te.

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

The show was one of CBS attempts to get the young folks watching.

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

They should have had the Natalie thing. Considering how widely panned the finale was that might have at least been fun.

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"

But before it makes an exit after seven steamy, schemey years, consider this finale: A major character dies in the last episode, goes straight to hell and comes face to face with all the deranged killers and psychopaths (Kimberly, Sydney, Brooke...) who've bitten the dust during seasons past. The kicker: The infamous apartment complex pool begins to bubble like a caldron, revealing Melrose Place and hell to be one and the same, with all the old villains chained to their apartment doors.

Re: Kimberly returning:

The story line was revised: To make way for a new highway, the body of deceased doctor Kimberly Show is exhumed back in Ohio, revealing an empty coffin. At the end of the hour, when another femme fatale goes insane and is locked away, Kimberly reappears as her psychiatrist. Then again... this scenario also had to be scrapped after Spelling Television, which produces the show, and Kimberly's portrayer, actress Marcia Cross, failed to reach a financial agreement.

Re: Sydney returning:

In a desperate attempt to lure back old fans, some thought was given earlier this season to bringing Leighton's character back from the dead, with the far-out explanation that Sydney's former admirer Carter had paid off doctors to pronounce her dead, then whisked her away to a convalescent hospital where the vixen was being held captive. But before the plot progressed to paper, Leighton had consented to a limited run on sister series "90210."

Re: Darren Star about the show's lasting longer:

Series creator Darren Star, who departed after writing and executive producing the first 100 episodes, admits he'd originally envisioned a longer run for his serial, comparable to "Dallas' " 13 seasons or "Knots Landing's" 14 years. "I always thought the show had limitless possibilities because anybody could move in and out of that building," explains Star, who created and now oversees HBO's racy "Sex and the City." He suspects "Melrose's" increasingly outrageous plots took their toll. "I think the show always worked best when there was a core of relatability in the characters."

Re: "character's returning" (the one who was sick was Courtney Thorne-Smith)

Despite rumors to the contrary, none of the show's vets will reappear in this evening's finale (one unnamed actress agreed to return but fell ill shortly before filming). "It was too expensive," Spelling says. "The (comeback) scenes that were submitted to me were all startlingly small cameos. And I thought it was a little cheesy to cut to some character having a drink at the bar just for the sake of bringing the actor back."

http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/4616/lat0524.html

The Natalie scene was indeed filmed apparently:

Longtime fans will remember that Natalie, Allison's first roommate, vacated the premises in the dark of night early in the first episode. That's why Allison needed a new roommate (namely Billy). Well, TV Guide Online has learned that the writers and producers wrote and filmed a final scene in which Natalie finally returns to the apartment complex only to find that Allison, Jane, Michael, Rhonda, Sandy and Jake are long gone, and poor Matt is dead.

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

The only thing is that I wish we would have at least gotten guest appearances from Billy, Alison, Jake, Jo...any of the still living characters.

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.

I think Doug Savant wanted to do a story like that, although maybe I'm making that up.

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.