Melrose Place Spinoff: Discussion Thread

[Huntress]

In my opinion, this is terrible news. Melrose Place was unique in terms of storylines and became famous once it started to get crazy. In the beginning it was just an "older" version of Beverly Hills, 90210 and therefore simply boring.

A remake will only work if it doesn't have any ties to the original show. After all, at the end of the original series only 4 characters lived at the apartment complex. One of them, Kelly Rutherford (Megan), is now a series regular on "Gossip Girl".

Most of the other characters are either dead or moved away from Los Angeles ages ago. Besides, the majority of actors might now be too old to appear in a show targeted at a younger audience.

While Brenda and other characters of Beverly Hills, 90210 were still mentioned occassionaly during the show's run, people that had left Melrose Place were never spoken of again.

Furthermore, the fact that Rob Estes now plays a different role on 90210 makes it impossible to have a crossover with a Melrose Place remake, especially if any character from seasons 5-7 appears on it since they all more or less interacted with Kyle McBride - after all, he owned "Kyle's" restaurant.

The fact that Lisa Rinna first spread the rumor about a Melrose remake implies that she might be on it. But I don't consider her an important character of the original series since she joined the cast when the show was already going downhill.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

With the pop cultural phenomena Sex And The City became, it kind of makes sense to me that Darren Starr wouldn't want to go back and do something like a Melrose Place again.

I personally think it's lazy and reeks of desperation to revive shows like Melrose Place. The 90's are so, it's time to let go. Remakes are almost never as good as the original, and of course there's bound to be comparisons whether anyone likes it or not.

MP and BH 90210 barely ended a decade ago, are they really that missed?

[All My Shadows]

Oh damn, I never even thought of them. I forgot the whole thing with OTH, and I didn't consider the others.

[JamesF]

I completely agree. I think that the premise of a very OTT show revolving around 20somethings could work (in fact I consider One Tree Hill to be that very format these days).

But the original was so butchered in its second half because of the speed of the narrative that there is no way you can bring back the straggling cast members that might be available and turn it into a cohesive show. Besides which the CW would never ever greenlight a pilot about a group of creepy 40somethings.

If there was going to be a connection, I like the original suggestion I read somewhere of Amanda Woodward being a Devil Wears Prada type boss at D&D. But then 90210 has failed in so many ways. And so much of that is down to the fact that it has a complete identity crisis, vaccilating between schmaltzy family drama, teen issue of the week and a reunion of the original characters. Kelly and Brenda might as well exist on a separate show for all of the sense it makes for them to be in a teen drama without being the parents.

Unless shows revolve around families or wider communities (with less predilection for stories involving whos slept with whom), it is very difficult to do the inter-generational thing.

[UKBoi]

Kelly is Silver's sister, so it makes sense for her to be there...and then they're obviously going for Brenda/Ryan/Kelly triangle aswell. I like that it's not just a teen drama now, but instead has separate storylines for the adults that will affect the kids (i.e. Naomi and Annie learning they have a brother as a result of Harry and Tracy's affair when they were teens). I think this could grow to be a fully fledged soap opera, given the opportunity. I do think, however, it's marred by the shmultzy CW production values that just cheapen the whole look...I dont know how to describe it but its very 'bright' and 'crisp' but not in a Paul Rauch way. I think sometimes Gossip Girl can have this look as well, and The Game is very guilty of it. The lack of full length opening credits REALLY bugs me too.

[JamesF]

But therein lies the problem. They've really not paid much attention to Kelly and Erin's relationship because they just don't have the time or inclination to service it properly when there are other characters to introduce. I do think the show will improve but 90210 screams 'cobbled together'. It's been utterly rushed from the outset with absolutely no long term plan and guest appearances shoe horned in with no real consciousness of a story arc.

