Beverly Hills, 90210:

Melrose Place:

Both are set to be released on November 7th.

Wasn't Kimberly actually in the very firtst episode? She was an under-five though.

I don't think Kimberly was in the show until around the 5th episode maybe as an under-five. She was always just straggling along with Michael and others at the hospital.

People should give season 1 a chance. I've been rewatching the series this year (and am up to season 5) and the latter half of season 1 really isn't bad or too different from season 2. Sydney, Amanda, Kimberly, Jo are all there and there's a great sense of community which gives the stories more resonance as they start to take a campy twist.

Sure the first 10 eps aren't Melrose but the rest of the season is, IMO. Kimberly breaking up Michael and Jane's marriage, Amanda seducing Billy, Alison at D&D and her affair with psycho Keith, Jake and Jo...there is some good stuff.

I agree; the first season towards the end isn't really much different that S2. S3 and S4 are my absolute favorite seasons though, I cannot wait for them to come out. And actually, S5 is fairly good, here and there. I think S6 is airing on SoapNet now, at least on the weekends (Craig just killed himself and the Christine story is starting -- I hated that story), and some of it wasn't TOO bad, but it was just not the MP of old. Too many faces were gone and Amanda was too much of a whiney victim.

I said it once and I'll say it again: I liked the "goody-goody" first season. Hehehe.

My problem wasn't that they were nice to each other, but the self-contained plots were so awful, so generic and they come off extremely dated now. The things that work about the first season are more the little character moments we get. For the most part the characters are poorly written cliches, but there are some shining stars like Jo, Amanda, Alison and (though she had the worst story) Rhonda.

I think the same problems continued in season two, but thankfully they began serialized plots and making some of the characters complex so there was more to like. For every Katya/Matt you have Michael and Kimberly!

BTW, my personal favorites are seasons five and seven. The cast was perfect these seasons and they had well thought out ideas for the entire season. Kimberly's death in season five was insanely good. I also liked season four after Brooke died, but I H-A-T-E-D her.

James from London on another Melrose forum has been reviewing the series from beginning to end. Here's one of his reviews, I agree with his basic thoughts which are usually one good thing and a sea of generic garbage.

Here's one of his more positive reviews, for Jo's first episode:

"House of God." Which house? What God? I don't get it. Jo, the anti-Sandy, shows up, dressed all in black like she's in mourning for her life and complaining about the LA heat ("I think the sun's smaller in New York"). Needy Rhonda takes one look and begs Jo to move with her. Jo refuses: she wants a dark room, not a black roomie. Rhonda, clearly feeling her position in the opening credits under threat, willingly surrenders her apartment to Jo and offers to live, erm, I'm not sure where--the bottom of the pool, maybe? ("I'll sleep anywhere, just don't write me out of the show!!!") Jo's terrific--she's a welcome breath of toxic air. Her refusal to answer the telephone in front of Billy can mean only one thing: she has baggage! And she's rude to the neighbours! And she's a pool hustler! She and Jake have shower issues ("When you're cold, I'm hot") and the apartment complex suddenly starts to feel sexy. She bonds with Alison over faulty washing machines, broken relationships and tequila. Alison compares herself and Jo to THELMA AND LOUISE, which might be pushing it a little. Then again, Susan Sarandon shot a would be rapist dead in that movie, and don't I vaguely remember Jo doing something similar along the way? (Don't tell me.) Elsewhere, there's a by-the-numbers subplot about domestic violenzzzzzz. Michael's getting all pally with this influential paediatrics doctor who seems like a really nice guy, except for one thing. He has a beard. This means there must be something really wrong with him. Hey look, his wife--that chick from MY SO-CALLED LIFE who's really good at being irritating--has a black eye. D'ya think he ...? Well, Jane sure does. Michael doesn't wanna deal with it, and for a while it looks like we're going to get into a juicy hospital politics story where Michael puts his professional ambitions before the irritating MY SO-CALLED LIFE chick. Only he doesn't. He and the hairy doc have a really lame ass confrontation instead, and the hairy doc cries and it's really boring. I tell ya, Thomas Calabro is really fortunate that the producers decided to make Michael sleazy, because at this point he's as dull and dispensible as Rhonda and Matt, but without the "I'm a minority; see how I bleed" novelty factor.

I enjoy James from London's reviews. Usually spot on.

I'm currently rewatching season 5 at the moment and although it started off well after the car crash of season 4 (which I really didn't enjoy) it seems to have lost its way. The McBrides originally injected a good deal of new blood into the show but characters are locked in story islands and have very little to do with one another. Kimberly's cancer is dragged out too long, same goes for Peter/Taylor, Craig is irritating beyond belief and Jake/Alison should have left at the end of season 4. Because there are so many characters and so little attempts to intertwine them, there just isn't enough time to devote to every story.

I agree with season 7 though. Although it had lost a little bit of its fun and John Haymes Newton was as interesting as watching paint dry, it was a lot tighter.

This is so unfair... on Amazon.com each DVD set costs like $ 35 (£ 18 - € 27). In the United Kingdom, each set is available for £35.99 (€ 52)!!. Why do we have to pay twice as much? In Germany/France/Benelux, both sets aren't released at all, so I have to buy UK imports.

Just got mine in the mail. I can't believe there were 32 episodes in Melrose Place's season one!! I thought that was impossible. I love 90210. I can't wait to start watching these!! I don't have SoapNet so it has been a WHILE since I saw MP or 90210!!

wow, let us know how they are!! how much do they cost in Us/Canada?

I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!!!! My gosh...SO EXCITING! i think the latter half of season one was REALLY good....with 32 eppys? WOW!