Melrose Place

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Television series
German title Melrose Place
Original title Melrose Place
Melrose Place.svg
Country of production United States
original language English
Year (s) 1992-1999
Production
company		 Darren Star Productions,
Spelling Television,
CBS Paramount Television
length 42 minutes
Episodes 226 in 7 seasons
genre Drama , youth series , soap opera
idea Darren Star
music Tim Truman
First broadcast July 8, 1992 (USA) on Fox
German-language
first broadcast		 February 13, 1993 on RTL
occupation

Melrose Place is an American youth series that ran from 1992 to 1999 and was produced by Aaron Spelling and Darren Star . In Germany it was broadcast by RTL .

background

Melrose Place started as an offshoot of Spelling's hit series Beverly Hills, 90210 . The plot transition to the series is the relationship of the character Kelly Taylor from Beverly Hills, 90210 to Jake Hanson, which begins in the second season of the mother series and ends in the third episode of Melrose Place.

The setting is an apartment complex on Melrose Place in West Hollywood . Initially conceived as a harmless series about twenties and a flop in the first season, Melrose Place became a cult series with huge ratings success after the entry of Heather Locklear . In the sometimes extremely bizarre plots, the residents had to go through numerous dramas in which the protagonists' affairs and mutual blackmail were part of everyday life.

The production of the series was discontinued, among other things, because the main actors were too old for a youth series. In addition, ratings dropped dramatically from season six, after six actors left the series during the fifth season: Laura Leighton , Josie Bissett , Grant Show , Courtney Thorne-Smith , Marcia Cross and Doug Savant .

Offshoot

Melrose Place had an offshoot of its own , namely the series Models Inc. Here Amanda's mother Hilary Michaels (played by Linda Gray ) and her models played the leading roles. Both Linda Gray and Cassidy Rae (Sarah Owens) and Stephanie Romanov (Teri Spencer) appeared on Melrose Place at the end of season two. Daphne Zuniga and Grant Show , in turn, played to in the pilot Models Inc. with. Models Inc. had a total of 29 episodes in the 1994/1995 television season. In 2009, the American network The CW commissioned another offshoot, a year after the mother series from Melrose Place, Beverly Hills, 90210 with 90210, got a spin-off.

characters

The most important characters in the series are briefly described below:

Michael Mancini (played by Thomas Calabro ) is a doctor at Wilshire Memorial Hospital. He's the bastard of the series and not very popular with the other Melrose residents. Michael is scheming, but not particularly clever. As a result, he rarely achieves his goals, and with his numerous intrigues he often only harms himself. Among other things, he had an affair with Sydney, the sister of his first wife.

Amanda Woodward (played by Heather Locklear ) is a tough career woman. She is initially Vice President and later President of the advertising agency D&D Advertising. One day she fled to Los Angeles because her then-husband abused her. She is considered beastly, scheming and self-centered . Any trickery is okay with her to achieve her goals. Quite unpopular with women, as she has many admirers among men. Because she always thinks about her career first and everything else is secondary, their relationships usually don't last long.

Wilhelm Campbell (played by Andrew Shue ), known as Billy, actually wanted to be a writer, but later ended up with the advertising agency D & D Advertising. Billy is a very sensible, thoughtful person. He was with Alison for a long time, but the split occurred after she left him in front of the altar on the wedding day. When it comes to women, Billy doesn't miss a thing. Because he secretly continues to love Alison, his relationships and even a marriage break down after a short time.

Jane Andrews Mancini (played by Josie Bissett ) is an average successful fashion designer and, at the beginning of the series, the youngest resident of the apartment building. She is considered very self-confident and is popular with the other residents. She is constantly at odds with her sister Sydney . Because Jane was the favorite child in the family, Sydney felt neglected. In emergency situations, however, the two are always there for each other.

Alison Parker (played by Courtney Thorne-Smith ) works first as a telephone operator and later as an advertising manager at D&D Advertising and is very popular with the other Melrose residents because of her calm and friendly demeanor. She is not particularly lucky with men because she is extremely reluctant to commit. She backed out twice shortly before her wedding. At the beginning of the series, Alison was in a relationship with Billy, who was her great love and whom she could never completely forget. After breaking up with Billy, she started drinking and became an alcoholic .

