Melroser

I really liked Brette/Rikki as a couple, as well as Mark/Ruby. They were my fave four of that show with Ruby my fave character from the moment she arrived. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6z99hv1P-8

That Brette/Rikki story is THE story I remember most about Texas! (I was only 9 then) That story alone will always make me love that show. So great to see an article about it. Thanks!

Thanks for the story background! I had always wished that AW had used Peter and Nicole more to play off of Donna/Anna Stuart. I'd rather have seen those dynamics more than Donna/Michael which became tedious the last few years. The Loves were so dysfunctional but I suppose with Reginald as a father...

Yeah I don't remember him much but I remember I didn't care for him after John Hutton. They didn't look anything alike! One character I could never really get into was Jamie and that was because of all of the recasts and changes in his "careers". The only time I cared about the character was when Larry Lau played the part and the Lisa/Jamie/Vicky Jamie/Vicky/Jake triangles. Couldn't stand Russell Todd.

Thank you! I mostly only remember Marcus Smythe as Peter and never really liked him. HATED him and Brittany probably because I was a Sharon Gabet fan. At one time didn't they start to make it look like Peter was the Sin Stalker killer? I think I remember them showing him standing next to someone that had just died or something like it was him that did it and man I wanted it to be him so badly! (Granted they wanted everyone to think Chad had killed Quinn at one point) I've watched the old clips of the Peter/Cecile wedding with John Hutton. I've always loved Cecile...prob my fave character of all-time on AW!.

Thanks for that ep! I was 10 when it aired. I only remember a little about that time as I would have been in school and didn't have a vcr yet (don't start!) Can someone explain to me why Peter Love had that crappy apartment and wasn't at the Love mansion. I don't remember him ever living anywhere other than with Donna. I remember this Nicole and had really liked her. Didn't they try to get her back when bringing Nicole back to town but KMG took The Colbys instead? I don't remember much about this cocaine story except that she was an addict. Can someone fill in the story a bit more. What did Perry have to do with it? I only remember Nicole/Jamie. Thanks!

I know there are always the what-ifs? But I wish this show could have had an 8th season. I wouldn't have ended 7 with the fake deaths of Peter and Amanda and instead have ended a cliffhanger of Eve totally attacking Amanda and Lexi trying to dig dirt up on Peter only to find out that he has a half-brother he didn't know about.... then season 8... Eve would die from her altercation with Amanda and charges would be dropped as self-defense and the charges against her from high school because Eve couldn't testify against Amanda. I'd try to pull someone from daytime on as Peter's brother to start S8...Michael Roderick (from then cancelled AW) or try for Sean Kanan (soon to be cancelled SB) and he and Lexi would become an item. I would have tried HARD for Lisa Rinna to return as Taylor with Michael's baby because she was tied to everyone on the show! The what-ifs....

I still don't think I understand the Red Swan story It was mainly to introduce Paulina as Mac's daughter, correct? They could have done it so much easier by having the Cory family gathered for a reading of Mac's will and then this mysterious blonde comes in just in time for the surprise that Mac announced in his will he had a daughter no one knew about. Leave her part of Cory Publishing and *poof* instant rivalry with Iris and Amanda. Cali Timmins could have rocked that Alexis Carrington style.

I never thought John and Felicia were a viable couple and the show was just trying to find story for Linda Dano. I did like the Felicia/Sharlene rivalry but I wish it hadn't been from Felicia going after John. Of course, I never liked the Carl/Rachel pairing either. I thought that this made no sense whatsoever on Rachel's part after all of Carl's doings in the past. I know it provided a lot of story for her kids to not approve of the relationship...but for it to go on as long as it did just makes me shake my head. This isn't to say that Vicky and Charles didn't have great chemistry because they did but I'd rather have seen them have a flirtatious rivalry than full-on relationship. It seemed the show never really tried a third in a triangle for Rachel which is a shame because I'm sure there were plenty of "known" actors who could have come on and worked well with them.

Though I was too young when Lemay was with the show the first time I do wish his stint in '88 could have lasted longer. Who knows? If he were given a legitimate chance of helping the show maybe it would have moved up in the ratings. I wonder what he would have done with Anne Heche and what he thought of her as an actress on the show. Had she begun her story being the third in the Jamie/Lisa triangle? I always enjoyed that triangle though I remember it going on for too long. I wonder if he would have favored the Frames and Matthews families more than the Loves or McKinnons... Was Denise Alexander already leaving at that point? Wonder if he could have kept her on and used her better...Except for her initial arrival on the show as the back-from-the-dead Mary storyline I never felt that the show capitalized on her talent.

