47 replies to this topic

[TWoP Tennison]

Compare the new MP with the original.

If you just want to discuss the original, there's an existing thread in the Soaps forum
here.

Edited by TWoP Tennison, Sep 9, 2009 @ 1:20 PM.

[nme525]

I don't think this show can compare at all until Kimberly shows up and pulls off her wig.

[Knots Landing]

The original Melrose thread is in the Soap Operas forum actually. I'm hoping this show fits in tone with the original since it's basically supposed to be the same show, same name, same people and all.

[Eri200]

I wonder if the show will ever talk about story lines from the later years? I guess they have to to explain what happened to Sidney when she "died" in 1997.

[Maverick]

So the apartment complex has been totally redone (what, did Kimberly come back from the dead too and blow it up again?), there's no Allison-esque doormat character, no gay character....hopefully Sydney and Michael will make it feel like Melrose. Is there at least a hang out joint a la Shooters or Kyle’s (hopefully more like the former)?

I hope Kyle, Taylor, Lexi, Coop, Kyle's brother, Michael’s sister, Sam...basically all those lame charters that showed up in the final seasons...stay far away from this version. A throwaway line about how Lexi lost the building will suffice.

Edited by Maverick, Sep 7, 2009 @ 9:30 PM.

[PRgal]

Brooke's dead right? I think that's another character they can bring back....Kristin Davis will be available by the fall...Most of us are now so used to seeing her as good girl Charlotte from SATC that we forget she used to play a bad girl.

Edited by PRgal, Sep 7, 2009 @ 7:13 PM.

[tommie]

A throwaway line about how LExi lost the building will suffice.

I wouldn't mind Lexi back actually,only because Jamie Luner is awesome. But yes, she is hardly vital or someone they should hunt down to come back.

Brooke's dead right?

Brooke's deader than dead. Maybe they could make her the Holy Ghost of the Pool, coming up at the end of every episode to give advice about how to be a whiny bitch?

And I could've sworn that one of the new male characters is gay.

Edited by tommie, Sep 7, 2009 @ 9:00 PM.

[Maverick]

Brooke's deader than dead.

So is/was Sydney. I wonder if they're going to explain that or ignore the final 2-3 seasons. I do like the idea of waterlogged Ghost!Brooke roaming the complex snarking on the residents, complaining how Allison is even lamer than this new crew and generally bitching about the fact she's destined to spend eternity in an apartment complex. In West Hollywood. With bad hair.

[MethodActor05]

So far it looks like the show is committing to being an outrageous, over-the-top drama in the vein of the orginal. I'm not expecting Shakespeare- I'm expecting pure, fun trash. As long as this show doesn't take itself seriously like 90210 2.0 or One Tree Hilll, it should be fine.

[nibehlung]

I have such a fond memory of the original. Used to watch it with my fellow college dormitory friends. We'd eat dinner while watching it, commenting about the ridiculous hair and what a BITCA Amanda is.

The new residents are a lot hotter but it's remained to be seen if their shenanigans can live up to the old residents. The only one that I can see living up to the old one thus far is Katie Cassidy, who'd play Ella.

Anyway, there better be some good catfights like the good old days.

Edited by nibehlung, Sep 7, 2009 @ 11:41 PM.

[PRgal]

Do you think we're going to get more old-school fans or new ones (i.e. people too young to have really watched the Melrose Place,v.1.0)?

[Last Time Lord]

And I could've sworn that one of the new male characters is gay.

I thought I heard the character Katie Cassidy plays was bisexual.

Do you think we're going to get more old-school fans or new ones (i.e. people too young to have really watched the Melrose Place,v.1.0)?

All I've seen of the original is a few season one episodes on CBS' website, but I'm all excited for this show.

Edited by Last Time Lord, Sep 8, 2009 @ 12:06 AM.

[Bastille]

I hope Kyle, Taylor, Lexi, Coop, Kyle's brother, Michael’s sister, Sam...basically all those lame charters that showed up in the final seasons...stay far away from this version.

Oh God, "Yes To All"!

The only new character I liked at all from that period was Megan. Kelly Rutherford was perhaps the best actress the show ever had for playing a "saintly/doormat" type. That surprised me, because I had first seen her on Generations as more of a vixen and firecracker. She could do it all.

So far it looks like the show is committing to being an outrageous, over-the-top drama in the vein of the orginal. I'm not expecting Shakespeare- I'm expecting pure, fun trash. As long as this show doesn't take itself seriously like 90210 2.0 or One Tree Hilll, it should be fine.

The original went through a few phases, though: painfully earnest "90210 with older people" at first, then soapier and more colorful but still with somewhat relevant/relatable relationships and themes, and then a few seasons of trying too hard with a lot of ADD bedhopping and a revolving-door cast.