And objectively, I just can't see people who have no prior knowledge of the original BH90210 giving two shits about Kelly and Brenda. They're not parents, they're not teachers and they dissapear at the drop of a hat because they're only scheduled at random. It's essentially sitting down to watch a high school drama and two barely related middle aged women popping up on a whim to make allusions to stories and characters that the average viewer is probably completely oblivious to.

It could have worked. It might still work. But in trying to distance myself as someone who watched the original, it's really just been quite boring and shambolic.

But back to the topic in hand, I still don't think it would work for Melrose Place to put much focus on the original. I'd love to see a fresh version. I did like what someone on TWoP commentd on -- it could be a much easier show to recreate and make its mark. There's really nothing like it on TV these days whereas (as the poster pointed out) TV is always awash with teen dramas.

[All My Shadows]

I agree completely. The only way that works is if the parents are connected in the teens' storylines beyond just being parents (i.e. a mother having an affair with her daughter's boyfriend, etc).

Non-serialized shows can do it well, like early 90210 did, where the emphasis is less on continuing storylines and all the angst that comes out of the storylines, but more about self-contained plots that change from week to week. Something like that doesn't seem to work these days, though. For instance, I had an idea once of a show that would take place around a bed and breakfast on the outskirts of a fairly average-sized town. The characters would be the woman who runs it, her grown divorced son, his teenage children, and the woman's best friend and her grandson (who is the same age as the main character's grandchildren). The only channel that would ever considering picking up something like that is maybe the Hallmark Channel. They're very in to the multigenerational thing. A lot of their original movies are about a young person bonding with and becoming close to an older person.

[Cheyenne]

I don't want them to "copy" 90210 with original characters. It would be really lame to do it twice in one year. imo I love 90210 as it is, but I rather have a new cast on Melrose.

[Huntress]

But why would Amanda ever return to Los Angeles in the first place? When the original show ended, she and Peter were being wanted by the police and they finally found their happy ending on that little island. Besides, D&D was shut down in the season five finale.

I could see them go for an Alison-Billy-reunion, though. Other possibilities include Jane/Michael or Jo/Jake. I guess nobody cares about characters like Samantha, Lexi, Jennifer or Ryan. At least I don't.

[JamesF]

Well in the scheme of backtracking, it seems more plausible to me for Amanda to have gotten back to LA than Sydney to have returned from the dead or any of the other rewrites that would be necessary to root popular characters. As for D&D, whether I agree with it or not, I think that's one of the fudges that might have to be made for the sake of making the connection. Most people who remember the original probably stopped watching by the time the later years rolled round. Amanda was the most iconic character, D&D was the most prominent workplace...I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to use them as the hooking point for old viewers.

I think Lexi's the only one of the older characters that I'd be interested in seeing or that might return but she wouldn't mean very much to an original audience or a new one.

[CassieFan]

I would love to see Lexi (Jamie Luner) in that remake...she was HOT

[dragonflies]

This is from the print TV Guide:

Melrose Place Returns?

Apartments for lease. Applicants must not be afraid of drownings, explosives or bitchy landladies. Yep, a CW rep confirms "We are exploring development of Melrose Place for the '09-10 season." But having revived 90210 to only modest ratings, is it really worth laying down a fresh layer of Spanish tiles?

Darren Star, who created the original 90210 and Melrose, cautions, "It's not an easy thing to do......There's no guarantees how it's going to work out." Even original 90210-er Tori Spelling, who said it was her late father Aaron's dream to resurrect 90210, believes "that one's not as easy. I never heard him talk about another Melrose. Are you just going to have new people in the apartment building?"

Apparantly, yes. One Melrose vet questions the point. Rob Estes, who has found success on 90210, worries that the new show could prove as disastrous as the bomb Marcia Cross' Kimberly set off in the original complex. "What was the foundation of that show besides the place?" he asks. "Are you going to get Heather or someone to come in and resurrect what has turned into a s----hole?"

