MELROSE PLACE

'''Melrose Place''' is an American primetime soap opera 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

Show history and description

Models, Inc.

Cast

Episodes

Legacy

GALA Committee

Trivia

International

External links

Show history and description

A spinoff from ''Beverly Hills 90210'' (though not featuring any permanent cast members crossing over), Melrose Place is a 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 Taylor (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.
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 starlet Sandy Harling (Amy Locane). Sandy was written out after 13 episodes. Rhonda was removed after the first season. Early in the show's run, photographer Jo Reynolds (Daphne Zuniga) arrived from New York to escape her alcoholic husband. Initially tough, Jo would eventually soften some and enjoy an on-again, off-again romance with Jake. Producers were faced with mediocre ratings and attempted to revamp the series during the first season. This was achieved mainly through the first-season arrival of former ''Dynasty'' vixen Heather Locklear as the scheming and assertive Amanda Woodward. Initially intended as a high-profile guest, Amanda was retained on the series on a permanent basis, but Locklear kept her "Special Guest Star" billing throughout the show's run. Amanda soon 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. During the first season, the show became less of an episodic series, and more of a soap opera with ongoing, interwoven stories. Michael Mancini started cheating on Jane with the unstable Dr. Kimberly Shaw (Marcia Cross). Towards the end of season one, Jane saw Michael's true colours and decided to divorce him. Amanda suffered a tubal pregnancy for Billy and Alison's ex-boyfriend Keith became dangerous.
Michael later divorced Jane and got engaged to Kimberly, and then had a fling with Jane's irresponsible sister Sydney (Laura Leighton). This established Michael as the beleaguered cad and schemer he would remain until the end of the show. Like Michael, Sydney was presented as somewhat a chaotic schemer, often outwitted and double-crossed by others she was attempting to trick. Her various blunders forced her into various ill-advised career moves including briefly working as a stripper and as a prostitute. The storylines began to heat up when a drunken Michael crashed his car, sending him and Kimberly tumbling down a ravine. Kimberly's angry, grieving mother sent word that her critically injured daughter had died in a medical facility in Ohio. Michael eluded potential manslaughter charges after Matt faked Michael's blood alcohol test results from the crash, and Sydney used this information to blackmail Michael into marrying her. Her plan was foiled when Kimberly re-appeared, alive and well, revealing that her mother had lied to keep Michael away. Kimberly returned as a more ruthless, dangerous unstable individual, with her sanity negatively affected by brain surgery. Alison's relationship with Billy remained a rollercoaster ride after she was ultimately the sole reason why Keith commited suicide. Jo continued her career as a photographer and dived into a romance with Reed Carter, who was at the time fixing up his boat while harbouring drugs. Jo eventually found the hidden drugs, and saw Reed's darkside when he took her hostage and sailed away into the ocean. Jo soon escaped and, in an act of self-defence, shot Reed. The murder continued to haunt Jo, and she soon found out that she was pregnant with Reed's child. Amanda and Jake had an on-off relationship with each other at the time, he was also busy opening up a bike shop, which subsequently burnt down. Jake offered to be the father of Jo's baby, but she declined. Billy and Allison decided to get married, and after many visits to her parents home, Allison discovered she was a victim of sexual abuse as a child, but this did not dawn on her till her wedding day. While Jane was busy running a fashion designing industry, Kimberly planned to kill Michael, but failed with each attempt. In the season cliffhanger, an unidentified assailant runs down Michael in their car, and Jane is arrested for attempted murder.
By far one of the most popular seasons adored by fans, the third season saw Michael's attempted murder pin the blame on an innocent Jane and Sydney, and Michael suffered amnesia for the course of a handful of episodes, it was during this spout of memory loss that Kimberely told him everything, and removed her wig to present a gruesome scar. Allison had fled her wedding to Billy and resided with her sister, Meredith, briefly. Jo's pregnancy took a turn for the worse when Reed's parents, the Carters, fought Jo for legal custody of her unborn child. It was during Jo's custody nightmare that Jane tracked Sydney and Chris down to Las Vegas alongside Kimberly and Michael, Kimberly and Michael had a shotgun wedding after reconciling previously, and Kimberly soon discovered that she was unable to have children because of the car accident, sparking her hatred for Michael once more. Jo was tied up in legal fees and Kimberly agreed to help her with a chaotic scheme, pretending the child would be stillborn. The Carters custody settlement would be even more complicated by Kimberly's gambit to steal the baby away from Jo. After faking the infant's death, Kimberly stole Jo's child and Michael assisted Jo in getting Austin back. Kimberly then assisted the Carters in recovering the infant. After a near-fatal shoot-out with Reed's parents, Jo begrudgingly gave her child up for adoption in order to protect it from the chaotic power play between her and the Carters.. Billy, fed-up after Allison's personality change, became attracted to a new associate at D&D named Brooke Kristin Davis. Meanwhile, Allison was battling alcoholism and met a new love-interest at AA. Producers decided to add Jack Wagner to the cast as the charasmatic and corrupt Dr. Peter Burns, who began a fling with Amanda and also tried to kill her on the operating table. Sydney became involved with a cult alongside Traci Lords' character Rikki. Jake and Jane rescued Syndey from the cult and later sparked a brief romance. Throughout season three, Kimberly's sanity began to slip, and she spiralled into a more serious psychotic break with each episode. Kimberly later made a collage of the Melrose residents with their eyes gouged out, which Sydney stumbled upon. Jo entered a relationship with Jake's brother, who later beat her. Towards the end of season three, Brooke tried to distance Allison from her and Billy, and later married Billy in a ceremony that Allison almost stopped. After her failed attempt to win back Billy, Allison fell off the wagon. Kimberly took Sydney hostage and planned to blow up the complex, which she succeeded in doing in one of the most famous scenes of Melrose Place, however, due to a bombing event taking place in that same year (May 1995) the actuall bombing did not take place till the beginning of season four.