For me, the MP sweet spot was from 1993-95: everything from the arrivals of Jo and Amanda around the same time through Kimberly detonating the bomb (end of S3 -- not coincidentally, when Darren Star moved on to Central Park West). It got markedly dumber and harder to care about in season four, and increasingly so until the end. My biggest fear with the new show is that it will imitate the Melrose of the decline years, the one that drove away viewers of the original one.

[bluegray73]

Do you think we're going to get more old-school fans or new ones (i.e. people too young to have really watched the Melrose Place,v.1.0)?

I was only a touch too young to really watch the original. Sure, I could have watched, and I remember when it was extremely popular, but I was still at the age where I watched more sitcoms than dramas, and The Fresh Prince came on opposite MP, so yeah. I became obsessed with MP thanks to the Style Network, so I'm coming into this new show as sort of a mix - one who is excited to have my own contemporary Melrosian program, but also one who's experienced the best and the bitchiest of the original. This is gonna have to be real, real bad for them to not to impress me.

[tommie]

The only new character I liked at all from that period was Megan. Kelly Rutherford was perhaps the best actress the show ever had for playing a "saintly/doormat" type.

I agree that Megan was the best good character the show ever had - mostly because she never got overly saintly or preachy; she managed to be flawed without pushing it in our faces (I! WAS! A! RUNAWAY! TEEN! WHORE!) and the writers managed to resist the urge to make her an evil bitch during season 6 and 7. It also helps that ms. Rutherford is an underrated actress.

Actually, when I think about it, Megan was what I wish Jo would've turned out to be like in the later seasons, instead of reverting into a co-dependent annoying whiner. I'm hopeful about Jo's return though, since Daphne Zuniga seems to have had an input on how Jo should be like.

Edited by tommie, Sep 8, 2009 @ 1:00 PM.

[Erik B]

I was only a touch too young to really watch the original. Sure, I could have watched, and I remember when it was extremely popular, but I was still at the age where I watched more sitcoms than dramas, and The Fresh Prince came on opposite MP, so yeah. I became obsessed with MP thanks to the Style Network, so I'm coming into this new show as sort of a mix - one who is excited to have my own contemporary Melrosian program, but also one who's experienced the best and the bitchiest of the original.

I'm coming from a similar place. I was in elementary school while the original was on, but I watched a lot of Fox so I knew the major events: Heather Locklear joining the cast, Alison and Amanda fighting all the time, Kimberly blowing up the building. It wasn't until about ten years later that I sought out the show. I loved Nip/Tuck and Desperate Housewives, so when I read the MP comparisons to those shows, I sought out the DVDs and repeats and have now watched every episode. From what I've read so far, it seems like this show will be closer to the original and more focused than the new 90210.

[Bastille]

I'm hopeful about Jo's return though, since Daphne Zuniga seems to have had an input on how Jo should be like.

That's good news I had not heard. The early, sarcastic, abrasive-yet-vulnerable Jo was my favorite MPer, but the character got watered down more in every subsequent season, and DZ really was given no good material after Jo got the baby back and gave him up for adoption (hmm...with just minimal SORASing, Austin would be the right age to be a principal on the reboot). What Jo had to do, say, and endure in the Jess/Jake storyline was just cruel, and I don't even like to think about the triangle with Jane and Richard, which consumed most of her final season. It would be nice to revisit the character and see her in a good place, personally and professionally. (It was also a lot of fun seeing DZ and Grant Show reunited on that short-lived family drama Beautiful People, even though the series itself was nothing special.)

[Adammo88]

nibehlung thank you for that montage link - utterly awesome. Even though Syd's dead, she better get to slap a bitch in some flashbacks now.

I'm glad to read some love for Kelly Rutherford as her run as Megan on MP made me fall in love with her. I'm hoping (even though her split second decision to turn tricks was kind of wacky in the FIRST episode) that Lauren of the new MP can echo Kelly much more so than the horrible Sam/Samantha. I think Stephanie Jacobsen is a much better actress than Brooke Langton ever was but it's a tough sell to be a "good" character and not be insufferable. I think Megan and hopefully now Lauren can bridge the gap.

Even though (with the exception of Megan and imo, Jamie Luner's Lexi) most of the latter characters introduced in the original's seasons five through seven were lame, given Thomas Calabro's reappearance on the reboot, I think it would be hysterical for Alyssa Milano to return as Michael's sister Jennifer - just for sweeps or something. After all, wtf does Alyssa Milano have to do nowadays anyway. Or will the CW try to re-re-boot Charmed?

[jase-bot]

I'm excited about Jo returning because even in her last year and many boring stories (particularly the Richard Hart saga), I still liked her and wanted her and Jake back together. Her offscreen exit to Bosnia was lame. I really want them to write in an off-camera reunion with Jake, too. And I may be the only one, but I want to see that Billy and Alison reunited.

