Melrose Place
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Melrose Place | |
|---|---|
| Image:Melrose place opening title.jpg </small> | |
| Genre | Soap opera |
| Running time | 44 Minutes |
| Creator(s) | Darren Star |
| Starring | in alphabetical order Linden Ashby (1997-1998) Josie Bissett (1992-1997, 1998-1999) Thomas Calabro David Charvet (1997-1998, recurring otherwise) Marcia Cross (1995-1997, recurring otherwise) Kristin Davis (1995-1996, recurring otherwise) Rob Estes (1996-1999) Brooke Langton (1996-1998) Laura Leighton (1994-1997, recurring otherwise) Amy Locane (1992) Jamie Luner (1997-1999) Alyssa Milano (1997-1998, recurring otherwise) John Haymes Newton (1998-1999) Lisa Rinna (1996-1998) Kelly Rutherford (1997-1999, recurring otherwise) Doug Savant (1992-1997) Grant Show (1992-1997) Andrew Shue (1992-1998) Courtney Thorne-Smith (1992-1997) Jack Wagner (1995-1999, recurring otherwise) Vanessa Williams (1992-1993) Daphne Zuniga (1992-1996) special guest star Heather Locklear as Amanda (1993-1999, recurring otherwise) |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Original channel | FOX |
| Original run | July 8, 1992–May 24, 1999 |
| No. of episodes | 227 |
| IMDb profile | |
Melrose Place is an American television series that ran between 1992 and 1999, created by Darren Star for the FOX network. In late 2004 the network SOAPnet began repeating the show.
Contents |
[edit] Show history and description
A spinoff from Beverly Hills 90210 (though not featuring any permanent cast members crossing over), Melrose Place is small apartment block in the West Hollywood district of Los Angeles where several young singles and the occasional couple reside. In the story, 90210 teenager Kelly (Jennie Garth) pursues one resident, the hunky, brooding carpenter Jake Hanson (Grant Show), but she returns to her zip code when she realizes they are from different worlds.
The street named Melrose Place actually exists, which is a branch of the longer Melrose Avenue that runs through the West Hollywood, Hollywood and the Silver Lake areas of Los Angeles. However, the street itself does not feature any apartment buildings or residences, but rather a restaurant, newsstand, and a number of upscale boutiques and salons, such as Marc Jacobs.
During the first season, the show was a relatively earnest serial drama focused on how young people come to Los Angeles to realize their dreams. Michael (Thomas Calabro) and Jane Mancini (Josie Bissett) were originally the stable couple in the apartment building, with Michael a sympathetic doctor and Jane a budding fashion designer. Their neighbors were flatmates Alison (Courtney Thorne-Smith) and Billy (Andrew Shue), who later began a love affair, and Matt Fielding (Doug Savant), a gay man who had no love life whatsoever during the first season.
Other original cast members were Rhonda (Vanessa A. Williams), an African-American aerobics instructor, and blonde, budding starlett Sandy Harling (Amy Locane). Sandy was written out after a few episodes, and Rhonda was removed after the first season. Early in the show's run, tough photographer Jo Reynolds (Daphne Zuniga) arrived from New York. Initially tough, Jo would quickly soften and enjoy an on-again, off-again romance with Jake.
The ratings were poor, and producers attempted to revamp the series. The real turning point in the show was the late first season arrival of former Dynasty vixen Heather Locklear as the scheming and assertive Amanda Woodward. The show took a soapish turn as Amanda bought the apartment building, became a vice-president for the company where she and fellow resident Alison worked, and had affairs with many of the male characters, starting with Billy.
Matt would have the fewest love affairs of any character in the series. In contrast with the numerous and steamy love scenes of all the other characters, Matt's sole kissing scene with a man was censored by FOX. Michael Mancini started cheating on Jane with the unstable Dr. Kimberly Shaw (Marcia Cross). He later divorced Jane, married Kimberly, then slept around with Jane's sarcastic, trashy stripper sister Sydney (Laura Leighton). This established Michael as the goofy, wisecracking slut and con artist he would remain until the end of the show. Ultimately, Michael was the only original character to appear through the show's entire run; Jane took a brief hiatus but returned for the final season. Meanwhile Jo would give birth to a son after killing the baby's father, Reed, in self-defense.
Alison and Billy broke up and then reconciled, but Alison fled their wedding after flashing back to childhood sexual abuse. Alison struggled with alcoholism and Billy, fed up, married rich brat Brooke (Kristin Davis) while Alison married Brooke's father (Perry King), Hayley. Both Brooke and Hayley tried to control Alison and Billy's lives until the father and daughter drowned in separate incidents. While Alison took up with Jake, Billy turned to the dark side before marrying simpering Samantha (Brooke Langton).
In 1995, Jack Wagner, known for his role as Frisco Jones on General Hospital, delighted viewers with his portrayal of the charismatic but very corrupt Dr. Peter Burns. Peter tormented Amanda, nearly killing her on the operating table before he was arrested, but for all his crimes Peter was also the first man to be the equal of ice queen Amanda. Sensing the chemistry, producers quickly made Wagner a contract player, and Amanda-Peter would remain a popular on-again off-again couple for the remainder of the series.
