Melrose Place (1992) - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show's run.

[Petunia13]

The first season is so different than the rest!

[ktwo]

Thank you so much SilverStormm for setting up a forum for this show! I was in the midst of a rewatch when TWOP pulled the plug. To get on topic, I nominate Kimberly on the beach spying on finally-sort-of-happy Michael and Sydney when everyone thought Kimberly was dead. I was on college during the original run and there was a collective shriek from an entire dorm watching when that happened. In retrospect I think it was more shocking than the legendary "She ripped off her wig!"

[dreamkiller]

And thank god for it! I began watching this show a few years ago when I was in college and was so disappointed with the first season and kept wondering when all this juicy stuff would happen. I was so happy when I stuck it out because it was well worth it to get through that for seasons 2-4.

[dreamkiller]

See I still have to go with nutty Kimberly actually BLOWING UP the damn place. I watched the series in 2012 and even though I knew this would happen, I was in no way prepared for the shit storm that was Kimberly Shaw.

Edited September 4, 2014 by dreamkiller

[dreamkiller]

I'm binge watching the show right now and thinking wayyyyy too hard about these characters.

I always thought Amanda got a bum rep as I found her to be one of the most reasonable characters in the beginning especially in regards to Allison who would be sooooo outraged that Amanda expected her ass to be to work on time and to not spend her time there mooning over whatever relationship drama of the day. Allison didn't become interesting to me until she became Drunk!Allison and then she was hiiiiiighly amusing.

My first time around, I would fast forward through all of Matt's scenes with the exception of him ripping Kim's wig off. This time, I immediately pass any scene with Jo after her last break up with Jake. I couldn't stand the Reed and baby business.

And I can't help but love Sydney even though she tends to do awful things.

[AndySmith]

Drunk Allison was the best Allison. Not just drunk on booze, but drunk on power as a wannabe Amanda during season 3 ("This is Amanda's desk!" "My desk now...").

 

I really liked Jo up until season 4, once they hooked her up with Richard. That's when her character begins her descent into lameness.

[AndySmith]

Some of mine (in random oder)

 

* Kimberly's return

* Kimberly taking off the wig

* Blowing up the complex (possibly the most memorable of the show)

* Amanda holding the peeping-tom at knifepoint and threatening him till he pees in his pants

* Jo punching out Kimberly at the hospital

* Kimberly threatening to throw an electric lamp into Amanda and Michael's jacuzzi (with them still in it!)

* Allison's food fight at D&D (with what was her name? Susan?)

* Michael and Meggan crashing through the roof and almost landing on Amanda and Jane

* Sydney getting thrown into a hole in the ground - complete with trap door - by that crazy cult

* Taylor seducing Michael (while his hands were still injured) in order to get knocked up ("I just want your sperm!")

* Jane confronting Kimbery about her affair with Michael

* Jane throwing Michael's cane into the pool when she found out he set up her fiance with a prostitute

* Michael tying up Sydney, letting her think they were going to have some kinky fun, and then revealing his amnesia was gone

 

God, that was such a fun show...especially seasons 2 and 3.

 

 

 

Oh, and forgot to add, Jane and Sydney-wearing-Grandma's-wedding-dress catfight that ends up in the pool.

[Thump]

I was on college during the original run and there was a collective shriek from an entire dorm watching when that happened.

 

Ah, yes.  I was in the same boat.  Wednesday nights at 8 pm CST in fall 1993, you could walk through all five floors of our dorm and hear the entire episode clear as day from the halls since so many of us had it on.  Truly a communal viewing experience!

[DisneyBoy]

Ha!  That sounds fun.

 

I only discovered the show about three summers ago and watched until Kimberly and Sydney died in season five and things got depressing and lame.  I knew nothing about the twists - except Kim's first wig reveal - so it was a lot of fun never knowing where things would go next.

 

I personally was shocked at Kim seeing her mother's rapist in every mirror - talk about creepy and disturbing!