I think the thing about the remake versus the original is we see these characters immediately facing the same kind of thorny moral dilemmas the original cast took six to eight months to tackle on Season 1 of the old show; invariably, those episodes would end with Billy, Alison, Rhonda, Matt, etc. choosing "good" over "evil" with a swell of cheesy muzak on the soundtrack, until Darren Starr finally threw it into disarrary with Amanda and Michael and Kimberly's affair. Here, things are already destabilized.

When the remake was announced, I remember a lot of people on the Net complaining that the new characters already sounded amoral and nasty, whereas the original MPers took time to become corrupt and jaded. I don't think these characters are amoral, though, not even Ella; they simply have acclimated to a more cynical age, and a more accurate portrait of Los Angeles today. Like the originals, they seem to be trying to keep their "innocence," but they're all losing it much faster. Which, again, I think, is accurate to the times.

I don't think Lauren is a Sam, who I hated; I think she's probably more Jane, Jo, or Megan at the moment, and in the end all three got dirt on them. I liked Lauren immediately. I can't get a read on Riley yet, but I have a feeling Jonah will end up like Michael. Which may leave Riley expendable, unless they switch the characters up. I do think Violet is a melange of Brooke, Kimberly and Syd, especially Brooke, which is why I think the character has potential to be huge, despite all the complaints about Mrs. Wentz.

Edited by jase-bot, Sep 8, 2009 @ 10:51 PM.

[Bastille]

I'm glad to read some love for Kelly Rutherford as her run as Megan on MP made me fall in love with her.

If you ever find some way to see an episode or two of her as Sam Whitmore on Generations (though I don't know how that would happen -- maybe if SoapNet ever does some "canceled soaps nostalgia week"?), take advantage. She was wonderful. Her character could do bad, underhanded things like trying to break up the "good" couple etc. and you still felt for her and cared about her. So often, especially on daytime, they try to achieve that with female characters and it doesn't work for me. But with KR's Sam, I got it.

After all, wtf does Alyssa Milano have to do nowadays anyway.

Sleeping with baseball players and writing books about it. :)

I'm excited about Jo returning because even in her last year and many boring stories (particularly the Richard Hart saga), I still liked her and wanted her and Jake back together. Her offscreen exit to Bosnia was lame.

It was lame, and arguably even unkind. They could have thrown a tiny crumb to the character and her fans. There was no possibility Jo was going to stay in LA; it had been announced months earlier that Daphne Zuniga had elected not to return for S5, so what was the point of making Jo's exit a "will she/won't she go to Bosnia" cliffhanger? If they'd just shown her making up her mind to do it, we could have seen her saying goodbyes to the people to whom she was still close. Jake, at the very least.

[nibehlung]

When the remake was announced, I remember a lot of people on the Net complaining that the new characters already sounded amoral and nasty, whereas the original MPers took time to become corrupt and jaded. I don't think these characters are amoral, though, not even Ella; they simply have acclimated to a more cynical age, and a more accurate portrait of Los Angeles today. Like the originals, they seem to be trying to keep their "innocence," but they're all losing it much faster. Which, again, I think, is accurate to the times.

I agree. I actually felt a bit....I don't know the word for it...resigned, maybe? After I heard Ella saying "This is Hollywood, it's how things done". That statement sounds like someone who learned from experience how things are being run in the area and became cynical and jaded about it. As a result, she can only do either two things: quit altogether or join the party despite realizing how unethical her actions can be.

And it's interesting to see this remake happening at the same time when the majority of the old cast are available (except for Marcia Cross, who's busy on DH and Kelly Rutherford on GG).

[MethodActor05]

I'm coming from a similar place. I was in elementary school while the original was on, but I watched a lot of Fox so I knew the major events: Heather Locklear joining the cast, Alison and Amanda fighting all the time, Kimberly blowing up the building.

I'm different. I was six years old when the show premiered, and I watched it with my sister, who was 15. I remember Amy Locane in the scene where she's in this skeevy horror flick and someone cuts off her bra, but that's about all I really remember of the first season, along with the scene where Billy and Allison argue about leaving up the toilet seat. The second season through fourth season were the gems- like when Brooke got into bed with Billy while pretending to be Alison, the whole damn Kimberly arc, and Antonio Sabato-Jr. as Amanda's crazy ex-husband.

God, this show was great.

So far, this current reboot is good- I just think they really need to dial back down the music. I don't remember MP really being that big on the music back in the 90's, and I don't think it's necessary here.

I remember a lot of people on the Net complaining that the new characters already sounded amoral and nasty, whereas the original MPers took time to become corrupt and jaded. I don't think these characters are amoral, though, not even Ella; they simply have acclimated to a more cynical age, and a more accurate portrait of Los Angeles today. Like the originals, they seem to be trying to keep their "innocence," but they're all losing it much faster. Which, again, I think, is accurate to the times.

