Synopsis: An updated version of the popular 1990s series, the lives and relationships of a diverse group of 20-somethings intertwine to form a close-knit surrogate family. Heading up this group is landlady Sydney Andrews (Laura Leighton, the original "Melrose Place"), still beautiful and a central figure in the lives of all her tenants, especially handsome and rebellious David Breck (Shaun Sipos, "Shark"), the estranged son of her former lover Dr. Michael Mancini (Thomas Calabro, the original "Melrose Place").
Other tenants include up-and-coming publicist Ella Simms (Katie Cassidy, "Harper's Island"), Auggie Kirkpatrick ("All My Children"), a successful sous chef at the trendy restaurant Coal with a dark past, Lauren Yung (Stephanie Jacobsen, "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"), a medical student in desperate need of money to pay her student loans, and Jonah Miller (Michael Rady, "Swingtown"), an aspiring filmmaker who has just proposed to his live-in girlfriend Riley Richmond (Jessica Lucas, "Cloverfield"), a first-grade teacher.
The newest tenant, wide-eyed 21-year-old Violet Foster (Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, "7th Heaven"), has just arrived in LA and is horrified to find a bloody body floating in the courtyard pool. Suddenly everyone is a suspect. Davis Guggenheim directed the episode written by Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer.
Discuss.
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Really looking forward to this, especially since I've heard it's really really good and a lot better than 90210 which actually came into its own later in its first season.
I'm a fan of the original. I love how crazy-ass it was, and how it bore no resemblance to reality whatsoever. It was pure brain candy.
Judging from the clips I've seen, this one doesn't look too good (and Ahslee Simpson - yuck). Still, the reviews are better than I was expecting, so I guess I'll give it a shot.
On one hand, it might be nice to have a so-bad-it's-good guilty pleasure to come down from the icy seriousness of "Mad Men" on the weekend. (Then again, I already have the so-good-it's-good palliative of "True Blood.")
On the other hand, there's not a man among us who doesn't have better things to do. I suppose it's worth at least giving the pilot a shot. Whether I watch episode two will depend on the first episode's groan-to-giggle ratio.
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
I'm pretty sure this show is a sign of the further decline of civilization. Are we really so creatively bankrupt that we have to remake cheeseball shows from the '90s?
USA Today's take:
By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY With some places, one visit will suffice. Hitting that twentysomething sweet spot between the teens of Beverly Hills, 90210 and the adults of Dallas, the original '90s version of Melrose Place carved out a rabid fan base by being amusingly deranged, even by the soap standards of the time. Few shows before or since have been able to top Marcia Cross' dueling-personalities whack job Kimberly, with her wig and her scar and her apartment-blowing bomb.
Alas, as even the real Place discovered, what Kimberly explodes cannot easily be recovered. The rebuilt pool-centered complex looks lovely, but nothing else in this pale imitation (* 1/2 out of four) keeps up, just as no one in the cast, new or old, can compete with Cross or the so-far-missing Heather Locklear. What you'll find instead is your typical CW collection of pretty, hard-bodied young things, most of whom can't act their way out of a Birkin bag.
To be fair, it's hard to put a lot of life into characters who are mere types — the conniving, career-driven press agent (Katie Cassidy); the lunk-headed, good-guy filmmaker (Michael Rady); the bad-boy bitter rich kid (Shaun Sipos) — and not particularly interesting types, at that. At the very least, you have to feel some sympathy for poor Stephanie Jacobsen, whose character can't decide from scene to scene whether to find prostitution demeaning (which would seem to be the more logical choice) or to embrace it like some new-era Happy Hooker.
To bolster (or distract from) that cast, the show has added a season-long murder mystery arc and two former Melrose stars. More are apparently on the way (though not, so far, Locklear or Cross), but tonight you get Thomas Calabro and, more prominently, Laura Leighton.
And there you have the conundrum for such shows: The actors who are willing to appear are generally the ones who have nowhere else to go, which means they're inevitably the ones people are least interested in seeing. Perhaps Leighton has a huge fan base, but nothing in her cold, starched, tightly stretched rehash of Sydney would explain her appeal to the uninitiated.