But at least two early Melrose resident seem game for a comeback. Grant Show says he'd be up for returning as his old motorcycle-riding tough guy, Jake Hanson. And Desperate Housewives' Doug Savant, who played Melrose's gay Matt Fielding, says, "We've come so far with gay characters on television that the gloves would be off and I would be thrilled about that. You'd see a much more evolved gay character."

[DavidEvanSmith]

I definitely think they can make the show work AND tie it to several former characters, without having to rely on Heather Locklear, who I think would be WRONG for the show because she was so much the key to the original's success. The show would be so obsessed with trying to top whatever the original show did with Amanda (and they did EVERYTHING with Amanda!) that it would butcher Amanda's character or run out of gas.

At least they can do believable things like:

Jo's now 15-20 year old son looking for birth mother Jo and landing at Melrose Place. But somehow the boy grew up to remind us a lot of wounded, wandering Jake Hanson.

A younger Mancini sibling (male) (established as a large family) who carries the same troublemaking traits as Michael and Jennifer.

A naive ingenue who works for Jane's Fashion business (how hardened has Jane become over the years?), and reminds Jane of the innocent she used to be.

Throw in a new hot young gay guy who gets laid a LOT (and his dream conquest is the new -supposedly straight- Mancini sibling), an African-American bitch who will do whatever it takes to become a Hollywood starlet, and a punk rock musician (female) with a drug problem, and we've got ourselves a new Melrose!

Old guard/Mother Hens: Jo, Jane

Guest spot potential: Michael & Jennifer Mancini (but the last name alone would satisfy the audience and they could wait until Season 2 for luring Thomas Calabro back... maybe he can direct some episodes until then)

New Cast:

Jeff Roberts (Jo's son, adopted out)

Mario Mancini (Mancini family screw up)

Elise Gray (Jane's protege)

Cain Devlin (Hot gay guy)

Lorna Hollister (wannabe starlet)

Zee (punk rock musician chick with a drug problem)

They could have Jane's protege be tempted by Michael's little brother, which brings up old issues for Jane who was ruined by Michael so many times... only for Michael's little brother to turn out to be bisexual and gives in to Cain Devlin's sexual advances!

Prime time soaps need a gay villain.

[detroitpiston]

Melrose Place Deal Signals Fate of One Tree Hill

Inside sources confirm: One Tree Hill boss Mark Schwahn is in talks to write the pilot for the CW's new Melrose Place.

According to one well-placed CW insider, Schwahn is "the biggest name" and "top candidate" available for the remake of the '90s spinoff to Beverly Hills, 90210.

"The deal is not done yet," another reliable network source tells me. "But it looks like it's going to happen. I would be surprised if it didn't go through."

So what does this mean for the future of One Tree Hill?

Hilarie Burton, Chad Michael Murray, One Tree Hill Fred Norris/The CW

All good things!

According to insiders, CW president Dawn Ostroff and her team have been so pleased with the creative direction of One Tree Hill, they do want to pick up the series for at least another season. (Say it with me, fans: Holler!) The CW suits also are making sure Schwahn will stay on as OTH executive producer even if he also works on the new Melrose.

What's that they say about the cake and the eating of it?

Schwahn has asked that the network make a decision on season seven of Tree Hill before Jan. 1 (in order to plot out the final episodes of the current season), so news of a seventh-season pickup could come very soon.

According to insiders, the actors' current contracts only go through season six, so new deals will need to be in place.

Given his Tree Hill track record, Schwahn certainly seems a good man for the job. And as long as he doesn't spread himself too thin, this is all fantastic news for fans. Agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts below...

EW Link

[Toups]

I like Mark Schwahn. He's proven that he can write Melrose-ish storylines (crazy nanny Carrie and Peyton's psychotic fake-brother), so I can think he can balance out down to earth stories with outlandish plots.

If there is a seventh season of OTH, I hope Schwahn will at least consult on the new Melrose and then eventually join the show as showrunner if there's a season 2.