Melrose Place

[te.]

From everything I've gathered Daphne had been unhappy with Jo's storylines for a long time when she left. You could tell by her phoning in her performance during season 4.

Jo being in season 5 is an interesting thought, though. I've never heard of Daphne being interested in signing in for another season.

[Gray Bunny]

That character on MP 2.0 being Jake's grown son would've made PERFECT sense, given the age and timing. Not that I care about the rewritten history of 2.0, but I still don't get who Michael's baby mama was supposed to be. Certainly not Taylor!

Courtney Thorne-Smith ditching the show and popping up on Ally McBeal (a show that aired literally right after MP) the next year is symbolic of melodramatic serials becoming irrelevant in favor of cheeky, satirical comedy-dramas that eventually took over in the 2000's.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Gray Bunny

[Vee]

It also made her career, for a few years, anyway. Wasn't she on that Jim Belushi show for a decent run? She was always a great comedienne and had such a winning personality whenever I saw her on talk shows.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Vee

[te.]

Courtney has always been one of the actresses that talked positively about her run on the show. Unlike a lot of the actors and actresses she never seemed to trash it. Her love for drunken Alison is funny too - I recall an interview with Andrew Shue a few years ago - he had a very romantic vision of Alison and Billy getting together some time after the show. Courtney just thought Alison would be a big old drunk at this point.

Also, David on Melrose 2.0 was supposed to be Jake's son. Stupid, but they switched the roles when Grant Show didn't want to appear on the show.

[Vee]

I didn't realize Courtney actually did that Jim Belushi show for eight years. That's good money. And then she had some recurring role on Two and a Half Men for years. Well, it's a living. I'm glad to see she appears to be doing well. I remember how hilarious a sport she was to keep up as best anyone could with Norm MacDonald and Conan O'Brien as they ribbed her about her co-starring role in a Carrot Top movie shortly after exiting Melrose. "It's like 9 1/2 Weeks but with Carrot Top."

[dm.]

Yeah, Courtney has been doing very well since her MP days... Three seasons on Ally McBeal, eight seasons on According to Jim, and has been recurring for five seasons on Two and a Half Men (the following one will be her sixth).

[te.]

I don't think Courtney is the greatest actress, but she's so damn charming.

I would've been interested to see season six if Aaron could've swayed Courtney to stay. They could've had her and Amanda start their own company.

[Gray Bunny]

Yay for some Courtney love! I always enjoyed her. I had no problem with Melrose being the Alison Parker show in the first season. I wish they could've gotten her back for the series finale, even for a cameo.

She, like Heather Locklear, Laura Leighton, Josie Bissett, Marcia Cross, etc. just seem to improve with age.

[Soaplovers]

I agree Courtney isn't the strongest actress, but she has a likable presence that has served her well since Melrose Place. In fact, her first tv show where she made an impression was Day By Day. I know she was the mean girl in Lucas and did another short lived tv show, but Day By Day was where I remember her from.

She has done pretty well going from Melrose to Ally Mcbeal to According to Jim and finally Two and a Half Men. Pretty impressive twenty plus year presence.

I do agree that Allison was a major presence in the first three season, but by season 4 her dominance over major story started to diminish and season 5 was just the Jake/Allison show separate from everyone else.

[cuzIsaySo]

CTS has a likability that plays very well on screen. Thats a major asset for any performer as we all know knowing your craft is never enough in TV land.

I dont remember much about Jake & Alison but on paper they made sense. The problem was sticking them in the Shooters storyline and never getting them out of there.

They were two popular original castmembers, playing characters the audience mostly liked but apparently GS and CTS gave their departing notice too soon into the season and the writers decided not to use them much.

Think of how helpful Jake and Alison could have been at "welcoming" new castmembers.

But Jake & Jo and Billy & Alison should have ended up together.

Did they play with Jane/Kyle/Amanda/Michael quad? It feels like it writes itself. Michael and Amanda team up to break up and win back Jane and Kyle but fall in love in the process. For like two or three episodes then they go back to scheaming against each other.

I cant believe the revamped version of MP was such a mess. Seems to me that it would be the EASIEST primetime soap to recreate. Such a waste.

[Vee]

Kyle and Jane ended up together on the show. It was a brief triangle with Amanda, and one I liked a lot. I was happy with that ending.

I liked a lot of things about MP 2.0 - the cast was mostly excellent, especially Katie Cassidy and Lauren the soulful hooker/doctor. I thought the Billy/Alison-esque couple, Michael Rady and Jessica Lucas, were incredibly boring people played by incredibly talented actors (and oh my God, Michael Rady looks great naked). I thought bringing back Syd was a great idea that was wasted; I thought Michael and Amanda worked coming back. But killing Syd, and the subsequent Amanda art theft plotline were both pointless and stupid. Still, it was far better than nu90210 that year. It was a waste of huge potential.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Vee

[te.]

The problem with MP2.0 were obvious - the writers never watched the original show and instead of trying to fit their script around who was ready to come back, they tried to wrangle in the ones who were willing to come back into their own idea what the show should be.

If they had to do the whole "Body in the Pool" storyline, why not try to lure Jamie Luner to do it? She was the last one who owned the complex and it's not inconcievable that she would still be there, perhaps embittered. With the characters previous pill popping addiction that role fits her more than Amanda (who I could never see as a drunk) or Sydney (who, let's face it, was an eternal screw-up and her owning the complex / being an art thief was just odd). It also wouldn't have pissed off fans of the original show that much while giving it a throwback and for new viewers it wouldn't matter as it would've just been the landlord lady in the pool anyway.

Or the whole issue with changing David from Jake to Michael's son. Michael, along with characters like Amanda, were probably the easiest to write into the show without having them looking sad and old still living in the apartment complex as they would just be at their work place. If they had to give Michael and David some relation, why not have Michael being his step-dad after marrying Colleen (Jake's ex)? That would've given Brooke Burns' character similar motives for offing who ever was in the pool ("you slept with my husband and son!") while not trying to force something that wasn't in the original show.

I still would've liked a second season of it though, if only for Katie Cassidy and Heather Locklear going head-to-head.

[Vee]

You could've still done the body in the pool, but while I loved Lexi she would not have gotten attention. Other than Amanda there is no one the general audience who hadn't bothered with Season 5, let alone Season 7, would care about that much except Sydney (or Kimberly). You just could've ended it on Syd turning up alive after all - say she'd faked her death, again. Keep Laura Leighton around.

I didn't have a problem with them changing David's paternity. It gave Michael a permanent role on the show and a new kind of dynamic for Thomas Calabro, and he was sorely needed at all times. Grant Show and Jake would not have given them much to work with. The less said about Brooke Burns's obvious murderer character the better.

[Chris B]

Can you imagine if the writers got their way and the body in the pool was AMANDA? That reboot was never going to work because those writers had no idea about the show they were writing. Sydney could've been a useful character, but that body should've been either Lexi or it could've been Taylor. They could've SORASed her kid with Michael and not have to retcon something.

[Gray Bunny]

It boggles my mind that the writers of 2.0 admit they never saw the original. I mean, how do they get that kind of writing job without ANY type of research?