[cooksdelight]

It's airing now on POP if you have that on your lineup. I've watched the season 2 finale where Keith is beginning his crazy stalking of Allison, Jane is divorcing Michael, and Amanda buys the building.

[Maverick]

That's actually the season one finale. The show switched tone mid season one when they dumped Sandy and brought in Jo and Amanda.

[cooksdelight]

Really? It was episode 31 or 32 (according to my DVR synopsis), they had that many the first season? I thought Amanda didn't come in until season two? But checking IMDB, she joined in season 1 and just as you say, that cliffhanger thing with Keith stalking Allison, and Amanda being pregnant was season 1.

I guess I am so used to a TV show having 14 episodes, split up with a 4 month hiatus. :)

[Maverick]

 I think MP did 30ish episodes a season until closer to the end.  I know several night time soaps in the 80s did that and I think MP was the end of an era in that regard.

[cooksdelight]

Kimberly just pulled her wig off! I loved that scene, remembering how shocked I was.

The Billy-Allison non-wedding airs at 2 on POP today.

[Maverick]

Hard to believe the non-wedding was just at season 2. It seemed like Billy and Allison had broken up more times than JR and Sue Ellen at that point.

[AndySmith]

For me, the "Golden Years" of the show run from about the time Amanda shows up and the Michael/Kimberly affair begins picking up steam in season 1, till around mid-way through season 4 (lets say around the time Brooke dies). Seasons 2 and 3 are just awesome all around, more or less.

[cooksdelight]

I agree! The thing that's bugging me with POP is that they don't show episodes in order. Today's episodes back up to where Sydney starts making the moves on Michael while he's living with Kimberly, Billy and Allison try to get Jo and Jake back togehter, and Matt considers marrying Katya so she can stay in the country. That all happened before the episodes I watched the other day.

[ktwo]

I think (hope?) the Monday episodes are on one schedule and the Wednesday episodes are on another. I DVRd today's because they're pretty much exactly when the show started getting good. We will see next week.

[cooksdelight]

That might be the case. At any rate, I am thoroughly enjoying seeing the show again. Even if they do stupid stuff, at least you know it's coming. :)

[Maverick]

I thought things started to going off the rails a bit toward the end of the 3rd season. Early season 4 was still passable but the magic was already gone by then. I really didn't like the plot of Amanda hiding out from her mob husband. Made no sense she was trying to live in some self-imposed witsec based on what we saw. Even dumber wad that she would keep a file leading to her ex, much less in her office at work.

[cooksdelight]

At least nobody died and woke up in a shower a season later.

[Maverick]

No, but Kimberly died and woke up with a wig!

[cooksdelight]

Yeah, which was more believable when you think about it. But once she starts getting pissed at Michael for not coming to look for her, you knew he was doomed. It's those little things the writers did (or didn't do) that would drive me nuts. First you tell us that her mother wanted her to stay away from Michael, so she perpetuated the lie that Kimberly was dead. How was Michael supposed to know all of that?

[Maverick]

 I think Kimberly knew that her mother lied to Michael, but she was already around the bend at that point and felt like Michael should have just known she was alive and come for her.

[Maverick]

 I know this forum title says 1992, but I don't think the abomination that the CW forced on us deserves it's own forum.

 

 I don't know what they were trying to do with this show.  It was like some weird cross between a reboot and a continuation.  It was like someone wanted to a reboot but someone meddled and said no, you have to have characters from the original show.  Which, why?  Most of the characters from the original were dead or their story had been played out.  If the goal was to draw back original viewers in addition to new ones, then they failed miserably because they basically ignored  continuity on every single original plot and character they touched.    There was no explanation for why Amanda was no longer living on the island, presumed dead (and the show was hampered with everyone just waiting for her to show up), no mention of Peter, no (or perhaps a lame) explanation for Sydney returning from the grave.  The writers didn't know what Jo did on the original.  Michael's son a was an embarrassing contrivance (when Jake's son we actually saw would have been a better choice), as was Michael keeping blackmail files on the likes of Allison and Billy.  

