Melrose Place

[Khan]

In retrospect, it would have been amazing to have a sitcom spin-off, where it's just the so-called "ghost tenants" observing and commenting on all the craziness going on at MP.

[Gray Bunny]

 

Which, by the way, it's funny how post-explosion once the apartment is completely rebuilt, the establishing footage shown is like nothing had ever happened. Everything looks the same; same weathered look, whether it's old or new, and even the same exact plants, trees, landscaping as it was before. 

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I guess it's like Family Guy, Simpsons, or any other cartoon where the characters wear the same clothes because it's comfortable and familiar to the audience. 

 

Edited February 5, 2020 by Gray Bunny

[te.]

 

I think it also had to do with the fact that they would sometimes shoot outside the real apartment complex, so they might not have wanted to change anything too drastically. But yeah, with the apartment complex blowing up it would've been the perfect time to "revamp" the sets, but I guess Aaron was way too cheap to do that. I found it funny that Amanda supposedly renovated the apartments to look exactly the same as before. It was also funny how furniture turned up in apartments that were blown up in the explosion, sometimes with a new coat of paint or with new fabrics. I guess the residents were enviromentally conscious.

 

TBH, I don't think they milked the residents having to room up with each other enough. They certainly could've gotten more mileage from Sydney / Amanda bunking up.

[SteelCity]

Remember! The explosion also gave Sydney and Jane bangs!

Edited February 6, 2020 by SteelCity

[Gray Bunny]

 

 

I would love to see how they originally edited the season 3 finale, since the explosion was supposed to air at the very end until Oklahoma City happened in real life. I wonder what the last shot would've been before they faded/froze to black. 

[Dion]

 

My guess is that they would have shown everything up to and including the iconic shot of Amanda looking through the railings and mouthing "Oh my god" before being hurled down the stairs by a secondary blast. After that point it cuts abruptly to a series of shots showing some of the characters starting to get up (Michael first, Peter and Jo next, then Sydney...).

[te.]

 

 

Yeah, that's a fairly good guess at where they would've ended it (at 3:06) as it would've left all the characters down a la the Dynasty massacre. I think the shot of Sydney/Laura a few seconds after that was clearly shot when she had gotten a new hairstyle. I feel like they might've had Amanda being thrown down the stairs and then the shot of the building burning at circa 3:18 as the actual fade out.

[Gray Bunny]

 

Agreed! They had only one good scene with Amanda/Sydney bunking together.

 

And, forgot this lil tidbit until now as I'm watching, but for a short while in season 4, Sydney and Kimberly are living together at Melrose! That could've been milked, but we got nary a drop. 

[Vee]

I'd love a bit more detail on Star's plans for S4, and when exactly he left. I haven't rewatched those eps in forever and I'd like to examine when and how the show changed course.

 

Haven't watched much of the show at all in aeons, but I'm finding upon looking this week that I still know much of it by heart. I do think a revival could be viable, but it would need most of the cast while also requiring a) some link to the building and b) some younger or multicultural cast. It can't be all-white anymore. Maybe a anniversary celebration/benefit re: the neighborhood or gentrification draws the old crowd back, or a death (Billy?).

 

One thing I disliked about the use of the old cast in the CW show is that every single one of them, from Michael and Amanda through to Jo and Jane, was ultimately portrayed as cynical, moneygrubbing and desperate. Each was a vindictive leech. Jane's company was supposedly broke and she schemed to bleed the young cast; Jo was out for a payout. While this may be very true to life re: much of LA or the ethos of the old show, it's not all it was or all they were at core, not the latter two especially. It demeaned them. The less said about the byzantine art forgery world Amanda and Sydney were now allegedly preoccupied with, the better.

Edited February 7, 2020 by Vee

[te.]

 

Someone did point out once that after 4.15 (the winter finale with the Christmas party where Jane has a stroke) the show just starts treading water and nothing much really happens. Having re-watched it a while ago I tend agree with that - I think Darren probably did help craft the season until then more or less. After that, Brooke basically becomes a screeching harpy until they kill her off in a panic mode and of course the Jane / Sydney / Michael / Kimberly storyline goes around in circles.

[will81]

From what I remember he left between S3 and S4 but left those in charge with outlines for at least half the year. Which is why around the start of 1996 everything seems to start falling apart. I might look up some old newspaper articles to see if I can find any official info from BITD. I'll post if I find anything

 

As a side note, thanks to this thread I have gone back and started watching this show from the start, I haven't watched MP since it first aired. So it is such a trip to see these episodes again and so bizarre that I remember it like it was yesterday. It is like a scent that takes you back to a certain time and place, haha. So much fun.

 

 

 

SPOILERS in case anyone isn't up to this (not sure how this thread works, so just being cautious)

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[Soaplovers]

Haven't the residents bunk together sounds like a Darren Starr idea..but it wasnt explored enough.  One good Amanda/Sydney scene...one funny scene with Jane and Allison trying to scheme (2 goody two shoes plotting was funny)..and I think Matt/Jo bunked with no good scenes.

 

Kimberly moving into the building was good..but she had no scenes with Sydney nor Jo..wasted.

 

I will say having Jo/Sydney finally share scenes in the last episodes of season 4 was nice...since they had strong scenes in season 2 together. 

[te.]

 

Another relationship I felt was a bit wasted - I loved their brief interaction in season 2 when Jo noticed that Sydney was all of a sudden flush with cash from hooking and not buying into her story about being a soopah model.

[will81]

Yeah S4 (at least the first half) seemed to be a lot of good ideas that were poorly executed, so the idea Starr left the show with outlines that TPTB had no idea how to play out seems plausible. 

 

The second half is just a mess. I remember Jane's arc being one I was not impressed with, though the Sydney/Jane stuff towards the end of that season was fun (moreso because of Laura and Josie's great chemistry as sisters) I still remember thinking the show had lost it by then. I barely watched S5 and quit after Kelly Rutherford came on. Nothing to do with her, I just wasn't happy with the show by that point.

[te.]

 

IIRC, Darren officially left the show at episode 100 and left with an outline after that to follow for half of the season.

 

Watching 4x02 right now and one thing that stands out to me is how at this point they still had proper group interaction scenes - like most of the residents being at Shooters hanging out, even adding in a brief interaction between Jane and Brooke (!); it still feels like an ensemble show. Gradually throughout the season characters start becoming increasingly islanded from I can remember, even before the obvious outline ended. As you said, South & co probably had an idea where to go storylinewise, but executionwise it started lacking even with Stars outline.

 

Brooke was terribly mishandled - here more than ever it really does seem like she was more like a Melissa-from-Falcon-Crest-archetype of a spoiled rich girl. She easily could've been a "next generation" character, so I'm not looking forward to her being  increasingly turned into a screeching harpy.