Caffeinated Clint
Tuesday Nights are still “a bitch”, but not for the same reason they were back in the early 90s. Back in the Clinton era, there was actually something to watch on TV on Tuesdays – and she was the meanest and most deliciously likeable villain since well, Sammy-Jo from ‘Dallas’. She was, of course, Amanda – and she lived at a little place called “Melrose”.
Andrew Shue, Grant Show, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Josie Bissett, Thomas Calabro, Daphne Zuniga, Amy Locane, Doug Savant, Vanessa L.Williams, Heather Locklear, Laura Leighton
It’s this building… it makes people nuts. It must be something in the water, something to do with the pool. Come to think of it, I was normal when I moved in – Dr.Michael Mancini
Tuesday Nights are still “a bitch”, but not for the same reason they were back in the early 90s. Back in the Clinton era, there was actually something to watch on TV on Tuesdays – and she was the meanest and most deliciously likeable villain since well, Sammy Jo from ‘Dynasty’. She was, of course, Amanda – and she lived at a little place called “Melrose”.
When Heather Locklear decided to visit – her visit lasted about a decade, mind you, even though she was always billed as ‘Special Guest Star’ – “Melrose Place”, then a struggling spin-off of TVs “Beverly Hills 90210”, it breathed new life into a stiff corpse. Suddenly, the Darren Starr-created show was transformed from a ‘topical’ and ‘issue-of-the-week’ series to the contemporary equivalent of a “Dallas” or “Dynasty” where bitching and backstabbing called home for the next umpteen years.
The brainchild of producing great Aaron Spelling, “Melrose” centred around the residents of an inner city apartment block in Los Angeles – one where every renter knew each other, and they’re either sleeping with each other, hating on each other or, in the very least, privy to each other’s business. There was Taxi-driving Billy (Andrew Shue) and his roommate, the clumsy Allison (Courtney Thorne-Smith) – a couple which was seemingly destined for each other but took their sweet arse time in admitting their true feelings to one another (giving Amanda an opportunity to swoop in and snag Allison’s man from her). There was hunky motor biker Jake (Grant Show), wily divorcee Michael (Thomas Calabro) and ex-wife Jane (Josie Bissett), Homosexual nice-guy Matt (Doug Savant), mysterious photographer Jo (Daphne Zuniga) and in the first season, a budding actress (Amy Locane) and the show’s first and only African American – suddenly removed from the show after the first season – character, played by Vanessa L.Williams.
As the first season progressed, and producers panicked to save the show, a couple of the characters were written out and some new ‘bitches’ were invited to the party: Namely, Amanda (Heather Locklear) who would immediately wedge a spear between the budding Billy/Alison unit, and of course, Sydney (Laura Leighton), Jane’s sinister sister and local tart about town.
Watching the first season of the show, we’re reminded just how noticeably the tone of the series changed when the creators decided to overhaul it. The first half of the season is rather uneventful, and seems like a fairly ‘nice’ show, but then, almost concurrently with the arrival of Locklear’s character, the show takes a menacing turn into over-the-top soap territory. In some respects, it turned into a ‘bad show’ – but one I couldn’t help but watch every darn week (I use to finish my shift as a radio announcer at about 8pm, and race home for the show – which would start half an hour later).
The performances were laughably over-the-top and at times, even cartoonish, but this relatively unknown bunch of actors went with it and as a consequence turned ‘Billy’, ‘Allison’, ‘Jake’, ‘Jane’, ‘Sidney’ – and so on, into household names. One of the most pivotal scene-stealers over the series run – besides the abovementioned Leighton and Locklear – was Calabro as the devilishly wicked Michael Mancini. He created one of soap’s most memorable and so-bad-he’s-good monsters. Truly memorable.
It’s like this: “Melrose Place” was drugs. You knew it was bad, but boy, did it feel good at the time.
Now, to two beefs with the DVD set: Firstly, the music. One of the best things about “Melrose Place” was the pop music that was flittered throughout the series – most notably, a track would be played in the first few minutes of each episode to set the scene and help spice up a montage of Hollywood – and well, the tunes are missing. Securing the rights to use the original music in the DVD was just too costly an exercise apparently, so nearly each and every song has been replaced with another. Such a shame.
In addition, the Zone 4 DVD set offers NONE of the extras that apparently feature on the Zone 1 set (In the states, you get an abundance of extra features – most notably, some interesting featurettes and interviews. Quite a few featurettes, actually!) A real disappointment – especially since, I’m guessing, a lot of folks would probably have rushed out to buy the set for the extras alone – after all, we’ve seen the episodes a million times before – and a chance to play ‘Whatever happened to.’
Dare you to resist it, though.
Rating : 
Reviewer : Clint Morris
