Melrose Place is an American television primetime soap opera that aired on Fox in the United States from July 8, 1992, to May 24, 1999 for seven seasons. The show was created by Darren Star for Fox network and executive produced by Aaron Spelling for his company, Spelling Television. It is the second series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise.
The show had many cast changes during the run. Thomas Calabro was the only original cast member to remain on the series throughout its entire run.
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Filming for the series took place at a studio in Santa Clarita, California.[2]
The show is set in a small apartment courtyard complex located at 4616 Melrose Place in the city of West Hollywood, California.[3][n 1] Several young individuals reside in the apartments, each with their own dreams and drives. The original plan for the show was to have minor stories conclude in every episode, but when that formula proved unpopular, the writers started developing long-term storylines to evolve during the season.
Melrose Place's premiere season featured eight main characters: Dr. Michael Mancini (Thomas Calabro), a physician who works at Wilshire Memorial Hospital and changes from a kind, devoted husband in Season 1 to mean-spirited, adulterous villain from Season 2 on; Jane Mancini (Josie Bissett), his budding fashion designer wife; Billy Campbell (Andrew Shue), the struggling writer adapting to life out of his parents' control; Alison Parker (Courtney Thorne-Smith),[6] the receptionist at D&D Advertising; Jake Hanson (Grant Show), a struggling manual laborer and bad-boy biker; Matt Fielding (Doug Savant), a gay social worker; Rhonda Blair (Vanessa A. Williams), an aerobics instructor; and Sandy Harling (Amy Locane), a Southern belle and struggling actress who moonlights as a waitress at a bar called Shooters, the group's hangout. Locane was written off after 13 episodes, to be replaced by Daphne Zuniga as Jo Reynolds, a photographer running away from her abusive husband. Williams was not brought back for the second season, explained by her character's engagement to a wealthy restaurant entrepreneur.
Actress Heather Locklear, who in season one had guest starred as Alison's ambitious and merciless boss Amanda Woodward, was promoted to series regular status in the second season. Although she was always billed as a "special guest star," Locklear remained with the show through its series finale. Guest Laura Leighton, recurring as Jane's troublemaking, spoiled younger sister Sydney Andrews in season one, was upgraded to series regular for season two. Marcia Cross, recurring as Dr. Kimberly Shaw in season 1, became a series regular by the end of the second season.[7]
Season four saw two new contract characters: Peter Burns (Jack Wagner), the ruthless hospital Chief of Staff introduced in season three; and Brooke Armstrong (Kristin Davis), a young, conniving intern at D&D Advertising also recurring the previous season. Davis's character was subsequently killed off in the middle of the fourth season, while Zuniga left the series at the end of the season. Patrick Muldoon arrived this season as the villainous Richard Hart. Although Muldoon was not billed with the main cast he appeared in most of the fourth season's episodes. He's also Melrose Place's longest recurring character in terms of number of episodes.
The fifth season saw the addition of Rob Estes as restaurateur Kyle McBride, Lisa Rinna as his lush lipped opportunistic wife Taylor, and Brooke Langton as Samantha Reilly, an artist and a new tenant in the apartment complex. Bissett and Cross left the series towards the end of the fifth season; Kelly Rutherford was brought in as Megan Lewis, a former prostitute who has an affair with Michael, and David Charvet played Craig Field, Amanda's new co-worker and later Sydney's boyfriend. The season finale featured the exits of series regulars Thorne-Smith, Show, and Leighton.
The season premiere of season six featured the departure of original cast member Savant while Alyssa Milano (recurring as Michael's sister Jennifer Mancini since season five) was bumped to series regular, with Linden Ashby joining the cast as Dr. Brett Cooper and Jamie Luner as his seductive and rich ex-wife, Lexi Sterling.