Jake had numerous relationships with Melrose Place residents, including most of the female regulars (Sandy, Jo, Amanda, Sydney, Jane, Alison). He bought a bike shop, which burned down, and later bought Shooters, the Melrose gang's primary hangout spot for the first five seasons. 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.
Alison and Billy were roommates before they were lovers, but they broke up, reconciled and planned a wedding set in the building's courtyard. But Alison fled their wedding after flashing back to childhood sexual abuse. Alison subsequently struggled with alcoholism and Billy, fed up, married rich brat Brooke (Kristin Davis), and the three wound up working at D&D together. Alison eventually married Brooke's father Hayley (Perry King), and Brooke and Hayley interfered with each other's marriages. Hayley eventually discovered he was financially ruined and, during a trip with Alison, he drowned after falling from his yacht. Billy broke up with Brooke, leading to her suicide attempt, followed by her accidental drowning in the building's swimming pool.
In 1995, Jack Wagner, known for his role as Frisco Jones on ''General Hospital'', arrived as the charismatic and 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 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, Amanda had hooked up with every male character (except the gay Matt Fielding) from the first five seasons. 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 to all for several seasons. 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; struggling to contain multiple personalities; learning combat skills at an intense survivalist camp; constructing a photo collage of Melrose Place residents with their eyes gouged out; and detonating four bombs in the apartment complex in the third-season cliffhanger.
The third season cliffhanger does not end with the explosion, however; the ending was quickly altered due to the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building a month prior (April 1995). After Kimberly plants the bombs, the residents of Melrose Place rush out to the courtyard, and the episode ends with Kimberly pushing the detonator button as she warns the residents that, "this isn't what it looks like...it's worse". The four explosions destroy half the apartment complex, killing one person and maiming another in an incendiary fourth-season opener.
By the fifth 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 a season finale where Jo vacillated over leaving L.A. to join her new lover in Bosnia, the new season quickly explained that the now-absent Jo had indeed left town. Alison started a relationship with Jake, while Billy begins to pursue newcomer Samantha (Brooke Langton). A slate of other characters was introduced, such as hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold Megan (Kelly Rutherford), restauranteur Kyle (Rob Estes), his vengeful, lush-lipped wife (and Peter's sister-in-law), Taylor (Lisa Rinna), and Michael's bratty sister Jennifer (Alyssa Milano). After a brief tryst with Sydney, 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 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 a brain aneurysm. And at the end of the season, Samantha's jailbird father accidentally killed Sydney by running her down in a car at her wedding to Craig (David Charvet).
By the time Matt left Melrose Place at the beginning of the sixth season, he remarked that he wanted to say goodbye but "there's no one left." Indeed, more characters had to be introduced to revive the series, including violent Dr. Brett Cooper (Linden Ashby) and his seductive ex-wife, Lexi Sterling (Jamie Luner). The focal point of the season was the troubled relationship between Kyle and Amanda, who returned to her nasty ways after creating her own advertising agency. By the end of the season (the show's shortest), Craig had committed suicide and the characters of Billy, Sam, Taylor, Jennifer, and Coop departed Melrose Place.
As the seventh and final season began, residents learn that Matt, who had moved away a year earlier, was killed in a car accident on the way to a reunion dinner at Kyle's supper club. The reisdents also learned that Matt had kept a journal of all their secrets and each of them schemed to get their hands on it. This was the driving force behind the stories for this season. The most notable story was that of the relationship between (Amanda Woodward) and (Eve Cleary Burns). Bissett returned to the series in 1998 in a move to halt the series' downward spiral, and storylines centered on her early relationship with Michael. New characters were hurriedly drafted into the series: Ryan McBride (John Haymes Newton) and Eve Cleary (Rena Sofer), had difficulty gaining a following during this period of cast instability. Overall, the series seemed unable to handle the high number of cast changes in such a short time, and its popularity never recovered.
Amanda remained a leading character through the end of the series. Lexi Sterling (Jamie Luner) underwent a benevolent transformation from the rich, Daddy's girl to a scheming but popular super-bitch who succeeded in purchasing the Melrose Place building and starting a new agency, Sterling-Conway, which drives Amanda out of business. Meanwhile, the show paired the long-suffering Jane with Kyle (the actors were real-life spouses) and returned to the coupling of Amanda and Peter. 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.

