TMC
07-01-2017, 07:41 PM
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/melrose-place-oral-history-marcia-cross-heather-locklear-grant-show-darren-star-look-back-1016500
Darren Star, Grant Show, Heather Locklear, Marcia Cross and more tell all as the 'Beverly Hills, 90210,' spinoff celebrates 25 years: "If there was a shark, we were jumping it. And it didn’t matter."
In spring 1992, Fox was riding high with Beverly Hills, 90210, and after just two seasons on the air, the series about a group of high school kids was averaging more than 17 million viewers a week. With a pop culture phenomenon on their hands, network executives were eager to move into a spinoff. At first, 90210 creator Darren Star resisted the idea that a new series be set in college because that’s where 90210 was headed. Instead, Star pitched an idea that sprang from his post-college days living in a West Hollywood, California courtyard apartment complete with a pool.
Enter Jake Hanson (Grant Show), a friend of fan favorite Dylan (Luke Perry), who had an immediate attraction to Kelly (Jennie Garth). The sparks flew and after his three-episode introduction, the handsome and blue-collar Jake was spun off into his own ZIP code along with seven other twentysomethings. Melrose Place launched July 8, 1992, and, after some rocky ratings in its first season, joined 90210 and became a pop culture powerhouse.
Every week during the show’s mid-1990s heyday, between 13 million and 14 million people would tune in to see soapy storylines involving psycho doctors, murders, blackmail and sex — oh, so much sex! Fans across the country would have Melrose parties. There wasn’t a pop culture magazine cover the cast didn’t appear on. It was parodied on other series. Fox eventually moved away from Melrose Place after seven seasons but the original cast still can barely go a week without having someone mention it to them. As this show about twentysomethings nears its 25th anniversary, the cast, creators and network execs responsible share their memories of everything from Heather Locklear saving the series to the infamous bombing episode to an embarrassing encounter with a world leader and more.
Darren Star, Grant Show, Heather Locklear, Marcia Cross and more tell all as the 'Beverly Hills, 90210,' spinoff celebrates 25 years: "If there was a shark, we were jumping it. And it didn’t matter."
In spring 1992, Fox was riding high with Beverly Hills, 90210, and after just two seasons on the air, the series about a group of high school kids was averaging more than 17 million viewers a week. With a pop culture phenomenon on their hands, network executives were eager to move into a spinoff. At first, 90210 creator Darren Star resisted the idea that a new series be set in college because that’s where 90210 was headed. Instead, Star pitched an idea that sprang from his post-college days living in a West Hollywood, California courtyard apartment complete with a pool.
Enter Jake Hanson (Grant Show), a friend of fan favorite Dylan (Luke Perry), who had an immediate attraction to Kelly (Jennie Garth). The sparks flew and after his three-episode introduction, the handsome and blue-collar Jake was spun off into his own ZIP code along with seven other twentysomethings. Melrose Place launched July 8, 1992, and, after some rocky ratings in its first season, joined 90210 and became a pop culture powerhouse.
Every week during the show’s mid-1990s heyday, between 13 million and 14 million people would tune in to see soapy storylines involving psycho doctors, murders, blackmail and sex — oh, so much sex! Fans across the country would have Melrose parties. There wasn’t a pop culture magazine cover the cast didn’t appear on. It was parodied on other series. Fox eventually moved away from Melrose Place after seven seasons but the original cast still can barely go a week without having someone mention it to them. As this show about twentysomethings nears its 25th anniversary, the cast, creators and network execs responsible share their memories of everything from Heather Locklear saving the series to the infamous bombing episode to an embarrassing encounter with a world leader and more.