Models Inc. Discussion Thread

[Matt]

The best Models, Inc. ever was was during that 1st 6 episode mini-summer season that launched the series. I was so hooked on the show because of that, but once it came back from a brief break for it's full Fall season, it just couldn't hold enough of my interest and becamse rather pedestrian, IMO.

[~bl~]

I agree with Matt. That's how I felt, the first six episodes were so good and then when it came back it seemed tacked on and not that great.

[DRW50]

December 1994 Digest

[Gray Bunny]

Aw I loved that too. It was almost disturbing actually.

Poor thing was always down on her luck, but I totally rooted for her too.

[DRW50]

February 1995 Weekly

[te.]

Here's the alternate ending for those who haven't seen it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=897rtXb58gk

[JWDrama1980]

Scan this today...Rumors About Models Inc From Star Magazine.

[JWDrama1980]

[EricMontreal22]

That ending for that character really depressed me as a teen. I think now it was too misanthropic even for a gull on guilty pleasure show like Models Inc--but it came from Charles Pratt, so... (I guess for some reason I accepted all the rape, and glamour call girl prostitutes on a show like that, but going into full on sex trafficking--even if it looked like she was in a much nicer situation than she would be in real life, was just too unpleasant)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6KJQNuhltE

[Vee]

I remember just laughing my ass off at that ending for poor Carrie. She had been such an agony aunt for what seemed like years but it was only months. Nothing but endless misery and torture and then finally she's shipped off to a South American bordello. It was darkly hilarious.

I thought the show was coming back, so I was pissed when it didn't, although the focus on James Wilder (Kirstie Alley's boytoy, and Reed the drug dealer from MP) as Adam as well as Emma Samms never sat all that well with me. Samms I liked, and I enjoyed having Stephanie Romanov back full-time, but they never adequately explained why Monique resembled Teri, and they never gave me a reason to care about Adam. Linda Gray as Hillary was fading into the background, and they'd (IMO) foolishly written out Brian Gaskill as her son, who I really liked back then - I have no idea why he was cut. After Models he turned up on AMC playing Bobby the high schooler and I, who was in junior high myself at the time, choked on my lunch. I never could tolerate him again. I can't remember what became of Teresa Hill's creepy boyfriend who had that weird storyline with Kim Zimmer, who I believe referred to this show as the nadir of her career. Even then she looked rough as hell.

Kylie Travis as Julie was the engine of that show, IMO. She was a blast, opposite Monique and the others. Cassidy Rae was an embarrassment when the character of Sarah went 'bad,' and it seemed to have no bottom - like Carrie she just got worse and worse. I wanted her to die - she drove me nuts.

Models was a guilty pleasure because it was darker and far seedier and weirder than MP, at least in my young eyes. It just seemed to get stranger and stranger, especially after the murder mystery story ended. But I dug it, for all its flaws and repetitious stories of degradation.

The alternate ending is always so random - "hey girls, I'm closing Models Inc. Bye!" Was there even any suggestion of that at the end of the series prior to that tacked-on scene? I can't remember one. And there's Sarah, who last I checked had been a drugged out basket case in that finale, though it's been years since I've seen it.

[EricMontreal22]

I guess being drugged into sexual slavery just seemed too dark for me (and I'm not saying that to imply your moral compass is off if you found it funny I admit I would have accepted other horrific fates for her...) If the show had gone on Pratt probably would have made her have a coup and suddenly become the runner of the brothel, or something, though... (Actually, maybe not, since she was a woman).

"Models was a guilty pleasure because it was darker and far seedier and weirder than MP, at least in my young eyes. It just seemed to get stranger and stranger, especially after the murder mystery story ended. But I dug it, for all its flaws and repetitious stories of degradation."

I agree--I actually found it luridly exciting, and I'm shocked our mother let us watch it (she must not have been watching with us, but she could be pretty bad about anything that was--well as you said--seedy). I remembersome six or so years later when I was in a study group at university *somehow* Models Inc came up, and out TA, who seemed like a very straight, boring guy, pipped up that he was SOO annoyed that it ended on a cliffhanger and never came back.

It did seem like Pratt and South and everyone were trying to push the boundaries they had going with Melrose as far as they could--the later Spelling primetime shows like Pacific Palisades and Savannah, as well as Pratt's Titans (which I admit I kinda liked too), tended to go back to try to focus more on families, etc, atleast somewhat.

(And I agree about Brian Gaskill leaving half way through--and then how beyond weird it was him playing someone my age on AMC).

[Vee]

They seemed to be wildly retooling the show as they went - they brought Stephanie Romanov back, threw in "General Hospital's Emma Samms" (this baffled me, as I'd been watching GH for about a year up to that point and had no real memory of her, as Holly had split right around the time I started) to dominate the show and pretty much overtake Hillary, and made so much story revolve around James Wilder - who was no towering presence - and Samms, as well as Don Michael Paul or whatever his name was as Craig the writer, who seemed like a very hasty replacement for Brian Gaskill and David. And then Hillary, Teresa Hill and her creepy ex Eric all hit the backburner. I'm not sure that guy was still on the show at the end of the season. Even Garcelle Beauvais got more story. I was so excited when they added an African-American model, but the stories for her were so lame. I also remember Robert Beltran from Star Trek: Voyager as that wooden police detective who suddenly announced he was in love with Hillary. In the first episode after the 'hiatus' she told him to get out and he was never seen again. Okay.

It was a weird, twisted show, what can I say.

[JWDrama1980]

[te.]

That's just Charles Pratt and Frank South for you! Pretty much after they returned to Melrose they started doing these "Days"-like campaigns to "save the show" each season.

On a side note - I thought Carrie ending up in Hooker Hell (baby) was hilarious too in a dark twisted way. Considering how they basically tortured her through-out the show's short run it did seem like an appropriate ending for her.

[Gray Bunny]

Thanks for posting all the old articles!

They definitely were trying to throw out every crazy plot twist to try to stir interest in the show, and Emma Samms was supposed to be Models' Heather Locklear, by bringing in a relatively well-known Dynasty alum to be the 3rd party to the show's top love triangle.

It WAS crazy and dark, but looking back, it seemed like they had too many weak "B" storylines, unlike Melrose where all the stories had major climaxes and could become the "A" storyline at any point.

Didn't Grayson try to pimp out the Models?

Even so, I enjoyed it overall for its salacious soapy twists, but it never quite popped like Melrose. I am surprised though that FOX didn't give it another season to find its footing, the way they had for Melrose and Party of Five during that time.