I always wished that Sydney's time on Melrose hadn't been wasted with the Carter story. I never thought that made any sense. I know it helped to show her vulnerable side when she fell for the guy but I wish she had been more involved with those at 4616 Melrose at the time. It's too bad Syd left after season 5 because i really enjoyed her and Craig together. I thought they were too perfectly flawed people together.

As much as I enjoyed the Kathleen/Cass/Frankie story when Julie Osborn returned in 1991, I always wondered if the show could have kept her and moved her away from Cass. I always enjoyed Kathleen and thought it could have been interesting to see her with someone else. But who? Would there really have been anyone viable for Kathleen at that time? Grant comes to mind but I wonder if that could have went anywhere since he was in the middle of the Vicky/Paulina stuff at the time. Michael? John? Jamie? I think i'd rather have seen Kathleen with Jamie instead of that dreadful Kelsey! Thoughts....

I enjoyed Ellen Wheeler and Henry Simmons together as well. Not sure how it would have played out if the show went on but the two did have great chemistry together. It was also a story that was taking Marley back in a lighter direction after her going "crazy" for a bit. I think the show was headed in a great direction too and then had been cancelled. I really thought that the triangle of Lila/Cass/Anne(Frankie) was a good rival to the old Kathleen/Cass/Frankie triangle that was done really well (if not a bit too long :-) ). I found it really hard to root for Kathleen or Frankie over the other and it would have been the same if it were Lila vs Frankie. Cameron was my favorite pairing for Amanda since the early Sam/Amanda days when Sandi Ferguson first arrived. The two were great together. Although the "Jordan Stark" storyline was a little out there for AW I did enjoy it because it was something different. It could have been interesting to have seen what became of David and Cindy. I thought Chris and Toni were a great couple as well and didn't necessarily get the attention they deserved.

2.0 was definitely a wasted opportunity. As said above with so many vets willing to make appearances this could have been as successful as Dallas 2.0 if the characters were written like themselves and with proper interaction. As Sydney was my fave character from the original I was immediately against the show when I heard that they were bringing her back from the dead just to be dead again. I cringed every time an original member came on and was written so out-of-character...especially Jane. I thought she was written as an incredibly bitter and angry person on 2.0. (As was Jo in her first appearance), I still watched...as MP is my fave nighttime show of all-time (and for my love of Laura Leighton) but it was sooo hard to watch. The fact that Violet was supposed to be Sydney's daughter made no sense to me whatsoever and I still don't feel like that was ever properly explained. The same for David being Michael's son. It was as if the writer's felt it was enough just to say that these characters were related. Lazy. THE ONLY highlight was Katie Cassidy's Ella. Loved her cattiness with Sydney/Amanda. I liked her and Jonah but I found Riley to be so zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz that it didn't seem like much of a triangle for me.

15 years ago today it ended .... Guess it's an evening of old clips/eps and remembering the good ol' days

Wasn't the arrival of Mary McKinnon (Denise Alexander) and the "Sin Stalker" storyline done under her time? Both were great stories in the beginning but seemed to fall apart by the end. I also think that this was the time that M.J. turned out to have been a hooker in the past. I hated that story because I may have been in the minority but I had grown to really like Adam and M.J. and thought this was horrible to them. I wouldn't say the show was "can't miss" material but I do remember enjoying the show overall at the time.

I only read the first couple installments of that when it first started....just wasn't the same for me because I knew it wasn't the show or same people involved. Didn't they kill off Cecile too at one point? Prob one of my top five characters. Not to mention the horrible disservice that was done to Jake and Vicky on ATWT. They were my fave couple of all-time and to have the powers-that-be on ATWT destroy them was sad...in fact I didn't watch.....I wasn't one of the people that tuned in after AW. Instead I started watching OLTL because of so many past AW-ers and knowing Linda Dano was going on it. Robin Christopher, John Bolger, Kale Browne, and Tim Gibbs were all already there. I then watched OLTL 'til the end and the reboot. In my eyes AW's characters stopped when AW did.

I can't believe we're coming up on the fifteenth anniversary of the last episode on Wednesday! I still miss my Bay City "friends" and wish I knew what they were up to.

