Melrose Place

[cuzIsaySo]

Anyone remembers a character named Dave Erikson played by Rob Youngblood (ex-Pierce Dorman 1.0)? He was on for 7 episodes in 1996.

An details? I really cant place the character at all.

[Huntress]

Dave was a co-worker of Matt's at Wilshire Memorial. They met while Matt was in a relationship with Alan Ross, the closeted actor. Dave instantly had a crush on Matt, and when Alan agreed to marry his co-star Val (played by Jeri Ryan), Matt slept with Dave. Afterwards he had a guilty conscience and told Dave that their one-night-stand was a mistake. Dave was heartbroken and called Alan to tell him that Matt had cheated on him.

Alan and Matt eventually broke up. Matt then wanted to get closer to Dave, but during their date Matt only talked about Alan which annoyed Dave to no ends so he disappeared from Matt's life.

That all happened in the latter half of season 4.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Huntress

[cuzIsaySo]

Thank u Huntress. Its all coming back to me now (didnt mean to quote celine dion sorry for that)

Wish Rob Youngblood had stuck longer i really liked him on GH. He might have been a decent long term love interest for Matt and he wouldnt have had to be dragged out of the closet the way all other relationship Matt was in were.

[John]

Yeah I remember Katie Wright signed to 13 episodes of Season 6 but maybe it was Heather's baby or Doug quit but she only did 3 in S6 and left with Doug

Edited April 12, 2014 by John

[te.]

She did one episode in season 6 - the season premiere along with Doug Savant and was gone by the end of it.

As I said, Doug was supposed to stay until midseason but Heather's pregnancy meant they had to start filming earlier and had to let Doug go due to other commitments on his part. It's not impossible that they had hoped that Doug would be swayed to stay beyond the midseason and if he didn't they probably wanted to see if the audience would take to Chelsea as a character, but that's the reason for their abrupt exits in the season 6 premiere. Personally, I think a lot of things were obviously screwed up by Heather's pregnancy - the show really didn't flow at all and storylines would just be dropped left and right especially at the start of the season.

I'm not sure the overall quality would've improved if they had more time to plan out the season from the beginning, but I can't help to feel they were struggling with time constraints in the writers room.

Speaking of Matt... am I the only one who thinks the writers missed a beat by not having him go up against / pair up with Kimberley post-season 3? She really brought out the sass in him.

Edited April 12, 2014 by te.

[Huntress]

Kimberly brought out of the sass in many people, Jo and Jane for example The only people she didn't interact much with were Alison, Billy and Jake – although there was that akward episode in season 1 where Michael wanted Kimberly to become Billy's roommate after Alison had moved to Seattle.

I don't know why they tried to keep Doug Savant on the show but didn't try to keep the more popular actors and characters who were leaving at the same time.

But I also will never understand why they kept Andrew Shue and Billy that long.

[John]

MP shuld have axed Shue when Thorne Smith left and kept Doug as Matt. i never bought that Billy loved Sam plus both were gutted when he hooked up with Jennifer and she Dan Gauither

I dont get why they dropped Craig. I thought he worked better with Jennifer

Edited April 12, 2014 by John

[te.]

True that Kimberly brought the sass out in every character, but Matt really needed it. This iconic scene is my favourite between them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce0UoDpgwBY

Supposedly, Aaron Spelling was fighting to keep Courtney Thorne-Smith as he felt she was the "heart" of the show. In hindsight... I sort of agree. As much as I love Kimberly and Sydney, the Amanda vs Alison rivarly was what got the show started, wasn't it? Amanda vs Taylor never worked as well, because suddenly, Amanda was the "good girl".

[Cheap21]

Alison was heart in season 1 and 2, but she started to lose that role in S3 and it was completely gone by 4 and 5. Alison in 5 was virtually unrecognizable. Sometimes its hard to believe she was there for the entire year and didn't make an early exit like Jane and Kim, bc she and her story were so forgettable. The show had long transitioned from being the "Alison show" by the time she left that when she did exit, I dont think it really hurt it.

[cuzIsaySo]

I think it was a bad idea to keep her at Shooters (wow i just realized that w/o the furst S it makes Hooters) with jake and she should have been given a new storyline involving different castmembes (never bought billy & alison as soulmates).

Jake was also one of the main castmembers that got lost during season 5 he could have met with his long lost son earlier in the season and reunited with Jo.

[Gray Bunny]

I agree about Alison being "the heart" of the show for the first 2 seasons, slowly losing that title in Season 3 and gone by 4. I *hated* that they kept Alison bussing tables at Shooters for more than 1 episode. That should've been a very temporary gig at most. The Alison we knew and loved in seasons 1-3 was very goal-oriented in her career. After she quit D&D, she should've joined another agency. But because they probably felt there was no story to mine all on her own (plus they'd have to build another set), they just stashed her at Shooters and stuck her with Jake in a story that sucked the life out of both characters.

I agree; you almost forgot either character was still there in season 5, especially once Billy moved on to painting princess Sam (painting storylines are The. Worst.)

[cuzIsaySo]

Alison walking away fron D&D could have been a perfect way to re-introduce Rhonda (i know i know) and have them join together in a new business venture. From there Rhonda could have woven her way back into the canvas as the lone voice of reason and could have helped bridge the gap between the original cast and the new additions that came later on.

With so many original castmembers dropping like flies during season5 having an original castmember brought back (even a lesser popular one) could have helped the series to keep a sense of what it used to be i dont know.

[Khan]

Didn't the final episode suggest Alison had become a total barfly, passed out drunk in some bar? I don't know, MP just seems to leave a bitter taste in my mouth when all was said and done. Everyone was basically venal w/ absolutely no redeeming qualities. It makes me wonder about the mindsets of those responsible for writing and producing the show.

[Gray Bunny]

No I believe that was discussed here earlier, where there had been talk about plans to bring back some of the originals for the series finale, but some actors were asking too much money, so they completely shelved the idea. And one of the plans was to show Alison schnockered at the bar. In reality, I don't think the character is even mentioned, except for the very end when Peter & Amanda are contemplating names of their future children.

Edited April 13, 2014 by Gray Bunny

[Vee]

That was an idea they floated, but it never got onscreen.