 

 The cast wasn't bad (at least for the CW).  Katie Cassidy was far better suited to Amanda-lite than an a comic book hero.  The Aussie doctor and Michael's son were also ok as I recall.   They could have easily done a show about young professionals living in a LA courtyard apartment complex and left it at that. 

[Petunia13]

I'm very patient and tolerant of bullshit when it comes to soaps and night time serial drama ( I watched every episode of One Tree Hill, the new 90210, Breaker High, the MeTV telenovelas like Fashion House and Desire, Ugly Betty) but this show NO. I think they lost me when they killed Sydney AGAIN and wasn't their some closeted person shit. All I remember was it wasn't entertained and crap.

[ktwo]

WTF, Pop? The last set of episodes ended with Sydney escaping the cult, and today I come home early to see Megan, Taylor and Craig. The hell?

Edited May 8, 2015 by ktwo

[cooksdelight]

They are not airing anything in order. It drives me nuts.

[cooksdelight]

Michael in love with Amanda, Billy's look at Brooke when she sat down and cozied up to him at the ad awards dinner... good times!

[cooksdelight]

Recorded some of my favorites today. The big explosion, Kimberly cuckoo as hell, Alison's blind, Matt's in jail... LOL!! Wheeee!!!

[Maverick]

I hated Matt's story being segregated and him left out of the crazy Kimmy drama, but that piece of ass who framed him was hawt.

[cooksdelight]

The episodes from last week, which I'm watching now.... they look different. Almost 3-D or high-res or something.

[ByTor]

I hated Matt's story being segregated and him left out of the crazy Kimmy drama, but that piece of ass who framed him was hawt.

Didn't Matt have his turn at being threatened by Kimberly?

[cooksdelight]

She threatened him because she wanted him to change the results of her mental evaluation and he wouldn't. So she hires some guys to beat him up. Then, Matt's new police officer boyfriend threatened Kimberly and she backed down.

[Maverick]

Yes Matt got ducked into plenty of Kimberly drams (I forgot about the faux gay bashing she arranged) but I meant that Matt wasn't at the apartment when Kimmy blew it up.

[ktwo]

So this is happening:

http://tvline.com/2015/07/01/melrose-place-lifetime-movie/

[cooksdelight]

I'm catching up on my DVR stuff, watching Billy meltdown during the speech at the conference. Well, meltdown might not be the right word... "I lie and I'm proud!"

[WhitneyWhit]

Michael's son was supposed to be Jake's son, until Grant Show turned them down.

 

I felt the show had potential, and that it actually got better towards the end, once they got past the murder plot, which was a bust from the word go. I don't understand the point of bringing Sydney back and part of me wonders if that story was planned for Amanda and they couldn't get Heather in time. Sydney said some things that seemed more Amanda than Sydney. For instance; in once scene, Ella asks her if she should be afraid of her and Sydney says yeah, just ask the people that used to live her, which, OK, Sydney was a schemer, but no one was afraid of her, in fact, her schemes had a habit of blowing up in her face. Plus, her un-death meant that poor Craig killed himself for no reason.

 

If they wanted/needed to do a long lost child of a former resident story, then they could have had Ella been Peter's daughter via his first wife Beth and brought Peter on.

[ktwo]

I don't understand the point of bringing Sydney back and part of me wonders if that story was planned for Amanda and they couldn't get Heather in time.

IIRC, this is precisely what happened.

[lottiedottie]

I just started rewatching Melrose today. It's on Amazon prime. I had totally forgotten about the Sandy character--she is entirely annoying! Ugh. Every line she utters starts with "well well well..."

 

They sure made Rhonda out to be a bit of a caricature. I really like her an Matt's relationship but some of the stuff she does is embarrassingly silly.

I had forgotten how good looking Grant Show was! 