I enjoyed Brooke's involvement at D&D and would have loved to see her use her daddy's influence to takeover control. It would have been fun to watch her pull the strings for Amanda, Alison, and even Billy. The show lost me when they made Brooke the whiny little spoiled girl trying to fight Alison for attention of her dad. I never liked Sam. Such a boring character and that affair with Jeff seemed like it lasted forever. I am a fan of Dan Gauthier but that story served no purpose for me. They could have just left it as a triangle of Sam/Billy/Jennifer and let Jennifer kick her ass. I agree with what was said about the show not preparing for the mass exodus after Season 5. Coop did nothing for me except he was responsible for Lexi coming to town. I could never understand Megan's attraction to him and found the two boring. A lot of Kyle's stories I found kind of lame: the sudden drunk/drug problem and the backstory of Christine. Yawn. I thought both of them made his character seem like a wimp. Why would someone as strong as Amanda be interested in him???? I thought Kyle served better when he was involved with Taylor....of course Lisa Rinna was just priceless with all of her material no matter how ridiculous!!! I always wonder what one more season of the show would have been like! I felt like it was just starting to come back around to something good with Amanda/Peter, Kyle/Jane, and the Michael/Lexi pairing....and of course crazy Eve!!! And if the show had truly tried to get Laura Leighton back earlier, they could have tried again. Sydney could have been fun since she hooked up with Kyle once and could have been a rival for Lexi with Michael. if only....

I miss this show everyday and I loved the McKinnon family although Cheryl was a weak link for me and then VInce once Robert Hogan took over. I preferred Duke Stroud (?). He seemed to fit the idea of the blue-collar, hardworking family man better for me and I enjoyed his chemistry with the others. I don't remember much about the first M.J. but I was a fan of Adam/M.J (Sally Spencer). I wish their relationship hadn't have been trashed by the whole former prostitute story. I agree that Denise Alexander was completely wasted on this show. Her backstory was confusing and then seemed to be the ONLY story she really had once she turned out to be Mary and reconnected with the family. I was excited to see her be paired with Chris Robinson again only to find Jason Frame revolting and a horrible character. Why would Mary want to be with Jason or Reginald (tho i suppose in the beginning if she had amnesia she didn't know what he was really like). They should have had Mary get into some kind of feud with Liz. I think the two characters could have been perfect rivals. Busy-body, meddling in their family's business kind of matriarchs. I wish they would have brought Ben McKinnon back instead of having a half-brother for Jake, Kevin. Ben could have served the same purpose and also had a history with Marley to play off of.

I'm not sure I remember correctly, but wasn't the show set to be off the air after Season 6 but the last eps were held off for a bit and run in the summer? And then with less summer competition back then (it was rare for a "summer series"/new programming to be run) the ratings did better than expected so the show threw together a 7th Season but those ratings never held up once the competition was tougher. I don't think I have that all right and I do believe that the cost was one of the major reasons but the summer ratings had them try just a bit longer. Does anyone recall the details?

Season 7 had improved so much better. Lexi and Eve were great "Melrose characters" that lived up to what MP was known for that season. I agree that I wish Lisa Rinna hadn't have left the show. Lexi/Taylor could have been great together in some kind of evil scheme like the old Sydney/Kimberly pairing when they were after Michael.

Kristen Davis was amazing as Brooke but I hated how the character was written. She was written as so weak and so much in need of having to have Billy that it was almost pathetic to me. I liked Brooke when she was at D&D scheming with Amanda against Alison but then it fell apart for me. I didn't mind Jane and Jake but it seemed like it was very short and then all of a sudden he was off with Alison. I kind of liked Jane's evil side when it was coming out though (setting off the sprinklers at the fashion show was it? Throwing a stone/rock through the window where Jake and Alison were). Jake and Alison did nothing for me while they were off away from Melrose Place to try and start the other bar/restaurant. It made me not like them as a couple because I just found them boring. Maybe if they had still been living at the complex and had to deal with Jane, Billy, and Amanda it could have given me a reason to root for them.

Most of AW's female characters could never have been considered all "good" because most of them started out as bad girls: Rachel, Felicia, Vicky, Paulina, Lila, etc. Every one of these ladies were schemers and "bad girls" in the beginning that later mellowed and became heroines over time. That in itself is more true to real life. People change over time whether it's because of particular personal experiences or just with age and wisdom (we hope wisdom ) Even some of the "good guys", like Jake and Cass, weren't saints in the beginning either.

AW is my fave daytime show of all-time. I still miss it to this day and often watch clips or whole eps on Youtube just to feel "comforted".like a long-lost blankey. I always thought AW was different because it focused on relationships and rarely did the over-the-top plots like other shows: such as an Ice Princess story or Devil possession. (Granted the Lumina story at the end was an exception). Even when AW did their big stories it was grounded with how it really affected characters: Felicia's alcoholism, Frankie's death, Ryan's death. The location shoots back in the day like the Arizona desert with Carl kidnapping Marley, Majorca with Sally/Catlin, and Cecile kidnapping Cass to St. Thomas were focused on couples and relationships as much as plot. My opinion of course.