Melrose Place

Melrose Place was another huge success in Russia when it first appeared there many years ago. After that, it had many successful repeated runs in various Russian TV-channels. Why such a great popularity? Due to several reasons. First, the excellent choice of actors. Heather Locklear, Alyssa Mylano, Daphna Zuniga, all others are a great and very precise shot. They play their often malicious and cruel heroes with a surgical accuracy and with such persuasion that a mere serial becomes a real serious drama. All the events are another big plus. We are thrilled and attracted by the endless string of high-voltage events, all those slanders, kills, lies, love relations, fires and fights going on there. The serial is never boring. You see so many characters there and you know them all. And then, this is a true detective story. I have counted no less than 10 people killed there! And the marvelous performances of Marcia Cross or any other actor! Well, this is not a trivial small serial. No, this one is mature, strong and very exciting work.

This is another drama by Speiling that defined the 90s, unlike 90210 this focused on young adults and the themes wore more mature compared to it's sibling, not as popular as Beverly Hills this was as long lasting and influential A decent view for the nostalgic.

Melrose Place ain't no Emmy winner but it sure is addictive. It's hard to resist the temptation to tune in daily to follow the absurd relationship dramas of this crew of snotty millionaires. In many instances it's just hilarious, for instance crazy Kimberley committing Peter to a mental institute before administering shock therapy and almost a lobotomy (hahahahaha), or Michael's wedding vows to Jane on their second wedding, "Jane you were my first wife, my favourite wife and I hope to god my last wife." The outrageous antics and schemes to win over lovers combined with the fact that every second character seems to be a murderer or a criminal of some sort, it is a wonder that they are not all in jail!

As rich and successful as they are, is this not the unluckiest group of people on television? (well except for the Days of Our Lives cast who all have brain implants and amnesia). I mean they've all been cheated on, dumped, married 4-5 times, been shot, run over, raped, sued, molested, paralysed, lobotimised, burnt, blinded, drowned, blown up, assaulted, tossed out windows, buried alive, stalked by psycho lovers, involved in war; gone bankrupt; suffered from drug addictions, impotency and alcoholism; had cancer, miscarriages, tumours, brain surgery, abusive parents, car wrecks and helicopter crashes just to name a few of the hardships inflicted upon these poor sods. You couldn't pay me to move into Melrose Place, that apartment block is the kiss of death. Seems to be quite the hangout for psychopathic freaks. The newspaper advertisment must read "Melrose Place Tenant Wanted: Must be unbalanced and of a psychotic nature, prone to fits of violence including murder and arson. Must also exhibit strong desire to destroy the lives of everyone you through infliction of emotional pain and suffering. Dodgy, unstable doctors preferred."

Granted, it's a silly show, but it's also the kind of program that makes you skip class so you can use the pay phone in the school lobby to ring home and remind your mum to tape it at 10 (yes I have done that). Can't help myself, I love it and recommend it to anyone looking for a good laugh and some light hearted entertainment.

In its heyday, Melrose Place was a fun and complex 60-minute roller-coaster ride every week. It started off slow and weak, but began to pick up steam midway through the first season with the addition of Heather Locklear. Though many credit Locklear for the show's success, the real stars of the show were people like Thomas Calabro, Laura Leighton and Marcia Cross, as the Kimberly/Michael/Sydney storyline was the driving force of the show. The show peaked in its second and third seasons, but by season four things began to fall apart. The writing, while always over the top, reached a new level of ludicrousness towards the end of season four and the show made no sense whatsoever (i.e., Evil Billy, Amanda using Billy to keep her job at D&D, and Kimberly's mutiple-personality story which culminated in her attempting to lobotomize Peter ). To its credit, the show realized its mistakes and several behind the scenes changes were made at the end of season four (namely the firing of several writers on the show ). By season five, the show had back down to earth and told more traditional soap stories (i.e. the Billy/Alison/Jake/Jane quadrangle and the Amanda/Peter/Taylor triangle ). New players, including Lisa Rinna, Rob Estes, David Charvet, and Kelly Rutherford were added to the show. The show rebounded, but towards the end of season five things began to fall apart again due to the loss of several veteran cast members. By the end of season five Marcia Cross, Laura Leighton, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Josie Bissett and Grant Show were gone. Especially damaging was the fact that the show had killed its two best characters in Kimberly and Sydney. That's why, for me, the last "real" episode of MP was the fifth season finale on May 19, 1997. Spelling and Co. saw many of these departures coming, but figured the void would be easily filled by the new faces that were brought in in season five. They were sorely mistaken. Season six was a disaster, for the most part. Even more new faces (Linden Ashby and Jamie Luner) were added to the show and another veteran cast member (Doug Savant) was gone after the sixth season premiere. The combination of too many new faces and poor writing irrevocably damaged the show. The show hit rock bottom in early 1998 when FOX announced the show would be pulled after March 30 and return sometime in the summer. It was also announced that the show would be once again retooled and thus several cast members would leave later that season and original cast member Josie Bissett would return. When the show returned in the summer of '98, there was a flicker of hope as several storylines became interesting to watch (i.e. the Kyle/Amanda/Peter triangle, the Billy/Samantha/Jeff/Jennifer quadrangle, and the rekindled Jane/Michael romance). But the fun was short-lived. On September 7, 1998, Billy, Samantha, Jennifer, Coop and Taylor all left L.A. for greener pastures, and on September 14, the "new" Melrose debuted. It was obvious from that episode "The World According to Matt" that no matter how hard TPTB tried, the magic was gone. The show sputtered through its final season, as the addition of Rena Sofer proved to be a failure. The final episode on May 24, 1999 was exactly like the final two seasons of MP: disappointing.

One of the best shows of the early 90's it lasted for 7 years. I came across this show as it's currently repeated on five every Saturday morning and I continue to love this show. I knew of this show when it screened during the 90's but couldn't care less at that time I was a huge fan of Beverly Hills 90210 which I'm not a big fan of anymore now. I just enjoy catching up with the lives of the beautiful and gorgeous people of Melrose Place. My favourite character is Alison (Courtney Thorne Smith) but my least favourite is Amanda Woodard (Heather Locklear) she is quite a B****. The cast are brilliant and I love the situations, which the characters go through every week just as our lives aren't as dramatic as these characters. Melrose is Glam but much better than Beverly Hills but as the seasons went on the series got over the top that's when I think it went downhill I think. The best year was the early years. I hope a DVD is released both in the US and the UK, as it was very popular and successful in both sides of the Atlantic. Melrose Place is one of my favourite shows and it's a classic with plenty to enjoy and a place we all wouldn't mind living in.