These storylines along with Amanda's catty one-liners, sexy-but-tough wardrobe and man-stealing helped make Melrose a guilty pleasure for many millions of viewers around the world. Within a few seasons Locklear had slept with or made out with every male character except the gay Matt Fielding. Many highly dramatic cliffhanger situations were also included in the series. The show's popularity led to a rash of similar nighttime serials about sexy, powerful women, such as Models, Inc., Savannah, Pacific Palisades, Central Park West and Sex and the City.
Kimberly endured as the love/hate of Michael's life and a formidable villain for several seaons. Her antics provided many jolts to the audience, such as her pulling off her wig to study her shaved, scarred head in the bathroom mirror; having her wig torn off in view of hospital staff by Matt Fielding; struggling to contain multiple personalities; learning fighting techniques at a survivalist camp; constructing a photo collage of Melrose Place residents with their eyes gouged out; and blowing up the apartment complex in an incendiary third-season cliffhanger.
By the 1996–1997 season, the series seemed to have peaked, with Amanda softening and Kimberly's long-running reign of terror finally running out of steam, and there was a growing consensus that the show could no longer shock or entertain viewers as it once had. Producers promised the fifth season would include more character development and less convoluted plot twists. After an end-of-season cliffhanger ending where Jo vacillated over leaving L.A. to join her new lover in Kosovo, the new season quickly explained that the now-absent Jo had indeed left town. A slate of new characters was introduced, such as hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold Megan (Kelly Rutherford), restaurateur Kyle (Rob Estes), his vengeful lush-lipped wife Taylor (Lisa Rinna), and Michael's bratty sister Jennifer (Alyssa Milano). Kyle soon took up with Amanda and, as ratings began to falter, Amanda morphed from vixen to victim, being rescued or assaulted or teary-eyed on a frequent basis.
This season also saw many enduring characters leave the series. Alison fooled Jake into thinking she had fallen off the wagon so that he would go reunite with the mother of his long-lost child, and the two left town separately. After dominating storylines for several seasons Kimberly quietly died of cancer. At the end of the season Samantha's jailbird father accidentally killed Sydney by running her down in a car right after her wedding to Craig (David Charvet). As the following season began, Matt left town to take a new job in San Francisco. Billy, Sam, Taylor, Jennifer and Coop all left town and Craig committed suicide in 1998.
The losses of Daphne Zuniga (Jo), Marcia Cross (Kimberly), Grant Show (Jake), Laura Leighton (Sydney), Doug Savant (Matt), Courtney Thorne-Smith (Alison), and Josie Bissett (Jane) all within one season stunned the show's devoted cult of fans and lead to the program's downward spiral (Bissett would later return to the series in 1998). The new characters hurriedly drafted into the series had difficulty gaining a following during this period of cast instability. Overall, the series seemed unable to withstand the high number of cast changes in such a short time and its popularity never recovered.
The final seasons featured high turnover of various new characters. Amanda remained a leading character through all this with the last year returning her to her bitchy roots. Lexi Sterling (Jamie Luner) transformed from a misguided rich girl to a seductive super-bitch. This transformation was probably for the better seeing that Lexi's character became intensely popular. Meanwhile the show paired the long-suffering Jane with Kyle (the actors were real-life spouses). By early 1999 FOX decided that the ratings erosion as well as the extremely high production costs—it was said that they could have filmed an entire pilot just on Heather Locklear's salary—warranted cancellation.
[edit] Models, Inc.
In early 1994, former Dallas star Linda Gray guest-starred as Amanda's frosty mother, Hillary Michaels. Hillary ran a modeling agency, and viewers were invited to follow Hillary to her own series, Models, Inc.. In spite of the presence of Gray and other names such as Emma Samms, poor ratings caused FOX to pull the plug in spring 1995.
[edit] Cast
- Thomas Calabro as Michael Mancini
- Josie Bissett as Jane Andrews (1992–1997, 1998–1999)
- Andrew Shue as Billy Campbell (1992–1998)
- Courtney Thorne-Smith as Alison Parker (1992–1997)
- Grant Show as Jake Hanson (1992–1997)
- Doug Savant as Matt Fielding (1992–1997)
- Vanessa Williams as Rhonda Blair (1992–1993)
- Amy Locane as Sandy Harling (1992)
- Daphne Zuniga as Jo Reynolds (1992–1996)
- Marcia Cross as Kimberly Shaw (1992-1993, 1994-1997)
- Laura Leighton as Sydney Andrews (1993–1997)
- Heather Locklear as Amanda Woodward (1993–1999)
- Jack Wagner as Peter Burns (1994–1999)
- Kristin Davis as Brooke Armstrong (1995–1996)
- Patrick Muldoon as Richard Hart (1995–1996)
- Brooke Langton as Samantha Reilly (1996–1998)
- Rob Estes as Kyle McBride (1996–1999)
- Lisa Rinna as Taylor McBride (1996–1998)
- Kelly Rutherford as Megan Lewis (1996–1999)
- David Charvet as Craig Field (1996–1998)
- Jamie Luner as Lexi Sterling (1997–1999)
- Alyssa Milano as Jennifer Mancini (1997–1998)
- Linden Ashby as Brett "Coop" Cooper (1997–1998)
- John Haymes Newton as Ryan McBride (1998–1999)
- Rena Sofer as Eve Cleary (1998–1999)
[edit] Legacy
Melrose Place's blend of melodrama, black humor, unapologetic sexuality, and shocking moments have helped the show remain relevant in the years since the show went off the air. Besides launching numerous careers (Marcia Cross, Kristin Davis and Courtney Thorne-Smith being the most notable actors to go on to greater fame as a result of their time on Melrose Place), the show helped revive the careers of Heather Locklear and Alyssa Milano, with Milano herself reinventing herself from tomboyish child star to adult sex symbol.