Still, the apartment complex does look inviting, as do many of the Los Angeles hot spots that are being used as sets. Certainly, if you want to know what the well-heeled in L.A. are wearing these days, or what clubs they're attending, this is the show to watch.
Once.
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Hemingway once told a friend he was considering giving up writing. "But Ernest," the friend protested. "You love writing!" "No," corrected Hemingway. "I love having written."
Posts: 1315 | Location: Chapel Hill, NC | Registered: April 12, 2005
I am definitely looking for that guilty pleasure that will get my mind off of school and the thing the Pilot has going for it is Laura Leighton who is still hot and the sets will look pretty on the HDTV so I will check it out.
Posts: 5352 | Location: New York/California | Registered: September 30, 2006
I am definitely looking for that guilty pleasure that will get my mind off of school and the thing the Pilot has going for it is Laura Leighton who is still hot and the sets will look pretty on the HDTV so I will check it out.
As a gay teen watching the original (I just bought season 1 to relive my youth!), I was weirdly drawn to Laura Leighton (Sydney)...and apparently I wasn't the only one! I am soooo absolutely excited about this remake b/c of her! Sydney still does it for me....lol (and I'm still gay! LOL)...
I saw the pilot a couple weeks ago and I highly recommend it. The central mystery is good and it is a BILLION times better than that 90210 crapfest reboot. All the actors are pretty good with Katie Cassidy the standout. However, there is one big downside.... Ashlee Simpson Wentz is terrible! ... nonetheless, I am intrigued and will keep watching.
i think laura leighton deserves more credit then alot of the people have been giving, her, she and marcia cross and too an extent heather locklear kept that show going, unfortunately season 5 it started going down hill and really went downhill when they killed sidney, laura was an excellent dramatic and comedic actress she has a gold globe nod to prove it.
Posts: 1216 | Location: Prince Edward Island | Registered: January 24, 2006
Remember when TV for young women used to mean "Buffy," "Gilmore Girls," and "Felicity"? Now they've got "90210," "Gossip Girl," and "Melrose Place." We're in for a very stupid generation coming up. Watching the pilot made me, more than anything, want to find new agents for Stephanie Jacobsen ("Battlestar Galactica," "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"), Michael Rady ("Greek," "Sleeper Cell," "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"), and David Guggenheim (director, "An Inconvenient Truth"). It's junk without the fun of good junk. Though I did get a few laughs from the fact that one of the characters is named Auggie Kirkpatrick.
Grade: D+
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
This actually wasn't so bad. There were some very enjoyable parts to the pilot, especially the scenes with Michael Rady, Jessica Lucas, and Stephanie Jacobsen. I think I might watch some more future episodes.
Even though I was fairly young when the original Melrose aired, I still remember watching episodes then, and I still occassionally watch reruns on tv.
I'm glad it's back in a good way! This should be interesting to watch.
Grade: B
2010 Oscars FYC:
Lead Actor - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer Lead Actress - Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Original Screenplay - Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer
Posts: 4923 | Location: Why Do You Want To Know? | Registered: November 21, 2006
Watched and I must say, I was impressed. The only complaint I have is that we aren't getting a lot of answers to the character's backgrounds, but I guess that's what will keep viewers coming back. I was afraid some of the characters would be boring, but I'm interested in all of them. I am starting to believe that Ashlee Simpson-Wentz is the daughter of Sydney, especially with that stealing the picture at the end. The med school student (sorry, I don't know all their names!) is interesting, and Auggie needs more development. David is interesting because he's involved in the lives of the original Melrose Place-ers. My favorites are Jonah and Riley (mainly because i ADORE both those characters) and Ella (Katie Cassidy plays the role perfectly!!). The last few minutes really picked it up, and it will be fun to see how this works out. I don't think this should be compared to the new '90210' because they are two different shows completely. Looking forward to watching the show develop.
actually it was too rushed. sydney is back from the dead for one minute and then killed off again? not only that, but i didnt get an explanation as to how she is still alive, i didnt buy it sorry. i dont like the actors, none of them can act. and sorry but ella is no amanda, riley and jonah are a bad impersonation of billy and alison(who were the least likeable on the original), david is no jake. yeah, did anyone notice the imitations? and is violet supposed to be jo? poor daphne zuniga who has to have ashley simpson emulate her character. i dont think i'm gonna watch this.