 

I'm really enjoying watching this show again. I haven't watched it since it used to air on E back in the late 90s? Do I have that right?

[ByTor]

Michael's son was supposed to be Jake's son, until Grant Show turned them down.

That's interesting, especially considering that the actor who played the son looks more like he could have been Jake's, IMO.

[Tara Ariano]

The behind-the-scenes moments that shaped "Melrose Place," from the casting drama to Heather Locklear arriving to "save" the show to the actors begging the writers to create even wilder story lines in order to make them fan favorites.

 

Premieres Saturday, October 10, at 8 PM ET on Lifetime.

[methodwriter85]

That show was a big revolving door. I guess that might be the focus?

 

I'm pretty sure Thomas is the only who stayed for the entire run.

 

I wonder if the apartment complex will even be allowed to have a pool in the middle? LOL.

 

They're lucky that the clothes on the show were  generally so nondescript, generic, and adult officey that getting reasonable approximations within legal limits shouldn't be hard.

Edited October 9, 2015 by methodwriter85

[cooksdelight]

This movie is a hoot so far. Matt looks like Matt. Jane looks like Jane. Some Canadian guy was first cast as Billy, but he got fat and got fired before the first episode was finished. I forgot all about the southern chick from season one.

[lottiedottie]

I'm so mad! I forgot this was going to be on tonight and I procrastinated doing homework, so I have to watch it on a replay tomorrow or something. I started rewatching (autocorrect keeps changing that to rewetting) MP this summer and have really been enjoying it. 

[cooksdelight]

I did not know that Laura Leighton and Heather Locklear had the same agent. That was surprising.

Lottiedottie, it's rerunning at 10 pm eastern, right after the first run is over.

[Dejana]

The rerun doesn't start until midnight Eastern: first, there's a Beyond the Headlines special for Melrose Place, then, they repeat the 90210 one from last week.

The Melrose movie was the best of the Unauthorized series so far. A low bar, but hey... I liked the Aaron-Darren dynamic, it framed the story nicely though some probably just wanted to see more backstage bed-hopping. The special after the movie reveals the dating situation was far more...active than the "Unauthorized" version. What's with Lifetime playing it safe when they don't have to? Such teases...

 

I really liked the guy who played Doug Savant; Lifetime can bring him back if they ever do a Desperate Housewives movie but maybe they'll get to Sex and the City before that. If those extras who played the "inspirations" Carrie and company can act, they're good to go! Wasn't Kristin Davis on MP in time for the explosion, though? I guess there wasn't time to introduce everyone who was really on the show, between the peanut gallery watching at home and manager maneuvering.

 

Was Laura Leighton really that naive at first? They definitely laid it on a bit thick with the "just off the turnip truck" vibe.

 

The likenesses of the cast were pretty good overall, spooky in some cases, though that wig for Fake Courtney Thorne-Smith was rather tragic.

 

How did the movie get away with so many references to the actual show and storylines? I didn't mind, but the SBTB and Full House ones went out of their way not to resemble on-set reality.

Edited October 11, 2015 by Dejana

[cooksdelight]

Yes, Kristin Davis (Brooke) was on the show by this time. She and Billy had gotten married earlier that day, which was why Allison was home alone, drunk, and got blinded by the explosion. I kept thinking Brooke was the one who wound up in the pool, but that was later when she hit her head and drowned.

I had NO idea Laura Leighton and Doug Savant had gotten married and had kids!

Was Laura Leighton really that naive at first? They definitely laid it on a bit thick with the "just off the turnip truck" vibe.

It was her first major role, she'd had one uncredited part and a couple of small parts before this. A girl from Iowa. So yeah, pretty much true to life.

[Megatron Griffin]

Wow, I had totally forgotten how many people were in and out on this show. I watched the after show thing and they talked about everybody who was on and I kept saying "oh yeah, forgot her". I completely forgot about Lisa Rinna being on.

As far as these Unauthorized movies go, I thought this one was pretty good.