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)

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.

Season 7 would've gotten so much more interesting if it hadn't been cancelled half way through.

I'm rewatching the show and in all honesty, season 1 isn't that bad. It's different from what it became for sure and the Blaisdels are terminally boring, but it makes up for it with the Carrington drama, especially Steven's and Fallon's relationship.

I've always felt like the Alicia character was (at least originally) always supposed to be her. Maybe she just wasn't up for returning?

The sad part about CPW is that it probably would've been renewed if it had been on Fox - it was pretty obvious that it and Party of Five were competing for the same audience as both shows posted around low-to-mid-6.0 ratings (with Po5 having the edge) and once CPW had been pulled Po5 started going up to posting 7.0+ rating points. I can't help to wonder what would've happened if this had been Melrose's companion piece! I guess Fox had been burned by Models Inc the year before. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

It's quite funny to compare the cool "urban" promo to the 1996/97 one - damage control much? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOrtKrTTUNU

Here's one of the earliest promo spots by the way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV0ZaP7ob8U Here's a compilation of promo spots and the "new" image CBS tried that season: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py0HUU1E0Fw

Pretty much - CPW, along with shows like American Gothic and The Client were attempts by CBS to grab the younger demographic and it obviously didn't work. Funnily enough, all those shows ended up getting full season orders despite being pulled off the air and aired erratically. I guess it they just couldn't outright admit that their experiment to flirt with the younger audience had failed! The revamped CPW was originally going to air in March-April, which of course didn't happen. By the time it got on the air it was pretty much cancelled and CBS was just airing it as a courtesy twice a week, which might explain why they completely skipped airing episodes 9-13 even though it made no sense for the audience.

Watching early Melrose is such a drag - Jane takes off her wedding ring! Billy writes a bad script! Jake is poor! Ooooh! By the way - for any ratings nerd out there this site has the ratings for the entire first season: http://www.vidiot.com/Melrose

In all honesty - I have no problem with the finale. I thought it was good in the way that they tied up the loose ends, but left enough things open to speculate about. I agree with what Darren Star said though - if the show had been handled with more care after he left, it could've gone on for another seven seasons, but a lot of stuff happened to prevent that. I think Heather's pregnancy screwed up season 6 in a major way as they had to start filming earlier and it was obvious that they had no idea what direction to take the season in leaving a lot of loose end plots (Samantha paints a creepy picture! Michael dates a stripper! COOP.). Doug Savant was also signed up to do half the season, but because of commitments they had to write him out in the first episode. BTW - I'm rewatching season 1 right now and I guess Natalie did come back to check her mail:

Here's one of the articles where they talk about the whole thing: Re: "Melrose Hell" Re: Kimberly returning: Re: Sydney returning: Re: Darren Star about the show's lasting longer: Re: "character's returning" (the one who was sick was Courtney Thorne-Smith) http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/4616/lat0524.html The Natalie scene was indeed filmed apparently: http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/4616/tvg0528.html Can't believe The Place is up all these years later! Too bad very few of the images work. Here's another article about ending the show with Charles Pratt Jr and Carol Mendelsohn plus Homicide's Tom Fontana and Another World's Leah Laiman: http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/4616/nyt0613.html

To be honest, most of the cast members at this time were still kind of stuck up about the show and either wanted too much compensation, just wouldn't do it or had scheduling conflicts. Courtney Thorne-Smith (Alison) was pretty much the only cast member who was up to doing a cameo, but she only wanted a non-speaking part but couldn't do it in the end due to her commitments on Ally McBeal, I believe. She was slated to appear in the bar scene where Amanda and Peter dances just before Eve tries to run them over if I remember correctly. Here are some other concepts that were thrown around according to Charles Pratt Jr: - An idea that went pretty far, possibly even filmed but cut out, was that Natalie - yes, Natalie, Alison's roommate that left in the first minute of the first episode - was supposed to come back and ask Lexi (Jamie Luner) if she knew where Alison was. It was dropped as it was considered to be too obscure. - Another idea was to have Eve's (Rena Sofer) last scene having her being taken to a psychiatrist - as she would've entered the office the chair would've swirlved around to reveal none other than the good doctor Kimberley Shaw (Marcia Cross). They apparently even negotiated with Marcia about coming back, but she demanded too much cash. - The most insane idea, however, was to have a dream sequence/one of the characters (possibly Michael (dream) or Eve (death)) going to Melrose Hell - basically meeting all the dead bad guys in a twisted hellish version of the courtyard. This was scrapped when it became apparent it was going to be too expensive to bring them all back. They also had a plot planned for bringing back Sydney at the start of season 7 with her having been kidnapped and had her death faked by that millionaire who courted her in season 5 (I forget his name). That idea was scrapped when Laura Leighton suddenly signed to 90210 instead.

Yes, Doug Savant was actually pushing for Matt to have a crush for Michael and it's obvious it's something the writers toyed with a bit, but I guess they were too afraid to go there sadly in case it would get a backlash from the gay community. Season 6 was a mess for several reasons - besides the exodus of original cast members, it was obvious that the show was rushed into production due to Heather's pregnancy - Doug Savant was originally set to appear in the first 13 (or so) episodes of season 6, but due to other commitments he could not fulfill that contract when they had to start filming early. It was also obvious that it effected the writing in the worst way - some stories were just randomly dropped (like Samantha's psycho painting) or was just there as an obvious filler story (Michael having that stripper move in only for her to steal his tv - WTF?). It's a shame because some of the stories did have potential (like Kimberly's mom stalking Michael), but overall it just sucked. Also, snatching PEYTON from Savannah only to have her play a pill-popping neurotic? Really, writers...

Re: 2000 Malibu Road It was supposed to be aired in the Spring of 1992 (hence Drew Barrymore's character's hope to land a pilot for the fall), but kept being pushed back. When CBS finally aired it - it became a huge smash hit! They did try to make new deals - but between the demands from the girls for a pay check rise, plus the fact that most of the sets had to be re-built, it never happened. Re: CPW The remaining episodes were originally going to be aired in March/April 1996 - both the Mariel/CPW eps! Obviously, someone decided against it and they got aired in the summer. No renewal unless they were smash hits. Which they weren't.