'' is a
TV Series that ran between
1992 and
1999 , created by
Darren Star . In the United States, ''Melrose Place'' appeared on the
Fox Network , and ran around the world. In late
2004 the network
SOAPnet began repeating the show.
A
Spinoff from ''
Beverly Hills 90210 '' (though not featuring any permanent cast members crossing over), Melrose Place is an apartment block in the
West Hollywood district of
Los Angeles with young adults living in it. In the story, ''90210'' teenager Kelly (
Jennie Garth ) pursues hunky, brooding carpenter (
Grant Show ), but returns to her zip code when she realized they were 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. 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 conniving . The show took a
Soapish turn as Amanda bought the apartment building, took over the company where she and ''Melrose Place'' resident Alison worked, and had affairs with many of the men residents. 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''' (
Doug Savant ). 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 ''
Model's Inc '', ''
Savannah '', ''
Pacific Palisades '', Sex and the City and ''
Central Park West ''.
, played by
Thomas Calabro , was the only original character that appeared during every season. '''Jane Andrews Mancini''', played by
Josie Bissett , took a brief hiatus but returned for the final season. Michael and Jane were originally supposed to be the stable couple, with Michael a good guy, but in no time at all Michael was cheating on Jane with unstable '''Dr. Kimberly Shaw''' (
Marcia Cross ), divorced Jane, married Kimberly, then slept around with Jane's sarcastic, trashy prostitute/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. Kimberly was the love/hate of Michael's life until her death in
1997 and quite an awe-inspiring character in her own right, providing many jolts to the audience, such as Kimberly 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; and blowing up the apartment complex in an incendiary fourth-season opener.
Michael's only real friend was fellow apartment resident Matt Fielding. Matt was gay, and fit the widely seen long-suffering homosexual characterization of much of TV, frequently being harassed, fired, or beaten up for his homosexuality. Matt had very few relationships and those relationships always ended with Matt being dumped, being abused, or in one case, being framed for the murder of his lover's wife. Matt had none of the red-hot sex scenes which helped make ''Melrose'' famous; when he and then-boyfriend Dan (guest star
Greg Evigan ) shared a brief kiss, FOX forced producers to edit the scene out. Savant felt that his character was in love with Michael Mancini, but producers turned the story down. Savant exited the canvas in 1997; Matt was killed off-screen in a car crash a year later.
Other original cast members were the African-American (
Vanessa A. Williams ) and '''Sandy Harling''' (Amy Locane), who were both written out after the first season; chronically depressed photographer '''Jo''' (
Daphne Zuniga ), who pined for Jake and searched for the son she gave up at birth; and star-crossed, pure-hearted lovers '''Alison''' (
Courtney Thorne-Smith ) and '''Billy''' (
Andrew Shue ). Amanda's first major sin upon arriving in Melrose was to seduce Billy, who was generally dim-witted and thought with the wrong head. Alison and Billy reconciled, but Alison fled their wedding after flashing back to
Childhood Sexual Abuse .
Billy later married rich brat (
Kristin Davis ) while Alison married Brooke's father (
Perry King ), both of whom tried to control Alison and Billy's lives. Brooke and her father drowned in separate incidents and Alison became an
Alcoholic , then took up with Jake, while 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 . 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 (her previous lovers had been chosen more for their jeans than their genes). 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.
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 LA 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 (
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. Allison 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 Samantha's jailbird father accidentally killed Sydney running her down in a car right after her wedding, (
David Charvet ), Billy and Sam left town in
1998 . After dominating storylines for several seasons Kimberly quietly died of
Cancer . The 1997 loss of Marcia Cross (Kimberly), Grant Show (Jake), Laura Leighton (Sydney), Doug Savant (Matt), Courtney Thorne-Smith (Alison) and Josie Bissett (Jane) all within a few episodes 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 reason(s) why so many major cast members would leave a successful program has never been credibly explained by the show's producers. The new characters were not very popular or interesting, and the series seemed unable to withstand the high number of cast changes in such a short time. Its popularity never recovered.
The final seasons featured a revolving door of hirings and firings, with the last year returning Amanda back to her bitchy roots and pairing long-suffering Jane up with Kyle (Estes and Josie Bissett 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.
