Melrose Place

[Khan]

Thanks, @te.!  I wasn't sure about all the details, just what I vaguely still remembered from years ago (which wasn't much, I'll grant you, lol).  And you're right: it WILL be glossed over, lol.

[te.]

TBF, Courtney, Laura and Daphne were all gone by the time this happened, so it wouldn't really be fair for them to drag this up. From what they said on the podcast, it also seems like they had a good relationship with him so... who knows. Even from the above document it's not that Hayes personally harassed someone - it's that he was neglectful to implement policies (and Hayes himself claims he was set up, which is very Melrose). 

Edited December 28, 2024 by te.

[Khan]

LOL on the bolded part.  You're right, it is, lol.

[Chris B]

That is definitely interesting! From watching Still the Place, they mention that the show was relatively drama free and it's clear they all got along. I guess once they started shaking up the cast things changed. This isn't that far off from Hunter Tylo being fired. My guess is that whoever was responsible for that probably had a hand in glossing over this.

[te.]

To be honest, it wouldn't surprise me if Spelling was actively looking for a reason to get rid of Hayes at the end of season six as the show was failing and he wanted to shake it up. Having grounds for dismissal meant he could bypass giving him a settlement, so I could definitively see far worse things being glossed over on set than a production manager behaving inappropriately by showing 90s internet porn. 

Wrong, of course, but considering some of the nightmare stories we've heard lately it is in the "mild" department. But of course, we only have reports of Hayes' lawsuit and not how it was settled, so there might be more to it that we're not privy to. 

[te.]

The Chip Hayes interview is up! Only 10 minutes in but also a lot of interesting tidbits - among others he recalls how horrible Peppard was on the Dynasty set ("Absolute monster") and that's why they recasted him with John Forsythe ("one of the loveliest actors in Hollywood").

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-still-the-place-191057736/episode/chip-hayes-255023790/

Edited January 6 by te.

[detroitpiston]

The Chip Hayes episode was great, loved hearing the mechanics of how he came up with the production format that allowed the show to film so many episodes per season. The funniest part was the end when Daphne and Court started pressing him about their exits from the show and he lowkey confirmed the rumor Daphne was the highest paid cast member after Heather

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[Chris 2]

Good episode. Was fun to hear about how challenging it was for the actors when they were doubling up on shooting episodes. Courtney said something about how sometimes, “You just had to pretend it was a standalone episode and go with it.”

[Chris 2]

Courtney said she was willing to stay for a certain amount of money and when they didn’t meet it, she left. She said there were no hard feelings and she was ready to go in a way (shades of Victoria Principal on Dallas).

[Chris B]

Courtney was smart to leave considering it left her open to Ally McBeal. I did find it interesting to hear Daphne confirm she was fired. I always assumed she decided to leave after season 4. Considering her movie success prior to the show, it's not surprising to hear she was the second highest paid. 

[Khan]

Did they touch at all on Hayes' life and career post-MP?  (I'm guessing they didn't, but I thought I'd ask anyway, lol).

[Soaplovers]

I'm not surprised that Daphne was fired because I thought I had read that she wasn't happy with how she was written in season 4 and went to TPTB.. and they basically gave her the boot.

I have a feeling had Daphne remained into season 5.. she would have been the heavy against Jake/Allison.. a position Jane was slid into and which didn't make much sense.

[detroitpiston]

He briefly mentioned working at AMC and Pratt joining but they didn’t get into any real details. Nothing much about his personal life either except he and his wife took Andrew and Courtney on a double date without realizing they’d already broken up

Jo was already so marginalized by the middle of season 4 its hard for me to even think of what she could have done in s5. I always thought she should have been involved in Sydney and Jane burying Richard alive though

Edited January 7 by detroitpiston

[te.]

She was also the second-highest paid cast member, I guess due to having a decent agent after being in movies. If they had signed another contract with her, it would've also raised her salary significantly due to how the contract was designed.

It's also interesting that Heather was actually directly paid by the network (who'd also fund for guest stars like Loni Anderson and Priscilla Presley); I guess any time someone has the title "Special Guest Star" they're paid outside the regular production. 

Edited January 7 by te.

[DRW50]

Donna Mills interview (how did people feel about her arc - was she mentioned when Jane returned?).

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