Jake Hanson (played by Grant Show ) is a laid-back, chummy guy. He is considered helpful, is always in a good mood and ready to have fun. Friendships mean a lot to him. Jake has a thing for fast bikes and pretty women. He spent his childhood in extremely poor and shabby conditions. At first he worked as a motorcycle mechanic, later he became the owner of Melrose's favorite pub Shooters .

Matt Fielding (played by Doug Savant ) is a gay social worker at a behavioral youth facility. Michael later gave him a job at Wilshire Memorial Hospital. In his private life he is also socially minded, which is why he is often seen by the other residents as "the shoulder to cry on". Matt even gets on well with Michael, and they often get out of a fix when problems arise. However, he is also a very sensitive guy and has had severe drug problems for a while .

Sydney Andrews (played by Laura Leighton ) is Jane's younger sister. After quitting her studies, she moves to LA where she keeps her head above water with temporary jobs. For a short time she was a member of a call girl ring, but after a short time she realized that she could not reconcile this activity with her conscience. It is considered very naive, but should be treated with caution. She is unhappy in love with her brother-in-law Michael and blackmailed him into an affair.

Jo Beth Reynolds (played by Daphne Zuniga ) called Jo, works as a freelance photographer . Jo is a loner who doesn't like to be looked at in the cards. She maintains friendly, albeit distant, contact with the other Melrose residents. Sometimes you only learn fragmentary things from your traumatic past (mother died by suicide , ex-husband was an alcoholic). She was with Jake for a long time.

Kimberly Shaw (played by Marcia Cross ) works as a doctor at Wilshire Memorial Hospital, where she met her great love Michael Mancini. Kimberly initially has a secret affair with the married Michael, but then manages to break up the marriage. Initially portrayed “merely” as a devious adulteress , she turns out to be a dangerous psychopath in later episodes : At the beginning of the fourth season, she blows up the entire apartment complex.

occupation

actor Role name Season Years episode Voice actor
Thomas Calabro Michael Mancini 1-7 1992-1999 1-226 Ole Pfennig
Andrew Shue Billy Campell 1-7 1992-1998 1-198 Niko Macoulis
Heather Locklear Amanda Woodward 1-7 1993-1999 21-226 Katrin Fröhlich
Doug Savant Matt Fielding 1-6 1992-1997 1-165 Frank Lenart
Josie Bissett Jane Andrews-Mancini-McBride 1-5
7		 1992-1997
1998-1999		 1-145
195-226		 Alexandra Ludwig
Grant Show Jake Hanson 1-5 1992-1997 1-164 Philipp Moog
Courtney Thorne-Smith Alison Parker-Armstrong-Hanson 1-5 1992-1997 1-164 Claudia Kleiber
Marcia Cross Kimberly Shaw-Mancini 1-5 1992-1997 11-157 Gundula Liebisch
Laura Leighton Sydney Andrews-Mancini-Field 1-5 1993-1997 19-164 Solveig Duda
Daphne Zuniga Jo Reynolds 1-4 1992-1996 15-130 Martina Duncker
Vanessa A. Williams Rhonda Blair-Haggard 1 1992-1993 1-32 Uta Zaradic
Amy Locane Sandy-Louise Harling 1 1992 1-13
Jack Wagner Peter Burns 3-7 1994-1999 70-226 Marcus Off
Kristin Davis Brooke Armstrong-Campell 3-4 1995-1996 87-118 Scarlet Cavadenti
Brooke Langton Samantha Reilly-Campell 4-7 1996-1998 128-198 Jennifer Bottcher
Rob Estes Kyle McBride 5-7 1996-1999 131-226 Frank Röth
Kelly Rutherford Megan Lewis-Mancini-McBride 5-7 1996-1999 135-226 Ute Brankatsch
Lisa Rinna Taylor Davis-McBride 5-7 1996-1998 131-198 Claudia Lössl
Alyssa Milano Jennifer Mancini 5-7 1997-1998 158-198 Julia Haacke
David Charvet Craig Field 5-6 1996-1998 135-181 Florian Halm
Jamie Luner Lexi Sterling 6-7 1997-1999 168-226 Katrin Zimmermann
Linden Ashby Brett Cooper 6-7 1997-1998 165-198 Stephan Rabow
John Haymes Newton Ryan McBride 7th 1998-1999 199-226

Trivia

Web links