The formula of sex and over-the-top storylines led to an ironic twist as the success of Melrose Place led to Aaron Spelling revamping 90210 as an over-the-top soap opera-style show when Melrose Place overshadowed 90210 in popularity in mid-1990s. The show also has become the standard bearer for shocking storyline twists in the prime time drama genre, with classic "shock" moments such as the villain Kimberly Shaw revealing that she wore a wig and had scars on her head from where she had brain surgery performed on her, raised the bar in terms of shocking plot twists in the prime-time soap genre.
[edit] GALA Committee
A group of artists and Melrose Place producers formed the GALA Committee, headed by artist Mel Chin, in order to bring artworks out of galleries and into nighttime television. GALA artists designed artworks that were used as props by Melrose Place characters in the fourth and fifth seasons, often with hidden political messages:
- When Alison is pregnant, her quilt is decorated with the molecular structure of RU-486.
- A bag of Chinese take-out food is emblazoned with two opposing ideograms translated from Chinese as "Human Rights" and "Turmoil"; both terms were used by the Chinese government to justify a restriction on student protestors of June 4, 1989.
- Bottles behind the counter at Shooters bar are decorated with ads and documents chronicling the history of alcohol.
- Womanizing Dr. Peter Burns uses bedsheets decorated with stripes that, upon closer inspection, are clearly unrolled condoms.
Repercussions hit in a fourth-season scene when Alison quits D&D Advertising, and behind her is a framed ad showing the Oklahoma City federal building, bombed out in the shape of a bottle, and the words "Total Proof."
Chin compared the works to viruses, symbiotic and invisible. Almost fifty of these artworks were auctioned off for charity; the actual charity show appears in a fifth-season art gallery scene. The project was also dubbed "In the Name of the Place", as well as "Uncommon Sense."
[edit] International
- In Australia, the show was shown on Network Ten.
- In Belgium, the show was shown on VTM.
- In Brazil, the show can be seen on Sony Entertainment Television.
- In the Czech Republic, the show was shown on TV Nova.
- In the Dominican Republic, the show was shown on Teleantillas.
- In Slovakia, the show was shown on Markiza.
- In France, the show was shown on TF1.
- In Finland, the show can be seen on MTV3 and SubTV.
- In Germany, the show was shown on RTL.
- In The Netherlands, the show was shown on Veronica, currently called RTL 7
- In United Kingdom, the show was shown on Sky One, five, LivingTV and ftn.
- In Italy, the show was shown on Italia 1.
- In Estonia, the show was shown on TV3 Estonia.
- In Hungary, the show was shown on HBO.
- In Ireland, the show was shown on RTÉ.
- In Denmark, the show can be seen on TV 2.
- In Latin America, the show can be seen on Sony Entertainment Television.
- In Chile, the show can be seen on Mega
- In New Zealand, the show was seen on both TV2 and later, TV3 and can now be seen on Prime.
- In Sweden, the show was originally shown on TV3, later on TV4 and can currently be seen on TV400.
- In Poland, the show was seen on both TVN and TVN7
- In Iceland, the show can be seen on SkjárEinn
- In Norway, the show can be seen on TV2 Zebra.
- In The Philippines, the show was shown on ABS-CBN.
- In Serbia, the show was originally aired on RTS and (through pirate copies) on RTV Palma during the '90s. However, the first time it was aired in its entirety was in 2004 and 2005 on RTV Pink.
[edit] DVD releases
Paramount Home Entertainment released Melrose Place Season 1' on Region 1 DVD on November 7 2006. A double-set with the first season of Beverly Hills 90210 was also released.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | Addditional features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Complete First Season | 32 | November 7 2006 | November 13 2006 | November 2 2006 | Season 1 episode recaps, Mini Featurettes. |
- Music has been changed for the home entertainment version.
[edit] External links
- Melrose Place - Swedish fansite
- SOAPnet MP Page
- Melrose Place at the Internet Movie Database
- "In the Name of the Place"
- (French) Melrose Place Newsde:Melrose Place
es:Melrose Place fr:Melrose Place he:מלרוז פלייס ja:メルローズ・プレイス nl:Melrose Place pl:Melrose Place pt:Melrose Place ru:Мэлроуз Плейс (телесериал) fi:Melrose Place
[edit] See Also
Melrose Place, a 0.8km long cul-de-sac located in the RM of Springfield, Manitoba, Canada 2km south of Highway 44.