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.

Cast

★ Thomas Calabro as Dr. Michael Mancini (1992-1999)

★ Josie Bissett as Jane Andrews Mancini (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)

★ Daphne Zuniga as Jo Reynolds (1992–1996)

★ Vanessa Williams as Rhonda Blair (1992–1993)

★ Amy Locane as Sandy Harling (1992)

★ Marcia Cross as Dr. Kimberly Shaw (1992-1993, 1994-1997)

★ Laura Leighton as Sydney Andrews (1993–1997)

★ Heather Locklear as Amanda Woodward (1993–1999)

★ Jack Wagner as Dr. Peter Burns (1994–1999)

★ Kristin Davis as Brooke Armstrong Campbell (1995–1996)

★ Patrick Muldoon as Richard Hart (Special Guest Star 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)

★ Alyssa Milano as Jennifer Mancini (1997–1998)

★ Linden Ashby as Dr. Brett "Coop" Cooper (1997–1998)

★ Jamie Luner as Lexi Sterling (1997–1999)

★ John Haymes Newton as Ryan McBride (1998–1999)

★ Rena Sofer as Eve Cleary (Recurring Guest Star 1998–1999)

Episodes

Season 1 (1992 - 1993)

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 and Kristin Davis in particular being the most notable actors to go on to greater fame as a result of their time on ''Melrose Place'', with starring roles on Desperate Housewives and Sex and the City respectively), the show helped revive the careers of Doug Savant, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Heather Locklear and Alyssa Milano, with Milano herself reinventing herself from tomboyish child star to adult sex symbol. Savant also now appears as a regular on Desperate Housewives.
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.

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 protesters of June 4, 1989.

★ Bottles behind the counter at Shooters bar are decorated with ads and documents chronicling the history of alcohol.

★ As Alison quits D&D Advertising, a framed ad in the background features a bombed-out building. The damage to the structure is in the shape of a liquor bottle, and the words "Total Proof" appear on the poster.
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."

Trivia

★ A street named ''Melrose Place'' actually exists, and 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.

★ Show creator Darren Star is famously a believer in UFO's, and scripts frequently mention aliens and UFO's. For instance, Matt Fielding's father is named "Budd Hopkins Fielding" after famed Ufologist Budd Hopkins. In Season 2, characters frequently eat at Bloecher's Ristorante, named after Ted Bloecher.