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Well i was a MAJOR fan of the original Melrose Place (it's my all-time favorite show, EVER) and i must say i liked this pilot. I think the show has a lot of potential and i think the fact that Michael is on the show bodes well for it's future. Thomas Calabro is a great actor and his Michael Mancini is one of the greatest villians in soap history. I like that there is a genuine connection to the original cast. Rumors are that Auggie is the son of Jake Hanson so his riding the motorcycle may have been foreshadowing that fact. I also understand that Ashlee's character Violet will turn out to be Sydney's daughter...
One thing that is bugging me is who David's mother is---they said "when your mother died" and mentione something about Michael denying him for 13 years---so that rules out Jane (she's coming back in a few episodes)---and Syd, because she was alive at that point, Kimberly was dead w/out ever giving birth to a child---so that leaves who? Megan and Taylor? Taylor gave birth to a baby before leaving the show, so it could be her, or it could be Megan and maybe they killed her off-screen... I just hope it's not psycho Kimberly...
I think the only big fault was the lack of background on the characters---especially how they know Sydney (beyond being her tennants) and i am most confused as to how Syd is still alive----and why she would want to fake her death and most of all why she'd ever return to Melrose after everyone there hated her. Last we saw her in 1997 she was mowed down in her wedding gown by annoying Samantha Campbell and her psycho father. She had just married Craig, the love of her life and got run over. She supposedly died instantly... So how is it that now 11 years ago she's alive and being killed again? one sentence about "you faked your death" isn't enough information. I'm guessing the explination will follow in episodes to come...
One thing i found very distracting was the resmbelance between Katie Cassidy (Ella) and Heather Locklear---everytime i saw Ella i siad to myself "My god that's a mini-Amanda Woodward".
The one thing i liked is how the new characters were for the most part all intresting in their own right, minus the schoolteacher and filmmaker who are the new Billy and Allison (boring and boring), and on their own would make me watch the show. but the old characters are why i'm really here.
I love the look of the building it's new enough to stand on it's own but close enough to the old Melrose that you get the resemblance quickly... right down to the blue doors and the pool in the middle... I do miss the open feel of the old set, this one feels too closed off with too many walls... and i loved how in the old building a character standing on the upper level deck could see everything below, it had a very open feel to it...
So overall i give the pilot a B+ and hope to see more soon.
Praying The Daytime Emmys air on TV in 2010!
Posts: 20043 | Location: just outside Providence, Rhode Island | Registered: July 28, 2002
Watched it late last night. I liked the original. It was appointment viewing for my whole family back in the day...others watched sitcoms, my family gathered for sexy Melrose Place. lol--I had many an inappropriate thought about Heather Locklear and Laura Leighton as a teenager.
I thought the first half was riddled with bad acting and even worse writing. Laura Leighton still looks great, but those scenes at the beginning with the guy who plays David were downright cringe-worthy.
The second half improved, so it left me willing to watch again. I liked the flashback scene with Leighton and Calabro and I like Katie Cassidy a lot. It will be interesting as the other MP vets trickle back in. I'm guessing the producers wet dream would be to get Heather Locklear to come back and have Amanda be the one that killed Sydney...with some kind of tie-in to the new cast.
Overall, it wasn't great, but it has some potential.
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Posts: 6113 | Location: Florida | Registered: July 05, 2006
I specially liked Katie Cassidy her acting was quite good through the whole episode. Others had their moments and the blond guy didn't do anything memorable.
I'll watch some more episodes to see how it turns out. Also I've just saw that the episode gathered 2.3 million viewers. I think that is a not so bad rating for a CW show.