Charvet was written out in the middle of season 6, and the beginning of season seven saw the departure of Shue, Rinna, Langton, Milano, and Ashby. The show's seventh season introduced John Haymes Newton as Ryan McBride, Kyle's younger brother, and Rena Sofer as Eve Cleary, a woman from Amanda's past who marries Peter. Rena Sofer was not billed with the main cast. Bissett reprised her role as Jane for the seventh season.
| Season | U.S. ratings | Network | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1992-93 | 10.65 million | Fox | #76 |
| 2 | 1993-94 | 13.54 million | Fox | #50 |
| 3 | 1994-95 | 12.88 million | Fox | #63 |
| 4 | 1995-96 | 12.36 million | Fox | #61 |
| 5 | 1996-97 | 11.17 million | Fox | #58 |
| 6 | 1997-98 | 9.86 million | Fox | #80 |
| 7 | 1998-99 | 7.82 million | Fox | #95 |
The series debuted on July 8, 1992 and was an instant smash hit, debuting at #19 on the Nielsen ratings with a 10.3/19 share.[8] The series finale was watched by 10.38 million viewers.[9]
The series won the People's Choice Award in 1993 for 'Favorite Television Series'.[10]
Heather Locklear was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama for her role as Amanda Woodward on Melrose Place, in 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996.[11] Laura Leighton was nominated in 1995 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series for her role as Sydney Andrews.[12]
Heather Locklear, Laura Leighton, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Daphne Zuniga and Josie Bissett were featured on the cover of Rolling Stone on May 19, 1994.[13]
The original series produced a spin off series, titled: Models Inc., which ran for one season from 1994-1995. The series focused on a Los Angeles modeling agency run by Hillary Michaels (played by Linda Gray), the mother of Melrose's Amanda Woodward.[14][15] An updated version of the series, also called Melrose Place, premiered on September 8, 2009 on The CW Television Network.[16] The series was subject to severe criticism for its bad storylines, unlikeable characters, and suffered from low ratings causing it to be cancelled in May 2010 after one season.
CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) have released the first six seasons of Melrose Place on DVD in Region 1. Season 6, Volume 1 was released on May 3, 2011.[17] Season 6, Volume 2 was released on July 19, 2011.[18]
The series has also been released on DVD in Region 2 and 4 by Paramount Home Entertainment.
Due to music licensing issues, most of the original music has been replaced on these DVD releases, including the unique theme music for the pilot episode's opening titles (replaced with the normal Melrose Place theme). Starting with Season 1, some episodes are edited from their original broadcast versions.
The series is rated M in Australia and M in New Zealand for its sex scenes and offensive language.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release dates | Special features | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 (Scandinavia) | Region 2 (UK) | Region 4 | |||
| The First Season | 32 | November 7, 2006 | November 13, 2006 | November 13, 2006 | November 1, 2006 | Season 1 episode recaps Behind the scenes featurette Mini featurettes Cast Interviews |
| The Second Season | 32 | May 1, 2007 | April 1, 2007 | March 13, 2007 | May 3, 2007 | Audio Commentary by Series Creator Darren Star Melrose Place: Meet The Neighbours Melrose Place: Complex Relationships Melrose Place: The Best of the Worst |
| The Third Season | 32 | November 13, 2007 | December 2, 2007 | May 18, 2009 | April 9, 2008 | Melrose Place: According to Jake Melrose Place: Seven Minutes In Hell Everything You Need To Know About Melrose Place Season 3 |
| The Fourth Season | 34 | April 15, 2008 | March 11, 2009 | March 22, 2010 | April 2, 2009 | None |
| The Fifth Season (Volume One) | 19 | February 10, 2009 | N/A | N/A | N/A | None |
| The Fifth Season (Volume Two) | 15 | November 24, 2009 | N/A | N/A | N/A | None |
| The Complete Fifth Season | 34 | N/A | March 24, 2010 | June 21, 2010 | April 1, 2010 | None |
| The Sixth Season (Volume One) | 13 | May 3, 2011 | N/A | N/A | N/A | None |
| The Sixth Season (Volume Two) | 14 | July 19, 2011 | N/A | N/A | N/A | None |
On April 1, 2011, all seven seasons of the show were made available to view on Netflix's subscription internet streaming service.
Melrose Place has aired in international syndication in over 40 countries worldwide.
A group of artists and Melrose Place producers formed the GALA Committee, headed by artist Mel Chin, in order to bring artworks out of galleries and into primetime television. GALA artists designed artworks that were used as props by Melrose Place characters in the fourth and fifth seasons, often with hidden political messages:
Chin compared the works to viruses, symbiotic and invisible. The project was called "In the Name of the Place", as part of the "Uncommon Sense" art show at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, California in 1997. A portion of the Fifth Season was filmed at the Geffen Contemporary where the project was displayed. The artwork was also shown at the 1997 Kwangju Biennale in Kwangju, Korea and at Grand Arts in Kansas City, Missouri in 1998. Sotheby's Auction house auctioned almost fifty of these artworks for charity.
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