★ Years later, Doug Savant and Marcia Cross would be costars on the now popular ''Desperate Housewives''

★ In an episode of Seinfeld, Jerry is forced to admit with embarrassment that he watches ''Melrose Place'', after he fails a polygraph test in an attempt to prove otherwise.

International

★ In Australia, the show was shown on Network Ten. It currently airs on Arena.

★ In Belgium, the show was shown on VTM, on RTL/TVi, and La Deux.

★ In Brazil, the show can be seen on Sony Entertainment Television.

★ In Canada, the show was originally aired on CTV in English and TVA in French.

★ In Croatia, the show was shown on HRT-Croatian National Television.

★ In the Czech Republic, the show was shown on TV Nova.

★ In the Dominican Republic, the show was shown on Tele Antillas.

★ 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 the United Kingdom, the show was shown on Sky One, Five, Ftn and is currently on Living.

★ In Indonesia, the show was shown on SCTV.

★ In Ireland, the show was shown RTE and Sky One, and currently shows re-runs on Living Tv on the weekends.

★ In Italy, the show was shown on Italia 1 from 1993 to 2000.

★ In Lithuania, the show was shown on TV3 Lithuania.

★ In Estonia, the show was shown on TV3.

★ In Hungary, the show was shown on HBO. It currently airs on TV2.

★ In Ireland, the show was shown on RTÉ.

★ In Israel the show was shown on channel 3 by the cable TV during the 90's. Daily rerun of the show has started in April 2007 on "Hot3"/"YesStars3" channel.

★ In Japan, the show can be seen in English on Movie Plus.

★ 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 Macedonia, the show was shown on Sitel

★ In New Zealand, the show was seen on both TV2 and later, TV3 and can now be seen on Prime.

★ In South Africa, the show was seen on SABC 3.

★ In Spain, the show was seen on Telecinco, Canal COSMO and later on Cuatro.

★ 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 TVN Siedem (TVN7)

★ In Russian Federation, the show was seen on STS (Russian television network) (Cyrillic: СТС) - Russian TV channel

★ In Iceland, the show can be seen on SkjárEinn

★ In Norway, the show was shown on TV3. It currently airs on TV2 Zebra on weekdays and TV2 on Sundays.

★ In the Philippines, the show was shown on ABS-CBN and on The i-Channel.

★ In Serbia, during the 1990s the show originally aired weekly on state television RTS for a period of time, as well as sporadically on private channel RTV Palma. However, the TV Palma airing was highly controversial as it was conducted without an official licence. The show was presented in its entirety for the first time in 2004 and 2005 when it aired daily in an afternoon slot on RTV Pink.

★ In Greece the first 6 seasons were shown on ANT1. For some reason, ANT1 never aired Season 5's finale. A few years later, all 7 seasons were shown on Star Channel.
Paramount Home Entertainment released ''Melrose Place: The Complete First Season'' on Region 1 DVD on November 7 2006. A double-set with the first season of Beverly Hills 90210 was also released.
The second season was released on DVD in May 2007 on Regions 1, 2 and 4.
''Melrose Place: The Third Season'' is scheduled for a November 13, 2007 release in Region 1.

DVD cover	DVD Name	Ep #	Region 1	Region 2 (UK Edition)	Region 4	Additional features
	The Complete First Season	32	November 7 2006	November 13 2006	November 2 2006	Season 1 episode recaps, Mini Featurettes.
	The Complete Second Season	31	May 1 2007	May 28 2007	May 3 2007	Audio Commentary by Series Creator Darren Star, 'Melrose Place:' ''Meet The Neighbours'', 'Melrose Place:' ''Complex Relationships'', 'Melrose Place:' ''The Best of the Worst''
- -	The Complete Third Season	31	November 13 2007	- -	- -	- -
	The Complete Fourth Season	32
	The Complete Fifth Season	34
	The Complete Sixth Season	34
	The Complete Seventh Season	35

External links

★

★ SOAPnet MP Page

★ "In the Name of the Place"

★ "Melrose Place: Spanish Blog"