Melrose Redux

Once upon a time, there was a show called Melrose Place. It started out as a pretty bland spin off of the teen drama Beverly Hills 90210, but then a little character called Amanda Woodward came along. She was played by eternal Special Guest Star Heather Locklear, and any connection to the parent show was left in the dust as it became a full fledged campy adult drama.

The younger me never cared much for Beverly Hills 90210 but I was addicted to Melrose Place, getting my weekly fix of over the top prime time drama and, yes, lusting after the guys.

They even had a gay character, but if I'd based any ideas about being gay off of poor Matt, I would have thought all gay men were celibate. The most exciting Matt's love life ever got was a slow motion kiss that the camera panned away from before any lips actually touched (much like Luke & Noah in the Mistletoe-gate era).

But, that didn't matter to me as much at the time. I was just tantalized by Amanda, Kimberly, and Sydney and all their antics. Besides, I was always more interested in Jake & Billy when it came to the guys. Grant Show and Andrew Shue were the stuff that fantasies were made of back in those days!

Anyway, Melrose Place ended its run back in 1999 after seven action filled seasons and I honestly haven't given it much thought in the years since, except for an occasional rush of nostalgia when I see one of the actors or actresses pop up somewhere else.

Now, though, after the recent revival of the 90210 franchise, Melrose Place is getting a similar update. This initially intrigued me, but when I heard that Heather Locklear wasn't going to be reprising the role of Amanda Woodward, I decided I'd pass. I mean, why bother watching a bunch of new characters I probably wouldn't care about?

Today, though, I read that two of the cast members from the original series have signed on: Thomas Calabro will be back as the sleazy Dr. Michael Mancini and, best of all, Laura Leighton is returning as Sydney Andrews!

Don't ask me how that's possible, since Sydney was killed off at the end of the original show's fifth season! I kind of don't care, though, because I totally loved Sydney. If they can offer a somewhat plausible explanation, I'll buy it. After all, the original series wasn't huge on realism. I'll never forget how Kimberly blew up the entire apartment complex and everyone survived but one minor character! Not only that, they had the place rebuilt three seconds later.

That was okay, though, because it was part of the over the top charm of the show.

So, needless to say, I'll be giving the updated Melrose Place a chance after all. If Michael & Sydney turn out to have little to do but stand around in the background while the new cast gets all the stories I'll tune out quickly, but I'm hoping that won't be the case. They'd be foolish not to utilize two of the most hilarious, scheming backstabbers who made the old show the hit it was.

They'd also be foolish not to make up for the treatment of Matt by adding in a new gay character with an actual love life. I'll keep my fingers crossed for that.