fingers, which means thick sausage pinga.

I'm not a victim anymore. I'm not a victim anymore. I'm not a victim anymore. I'm not a victim anymore. I'M NOT A VICTIM ANYMORE.

So damn ruthless!

R294 That clip is a fantastic showcase of poor acting.

The guy who Allison offends is not too good, but I thought Courtney did a good job in the scene.

Her delivery of the last line to Amanda is great.

R296 They're all acting at daytime soap level. Locklear is the best and Thorne-Smith is the next best, but primetime family sitcom level acting at best. It makes sense that that's where she landed. I'm really surprised how poor the acting is. The offended client guy is b-a-d. He must have been a nepotism casting.

Cookie Client was a busy bit player in TV shows back then. On Friends, for example (the same TV season as this MP episode), he was Chandler's gay coworker, Lowell, whom women in the office tried to set Chandler up with. Chandler was bothered both that they thought he was gay and that they wouldn't try to fix him up with "Brian" if he were. ("I could get a Brian!")

Sydney was like the Joan Crawford shopgirl archetype who could never quite cultivate the sophistication to move up in life like Joan, but you rooted for her anyway.

Kristian Alfonso was bumpin it before bump its were invented.

Are we going to forget that Cookie Client (aka Stuart Fratkin) was the guy who bought the hockey stick from Dorothy on the Golden Girls?

OMG, no way!

R300 More Saved by the Bell-caliber acting!

Looking back at Melrose Place makes me a bit sympathetic to Elizabeth Berkley's acting in Showgirls. She grew up in the era of this kind of stilted arch-villain acting for TV. How could she have been any better than she was in that movie?

For me, Elizabeth Berkley is a lot of things in Showgirls, but stilted is not one of them.

I can understand if somebody doesn’t think her performance is perfectly modulated, but it’s certainly a lively one.

When the Andrew Carver character tells Nomi, “I like your ass, call me.” and a look comes over her face like “This person is an utter piece of shit.” I have to say, I was impressed.

Heather doesn’t have much technique here, but she throws herself into it, and that seems to make it work.

That was so good^.

Aside from the early Sammy Jo/Steven stock car racing storyline, which feels like something out of Dukes of Hazzard with less dick bulges, season 2 of Dynasty works like gangbusters.

Too bad D&D never flew Amanda out to Colorado for a long weekend at La Mirage, and a meeting with Denver-Carrington to be their new advertising rep.

Heather is on fucking fire here.

r309, that's great. I love the way Heather simpers, "Nobody gives me ANYTHING around here."

Also a personal nadir for Pamela Sue Martin's hair. Good Lord.

"I may only be a Carrington by marriage, but you're not even one by birth."

Erm. How does no one involved on a production catch idiotic lines like that?

What is the issue with the line?

R312 It doesn't make sense. It's set up as "I may be a lesser-version of X, but you're not even the lesser version." But in this case, the "even" suggests that the person saying the line is of that status. For the line to work, Locklear's character would have to be a 'Carrington by birth.' But she isn't; as she says, she is a Carrington by marriage. She should have said, "I may only be a Carrington by marriage, but you're not even that."

The line works because it demonstrates how far Fallon has fallen, right out of the family in fact.

Can someone start a Dynasty thread so we can get back to Melrose?

One of the few occasions when a male actor (who wasn't Thomas Calabro) got a great line was when Amanda and Jake were at each other's throats and she was trying to throw him out of the complex. He said, in a condescending voice, "Eviction is a legal proceeding, not some bimbo's whim. Now give me the damn key."

When I make my fortune and buy horses, one of them will be called "Bimbo's Whim." It will be a Triple Crown winner.

Loved Jake and Amanda! Also Jake and Sydney were great. Is Jake and Jo the popular Jake pairing?

Yes, Team Joke!

Yeah, I think Jo/Jake was the fan favorite pairing. They kept circling back to each other and always stayed close even when they weren't officially together, and the actors had good chemistry. Grant Show said at the time that he always tried to play it like Jo was the one,

It's symptomatic of how MP lost its way post Darren Star that those two never got a goodbye scene. But then, they botched Jo's exit by presenting "Will she or won't she follow Dominic to Bosnia?" like a cliffhanger in the S4 finale, and it was a no-suspense story. Everyone knew Zuniga wasn't returning the next season.

I did like him with Amanda and Syd too. But not Alison or Jane.

Jake/Allison was a symptom of how exhausted the show was. It felt like they were ticking boxes with the couplings by the time that happened. Wasn’t Billy all upset?

Jo and Alison were great friends, but towards the end of Jo’s run, they hardly spoke.

To be fair, Jo and Allison's friendship took a hit when Allison showed up drunk for the custody hearing for Jo's baby.

As for Jake, at least he left the show not with Allison, but with the mother of his kid, and that storyline popped up from season 1 onward so it made some sense, and Jake seemed relieved to get out of that crazy apartment complex.

R322, I was just thinking of that episode where Allison is instrumental in Jo's kid getting snatched. She's partying on the beach overnight with her way-cool druggie/drunk boyfriend. It's implied that she's done drugs. I always wondered if she was supposed to have been on ecstasy or acid because it wasn't just booze at play when she shows up to court slurring with wild eyes.

