Melrose Place: The Complete First Season

Review By: Rocco Passafuime
RoccoPassafuime@TheCinemaSource.com

In 1992, co-executive producers Aaron Spelling and Darren Star hit paydirt for the ever-rising Fox network when their prime-time TV drama Beverly Hills 90210 became a massive hit for the channel. Eager to widen their success, the two decided to spin-off a storyline of Jennie Garth’s 90210 character into a new series titled Melrose Place, of which the first season is now available to own on DVD.

The series centers around a group of eight young adults who share an apartment complex in Los Angeles and try to survive the ups and downs of adult life. Michael Mancini (Thomas Calabro and his wife Jane (Josie Bissett) are newlyweds who become the landlords of the complex, while trying to deal with the former’s medical internship threatening to put a wedge in their budding marriage.

Other tenants include college-graduate-turned-advertising-associate Alison Parker (Courtney Thorne-Smith), her roommate, struggling screenwriter and cab driver Billy Campbell (Andrew Shue), brooding carpenter Jake Hanson (Grant Show), aspiring actress Sandy Harling (Amy Locane), openly gay social worker Matt Fielding (Doug Savant), and aspiring ballet dancer Rhonda Blair (Vanessa Williams). Later on, the mysterious and cold Jo Reynolds (Daphne Zuniga) moves in to the complex soon after Sandy moves out.

While this series is widely remembered as a shamelessly trashy, yet deliciously campy and over-the-top nighttime soap opera, viewers will be shocked to discover how rather tame the series was in the beginning. The series starts out as a 90210 derivative for “twentysomethings” as the characters must deal with their budding adult lives.

As a result, the storylines for the episodes has the characters fairly grounded in reality. However, what worked early on in 90210 due to charismatic young actors and great chemistry doesn’t transist as well here.

The actors, while very competent, by and large lack the charisma or chops of the 90210 cast. To make matters worse, a few of the characters at this early stage like Locane’s Sandy and Williams’ Rhonda are relatively flat giving the actors little to work with.

To round things off, the idea of twenty-something strangers all being chummy in an apartment complex lacks credibility to work here. Luckily, the format is simple enough that there’s an environment where there’s room for improvement after the series early on quickly gets over being a 90210 spinoff, with the early frequent appearances by Jennie Garth’s Kelly Taylor character coming off rather disjointed and gimmicky.

The series really begins to find its groove when Heather Locklear, who starred in Aaron Spelling’s wild 1980’s drama Dynasty, is given what becomes a high-profile semi-regular role as ruthless advertising boss Amanda Woodward two/thirds into the season. Locklear’s strongly icy performance really gives the initially flat character much of its depth.

She also almost single-handedly throws in a more wild and sensationalistic atmosphere reminiscent of Dynasty onto the series. This quickly starts to set the pattern for the more titillating plots of jealousy, betrayal, infidelity, and white-hot romance that would dominate the tone of the series.

The ...