It’s official: a new version of Melrose Place is in the works. After the hype surrounding the new 90210, the CW has decided to greenlight a remake of another Spelling show. Not much is known, except the show will be run by Smallville producers Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer.
As with the new 90210, everyone’s guessing which classic Melrose characters might return for a guest appearance, and three former actors have already put their hands up for a part. Lisa Rinna (Taylor), Kelly Rutherford (Megan) and Grant Show (Jake) have all said they would ‘definitely’ return if asked. But their characters were boring. What about Heather Locklear?! Definite no-shows include Marcia Cross (Kimberly), who is of course now Bree Hodge in ABC/Seven’s Desperate Housewives, and Jack Wagner (Peter), who now plays Nick Marone on CBS/Ten’s The Bold and the Beautiful. Besides, if the new Melrose is anything like the new 90210 (which it probably will be), they’ll probably be focusing the show on much younger actors rather than bringing back all the oldies, save for one or two key former cast members to bring it all together.
Melrose has always been known for its crazy, off the wall plots, and its season finale’s were always worth waiting for. Who could forget Kimberly dressing up as Sydney and running down Michael, or Alison leaving Billy at the alter, which was built on top of the Melrose pool? Or how about the finale where Sydney and Jane buried business-rival Richard alive, or the ultimate season finale; Kimberly blowing up the entire Melrose Place apartment building. For seven years the residents of Melrose Place kept us entertained with their sexy secrets and scandals; but as the seasons went by, much of the original cast disappeared, and by the seventh season, only two original characters remained. The Melrose series finale tied up all the loose ends, pairing real-life couple Josie Bissett and Rob Estes with their characters Jane and Kyle, leaving scheming Michael all washed up in the Melrose pool, and reuniting fan favourite Amanda with long-time love interest Peter, faking their own deaths to escape the Melrose madness and start a new life.
Each Melrose character brought a unique personality to the show, it was an ensemble. When the original characters started leaving the show and were replaced by new ones, it just wasnt the same. Ratings declined, the plots became dull and non-sensical, and it was clear that the end was near. There’ll never been anything quite like Melrose, at least until the CW’s Melrose 2.0 spinoff arrives… lets hope the producers can convince its key characters to stick around this time, for what is Melrose without Amanda, Alison, Billy, Michael, Kimberly and Sydney?