I haven't seen season 4 since it aired, but the last scene I remember with Alison and Jo even in the same place is halfway through the season, when Jo comes over to Michael's beach house, where Jane is recovering from her stroke (caused by drugged champagne). Alison is already there. Jane suspects Jo could be responsible for drugging her, but Alison says Jo would be no more likely to do that than Alison herself would, and Jane has to agree. But then she expresses that she thinks it was Richard (who also didn't do it; it would be a few months before the writers went full villain with him).

Cast integration, among other things, went downhill that season.

Excuse me?!

Who cares about Rhonda? Give me a break with this character.

Courtney Thorne Smith and Grant Show were together in real life when they played a couple on the show. When the relationship ended they both quit

Courtney did well for herself - MP, Ally McBeal and According to Jim, all successful series. It's pretty rare to have more than one successful TV series, but she had three in a row. Not to mention a stint on Two and a Half Men. Impressive.

CTS was a decent actress who could do drama and comedy both. She also had big tits and wasn’t particularly pretty—but attractive enough that men and women liked her. She’s got to be loaded.

Smith has developed that Hollywood trophy wife look.

Yikes, she looks terrible there!

R329 CTS had that girl next door look in the 80s when she did a lot of teen films and even played the Jennifer Jason Leigh role on the short loved Fast Times at Ridgmont High tv series

I remember her being everywhere from 1985-1990 on tv and in films like Lucas, her film debut (yes with Charlie Sheen and Corey Haim), yo LA Law to even playing Jamie Lee Curtis ' slutty little sister in an episode of Anything But Love

And let's not forget her turn as Sunny in Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise!

I had forgotten that Hilary from The Fresh Prince had a brief role as a junkie ex-con who was in love with Eve. WHET to Karyn Parsons?

This thread got me to watch melrose again from the start. In middle of season 1 (watched the Christmas episode last night) and it's fun watching the parts fall into place that made show so much fun in seasons 2 and 3.

Having the 90210 kids on the first couple of episodes helped get the show off to a very awkward start. Did not fit at all and hampered the Jake character.

Amy Locane is gorgeous, but she came off as wholesome and not some sex bomb. Her chemistry with Grant Show was that of friends who made mistake of sleeping with each other. Writers were trying to depict them as meant for each other but I just didn't feel it or see it. Daphne Zuniga's Jo replacing Sandy really gave the show and Jake character a needed boost. Zuniga and Show clicked together.

I'm surprised to see Kimberly appear so early in the series (episode 8 or 9, where Jane miscarries and then loses a puppy Sandy gave her). Marcia Cross and Thomas Calabro also had great chemistry from the start. No wonder they brought back Cross and broke up Michael and Jane.

Andrew Shue is no actor but in these early episodes when things aren't that soapy and melodramatic, he's a lively fresh cute presence. And good chemistry with Courtney Thorne Smith.

Alas, as the show slowly becomes more soapy and less earnest Rhonda doesn't fit it. But Vanessa Williams is stunning. But Terrance is boring. Producers/writers should have kept Rae Dawn Chong as Rhonda's OCD new roommate Carrie for a few more episodes. If Carrie had lasted into season 2 it would have been a hoot seeing her interact with Amanda and Sydney.

Doug Savant does a good job playing a gay guy. But Matt was and always will be on the fringe of the show. But glad he was there.

R334 Good fucking queef. You write like a 5 year old trying to formulate some "big people words". STFU.

A 2021 Guardian article about Amy Locane, mostly about her legal issues, but with a summary of her career. The Melrose part is interesting.

"Melrose Place co-star Doug Savant said: 'She was a sweet young girl, but she overestimated her position in the business.' When I speak to Locane today, she says looking back Savant’s assessment is fair and her reputation took a battering both because she was written out of the show and because of how she behaved on it. 'Unfortunately, I was a product of being a child actor. I had always been set aside from my peers. I had no social skills and didn’t behave appropriately on Melrose Place.' She says she did not mix with other actors because she was so shy, and appeared aloof and diva-ish. She calls it a 'debacle', and says things got much tougher for her when she was fired. 'I never did a TV show after that.'"

Someone blow up R335's shitty apartment building. What an unlikable cunt.

Yeah...R335 seems to embody the "hurt people (try to) hurt people" concept with that reply to my post.

Just watched the two episodes Sydney made her first appearance. Producers must have known they had a find in Laura Leighton as Sydney. No wonder they brought her back in Season 2.

Linden Ashby was much better in his Season 1 appearances as Jo's abusive husband Charles. That's the character he should have played when he became part of the Season 6 regular cast even if Jo was long gone.

R338 is a fucking retard and writes like one.

Maybe red tag?^

This was an enjoyable thread until the last couple of assholes showed up.

Kristian Alfonso was great as Lauren. And I loved Gina Gershon's brief stint as Sydney's co-worker who gets her into hooking. When Michael gets in the car accident and Sydney tells her she can't go on a double date and Gina replies "You brother-in-law? Well can't someone else take care of it?" Already prepping for Cristal Conners.

Thanks for that, r336. I knew there was more to Locane's departure than her simply not fitting in.

Uncalled for r335. I enjoyed r334's post. Very much in the spirit of the thread - unlike yours.

R335 is probably Alison drinking.

Or Brooke.

Pluto dropped MP from airing every morning and I'm a little bummed. It was more comforting than watching the news.