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.

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 and T.J. Hooker alumna Heather Locklear as the opinionated 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 originally genial but lonesome Dr. Kimberly Shaw (Marcia Cross). Towards the end of season one, Jane saw Michael's true colors and decided to divorce him. Amanda suffered a tubal pregnancy with Billy's child around the time 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, though her insecurity issues would keep her as a sympathetic character despite her ill-conceived motives. Sydney's 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 and her accident. Alison's relationship with Billy remained a rollercoaster ride after she was ultimately the sole reason why Keith committed suicide. Jo continued her career as a photographer and dove into a romance with high school flame 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-defense, 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 until 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 blonde assailant runs down Michael in Jane's 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. Alison had fled her wedding to Billy and resided with her sister, Meredith, briefly, also a victim of her Father's abuse. 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 Jane's boyfriend 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 while she could move away with her son Austin. 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 Alison's personality change, became attracted to a new associate at D&D named Brooke Kristin Davis. Meanwhile, Alison was battling alcoholism and met a new love-interest at AA. Producers decided to add Jack Wagner to the cast as the charismatic 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 spiraled 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 discovered as she trailed Kimberly for traces of her insanity. Jo entered a relationship with Jake's brother, who later beat her. Towards the end of season three, Brooke tried to distance Alison from Billy with various schemes, and later married Billy in a ceremony that Alison almost stopped. After her failed attempt to win back Billy, Alison 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 actual bombing did not take place until 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 while drunk. 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, which featured former Melrose Place cast member Kristin Davis.

Kimberly endured as the love/hate of Michael's life and a formidable villain to all for several seasons, being Amanda's one compitent adversary until Lexi appeared later in the series. Kimberly's 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), restaurateur 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 for career purposes, 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 as Jane 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 from Amanda and started 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. In the end, Amanda and Peter faked there deaths after purchasing an island that the two lived upon alone, deciding to bear children to occupy their time.

**Wikipedia.org