te.

Sheree was pregnant, so she wanted out. Charlene Tilton was let go. Barbara Bel Geddes was offered to appear in limited episodes like Howard Keel, but she told them to go F themselves (in a more ladylike manner, of course). As you can tell watching it, they pretty much cut back on every actor except Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy due to budget reasons.

Well, she quit, but it was a mutual decision. They needed to cut the costs and I guess Susan Sullivan saw a way out.

I've always been amazed when watching old prime time soap promos how they'd give literally everything away for the cliffhangers - Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210 did this too.

It always amused me that Amanda was supposed to be the bitchy boss at work when the truth is that Alison was lucky to be employed as long as she was. I mean, the woman got drunk at business dinners, got into a catfight at a company Christmas function, regularly skipped work for whatever drama she went through that week and showed an inability to listen to clients when she showed the "naughty" pictures Jo took, yet she still gave Alison her job back when she was blind. I'm all for overcoming handicaps and all that, but [!@#$%^&*]. Advertising, especially the ones we saw D&D do, is a visual medium. What exactly did Alison do at D&D the short period she was blind?

Let's discuss Alison becoming president of D&D a few weeks after her stint in rehab, in addition to her horrible attendence record and her general behavior at work. Best employee ever.

Interesting that CBS re-released Dynasty with the reboot coming up on the pilot front... Sign that they are investing in the show again?

I've always laughed at those Student of the Week stories that were never seen again, despite getting SO close to The Cult. I still think they buried them somewhere in the desert. There's a massgrave out there somewhere!

Ssh! Spoilers for certain peeps!

Ryan and Megan is essentially a re-do of Alison/Billy... And yeah, the reason why season 7 is good is because it actually has a focused over-arching plot, just like how Dynasty season 9. This is essentially was missing from the final season(s) of Beverly Hills 90210 - a coherent plot. Though, both of Melrose and Dynasty's plots were a bit lacking in continuity.

Yeah, Melrose and 90210 rated similarly... I guess this was a push from Papa Aaron. 90210 really sucked in season 9 and deserved to be cancelled... and it got worse in season 10. Melrose had a good season and was building through the season. I blame Tori!

Beverly Hills, 90210 were a trainwreck between seasons 8 thru 10. A shame they couldn't have a second wind like Melrose and Dynasty had in their final seasons. Also, they basically turned Lexi into Peyton Richards from Savannah. There were rumours that they were going to transplant the character onto Melrose Place when Jamie Luner was cast anyways.

In all honesty - isn't this a great soap opera moment? Wanna touch me to make sure I'm real?

Someone uploaded episode 1x14 Valentine's Bay of Hyperion Bay. This is an episode after Frank South was brought in to run the show and Carmen Electra had been brought on as the Joan Collins/Heather Locklear of the show to try and save it:

Gosh, this thread made me watch the first six episodes of season two and one thing I noticed is that they had A LOT of outdoor scenes, which went missing in later seasons. Outdoor shoots are really underrated in these type of shows... And gee, Jane, no wonder you're alone with that ugly pink couch! If I was Michael I would've bolted too.

I'll need to re-watch the so-called "Summer of Love", but from what I recall there's definitively a re-positioning with them quickly wrapping up the Rory storyline and then the sudden return of Jane. Due to falling ratings they actually did shut down production of the show briefly to retool and then took a hiatus with MP Confidental / The Nasty Minded Professor acting like a two hour season finale in March. I can't help to wonder if the Rory storyline was originally intended to last longer than it did to be honest, then of course them writing out five of the main characters, plus essentially turning Lexi into Peyton Richards (like she always should've been). Either way, season seven is a much welcome improvement - even if they totally slip up on continuity at times...

I was meh on Buena Sera Mr Campbell as they wrote out five characters and not one Melrosian death! I get not killing off Billy or Jennifer or Taylor - but to spare Sam, Jeff and Coop? Come on, no one would mourn them. Send Jeff and Sam off a cliff or something! I also would've had Billy gone to Atlanta to shack up with Alison - I'm sure they could've gotten Courtney Thorne-Smith for a blink-and-you'll miss it cameo. Since this *was* technically the season six finale (last episode produced for s6) it's kind of disappointing.

Charles Roisin who ran the show from seasons 1 thru 5 is also interviewed on that site I believe.

They're lucky Calista didn't bolt as her contract had a get-out clause if the show moved filming from Los Angeles. I'm guessing she'll film several episodes worth of scenes when out in Vancouver.

RIP Earl Hamner: http://deadline.com/2016/03/earl-hamner-dies-the-waltons-creator-92-1201726246/

The last half of season 7 is really the low-point for the show - apparently the rise of the family comedies like Cosby made the Shapiro's and Pollocks try to focus on "family values" and the end result is horrible. Season 8 does improve slightly as they actually try to have an over-arching story for the season and doesn't change direction in every other episode, although season 9 is really the true renaissance of the show.

Yes, it was slightly ridiculous that they tried to sell Kirby and Adam as an end game couple in The Reunion, even Kathleen Beller wondered during an interview for the reunion why the hell Kirby would be friendly with her rapist (while Heather Locklear mused about how Sammy Jo's behavior made it seem like she was on drugs).

The ratings were hitting highs between seasons 2-5 (I believe the episode where Adam raped Kirby hit a high at that point), so choosing Adam's love interest from those seasons made sense rather than Dana.

It's odd because if you look at pictures of Troy Byer at the time she definitively could've pulled off young-adult/sex kitten, yet they dressed her like a 13 year old. I think they might've been afraid that dressing her older and having her act like an adult would age Dominique?

Why? Edit: just watched her part - she was trying to sell a full body swim wear. Apparently she was diagnosed with melanoma. She was a bit all over the place.

I think he looks good for an almost 60-year-old! (even if he uses a hair piece for most his roles these days, but he's been doing that since at least season 5 of Melrose)