Melrose Place

[Soaplovers]

From what I recall ratings were bad in season 6, and they ended the season earlier then expected.. I think they aired/tweeked the last episodes of season 6 during the summer which is considered season 7 technically. I think they were given one last chance.. even though the quality improved in season 7, the ratings didn't and since it was so expensive to produce they were canceled.

I do remember TPTB had the last episode of season 7outlined for either a series finale or season finale depending on what FOX decided.

[detroitpiston]

I was so mad 90210 got another season when it was more than clear at the time that the show was 100% done peak wise. Melrose finally got on the upswing and boom, cancelled. The new head of FOX at the time was really annoying and nonchalant about it in the press too.

Edited July 10, 2013 by detroitpiston

[Chris B]

I think Melrose deserved another chance, but 90210 earned those ten seasons IMO. I also don't think 90210 was bad during its last two seasons.

[JackPeyton]

I liked 90210 in its final seasons.

Still Miles's ahead of its horrid first two.

[te.]

No, the show had already been renewed for a seventh season, but you're right they held off a couple of season 6 episodes, hoping to bolster the ratings.

I'd say the biggest factor to it being cancelled was the fact Fox changed presidents - the former one had always been a huge fan of 90210/Melrose/Party of Five, while the new one had all three shows gone within two seasons, feeling that they were 90s relics.

[Gray Bunny]

Right. Melrose was slated for a 7th season but the 6th season was sinking in ratings so they held off on airing the last two months and did an early spring finale in March, keeping the last 6 or 7 to air in the summer, hoping to recapture the magic it and 90210 had in the early 90's. They group these season 6 episodes in with the season 7 DVD's and reruns, but there's a 3 month time gap and huge cast overhaul about the 7th episode in (when the actual 7th season would've began). That's when Matt is about to visit the gang but dies on the way to the restaurant, where their nonchalant reaction to the news of his death always made me laugh and roll my eyes.

I remember reading in SOD around this time that the new head honcho at FOX wasn't a fan of soap-like shows. There was a Party of Five spinoff called Time Of Your Life on around this time which was also quickly yanked.

One thing that was nice about FOX back in their early years was that they gave their shows time to grow, work out their kinks, and find an audience, since they were the new kid on the block with nothing to lose. I would've loved to have seen MODELS INC go a couple more years. It ended after one season in '95, but even by '97, FOX was still trying to launch more Aaron Spelling soapiness (i.e. Pacific Palisades).

Edited July 14, 2013 by Gray Bunny

[Vee]

Season 6 was basically the nadir of the show. I remember what happened very well. They used the back end of the last episodes of that year to try and get people excited about actual things happening - Lexi goes apeshit! Coop tries to kill Lexi! Billy gets with Jennifer!

Season 7 was a return to form IMO, and a much smarter, better show. It had its flaws but it was on a major upswing and 90210 was a piece of [!@#$%^&*] at that point. It should not have been canned while 90210 went on - that was an injustice, pure and simple.

[Chris B]

As I continue to watch season 7 I see why it didn't work. The storylines are all right, but the casting is off. Megan and Kyle's younger brother get a large amount of screentime and they are both incredibly dull. I like the more mature feel, but I need more spark in the cast. They should've written out Megan instead of Taylor and if they wanted a brother for Kyle, they should've brought him on with a wife (similar to the old days), or they could've recreated Billy/Alison with Kyle's brother and a female roommate.

[te.]

I actually think Megan is one of the season 5 additions that ended up working - all good soaps need these type of good girl characters.

I agree that Ryan is sort of dull though.

(Also, it was Lisa Rinna's choice to leave the show as she was pregnant - maybe she would've eventually been lured back if it had continued)

[Cheap21]

Meagan was the worse. I never liked her character and hated that she lasted to the very end. I especially hated how they saddled her with Michael for so long trying to push them as a couple as I couldn't see his attraction to her past the initial intrigue. Season 6 with them never should have happened. Both should have moved on by the time that opened up and I didn't like him going through all these great lengths to win her back from Coop, whom made for a poor rival. Everything about season 6 was a big mess!

[Chris B]

That Coop/Megan story was a total bust. I also hated Lexi, although she is better in season 7. I feel like Megan was too goody-two-shoes for this type of show. Even our previous heroines (Alison, Jane) had more edge to them. Even reformed Jo had more edge.

[Huntress]

The problem with season 7 was that most of the characters were watered down.

Amanda had lost all of her steam from the early seasons. It all started in season 4 when she turned from bad girl to victim.

In season 4 she ran away from her past as a Parezi, in season 5 her life and marriage was threatened by Taylor (and later her career was threatened by Craig & Sydney), in season 6 she was blackmailed by Eric and her marriage to Kyle was threatened by Taylor's scheming, and in season 7 it was once again her past that haunted her. Different from early Amanda, that Amanda never really fought back as she was portrayed as the troubled heroine.

Same with Peter. When he was first introduced, he was a villain, then in seasons 4 to 6, he was portrayed as a rather shady and moody person, and in season 7 he became dull as hell when he married Eve.

Michael turned from being a manipulative sleaze to a goofball somewhere in the middle of season 6.

They botched Jane's return by reverting her character back to "season 1 plain Jane" (including an awful hair cut). Jane and Megan were basically the same character.

I could have done without Kyle as well since I always thought that he and Amanda had zero chemistry.

The only characters that worked in season 7 were Lexi and Eve. At least they were entertaining.

[Gray Bunny]

I'd have to respectfully disagree about Megan. I thought she was one of the few saving graces of the latter half of season 5 and all of season 6. I didn't like her relationship with Coop, but I didn't care for Coop in general.

I do agree though that many characters that used to have an edge were watered down in Season 7. I hated Amanda's "I give up on life" attitude in season 6 (just because she was preggars in real life, didn't mean they should alter Amanda's constant drive to succeed), but I thought she gained back some of her feistiness in season 7 by not telling Eve the whole truth about that fateful night as cheerleaders.

I appreciated their return to basics by trimming down the cast, but half the stories were very uninspired. The whole Lexi/Ryan/Megan/Michael quadrangle was blah. Changing Kyle from a hero to an ass was a poor move. Also, I almost wished Michael and Jane had ended up together, as a nice way to bookend their final storyline. Lexi becoming queen bitch was delicious though. A total 180 from her persona in season 6, but Jamie Lunar pulled it off effortlessly.

[Soaplovers]

I watched the first half of season 5 and I love it! I do think Megan had a good introduction with a bit of edge... when did Megan get watered down? By the end of season 5?

[twotrey]

While I love season 7 Lexi, one of the big missed opportunities was not bringing Jamie Luner in as the Savannah character of Peyton Richards. That show ended with her comeuppance, so it would've then made sense for her to leave Savannah and look for a new start... at 4616. It was, as it well should have been, touted as a huge get for MP to bring in Jamie after Savannah was cancelled, but I don't know what they were thinking with that original conception of Lexi. Just incredibly dull, and that says a lot considering it's Jamie-effing-Luner.

I love this recut version of the final scene of the series--actually one of the intended concepts for it, but due to those infamous budget issues mentioned above, they didn't want to pay Marcia Cross's fee, so the show then ended with a whimper.