Jonah, with his turning down of the blackmail scheme that literally landed in his lap, is so fighting against it...but he really is fighting a losing a battle. I can't wait til he's corrupted.

Edited by MethodActor05, Sep 9, 2009 @ 3:39 AM.

[isiscloud]

Jonah, with his turning down of the blackmail scheme that literally landed in his lap, is so fighting against it...but he really is fighting a losing a battle. I can't wait til he's corrupted.

The address corrupts people who were once good! He'll be turned shortly. It turned Allison from being good social drinker to Allison raving lunatic drunkard; Michael from caring bland doctor to evil, never-met-a scheme-he-could-fail-at Chief Surgeon! Those who couldn't be turned were killed off (Matt). Sydney came back so she doesn't count, although she was always a vixen. It's the red hair.

Seems like it has more potential to be good than it did in 1.0. I hope they make it really good and don't lame out. These kids don't seem old enough, but then again, I'm more the original cast's age!

[Scrapper]

Poor Matt. So far it seems to be in keen with the original. No one seems that bad...yet. I would love a reverse Kimberly storyline. With Lauren starring as Micheal and with Micheal trying to warn her. There is no way that won't be funny.

I'm pretty sure Jonah is Billy and Riley is Allison. Which means I'm destined to dislike them.

[jackiecarr]

It turned Allison from being good social drinker to Allison raving lunatic drunkard;

Didn't she recover some buried memory that her dad had molested her? Maybe when she was about to marry Billy? I have an image of her freaking out in a wedding dress in my head.

Jeez, I haven't really watched orginal MP since it's first run, even though I've watched original 90210 way too many times between FX, Soapnet, and DVD. I would have been just about 15 when it started. I loved the first few seasons, but then my TV watching got sporadic in college. I rather enjoyed this new version and I'l check it out again.

[Erik B]

Didn't she recover some buried memory that her dad had molested her? Maybe when she was about to marry Billy? I have an image of her freaking out in a wedding dress in my head.

Yeah. When she and Billy went back to her hometown, Alison started having weird dreams about someone grabbing her in her basement. When she hugged her father on her wedding day, he whispered something that triggered her molestation memories. She then freaked and crawled out the window while Billy stayed standing at the altar. Before then, she'd had some episodes of heavy drinking, but it was after this and losing Billy that she really fell in love with her alcohol.

I'd love to see Auggie at an AA meeting, and Alison pops in as the moderator or something. I only really liked her when she drank and caused scenes.

[Bastille]

Before then, she'd had some episodes of heavy drinking, but it was after this and losing Billy that she really fell in love with her alcohol.

IIRC, her first spell as a problem drinker was triggered by the "Keith the stalker" drama that had started in late S1 and concluded in early S2. It was actually well done, the way they teased us with what looked like it was going to be an alcoholic downward spiral, showing her more and more often getting the vodka out of the cupboard and drinking alone, doing just enough with it to justify her friends' concern (there was a nice scene with Allison and Jo). Then they had her get it together, but it was there for them to exploit more fully after she remembered the molestation, and her father threatened her and all that. That's one thing Melrose 1.0 had in the best seasons, and completely lost in the post-Darren-Star years: a smidgen of patience. In S4, they kept coming up with promising ideas but never developing anything (like the "Syd and Michael gaslight Kimberly" story, which should have been milked for several episodes but was hatched and then concluded within the blink of an eye).

Frankly, I think she should have been driven back to the bottle by her old boyfriend's rendition of Elvis Costello's "Allison." That would have done me in.

[twotrey]

Those who couldn't be turned were killed off (Matt).

While he was never turned completely, he wasn't immune to being drawn into Michael's machinations (e.g. the blood alcohol test tampering). Matt *so* carried a torch for him.

Obviously Ella = Amanda and Jonah + Riley = Billy + Alison/early Michael + Jane so far. I really wish they kept the David character as Jake's son as was originally conceived since that actually fits the time frame. Jury still out on the show as a whole, but if anything is missing it's one obviously godawful actor taking up space and offering a lot of unintentional comedy, a la Andrew Shue.

[tommie]

Matt *so* carried a torch for him.

Yes - Doug Savant even suggested to the producers that Matt should've had a crush on him, but they didn't go for it. Shame.

Auggie is obviously a much more interesting gay character though.

[tsukiakari]

Don't get me wrong. I love the out and out trashy show that was the old Melrose after season 1.

However, I also like a real drama like the one that this new Melrose tries to present.

So I'm torn whether I want the new show to morph into the old trashy soap. I guess when the viewership drops, the producer would have no choice but to vamp it up like it was.