MELROSE PLACE WAS PERFECT PLACE FOR LOCKLEAR AND CROSS

Melrose Place the Complete First Season which was a must-see in the 90s with it’s sexy story lines all taking place in the California apartment complex and featuring fabulous looking characters arrives on DVD in stores tomorrow. The night time soap opera became successful career launching vehicles for Marcia Cross and Heather Locklear who went on to various starring television roles such as Spin City and Desperate Housewives. Creator Darren Star talks about the fate of her character on the series and how she was spared to live another season.

Heather Locklear personified the bitchy boss Amanda Woodward of Allison Parker played by Courtney Thorne-Smith which according to Darren Star wasn’t exactly the description of her character on the page.

“Marcia Cross really was somebody who was not initially brought in as a regular. It was actually where Tom Calabro and Marcia Cross are in a car accident right after he proposes to her and at the time she was dead. For all intents and purposes we had planned that episode to be her last episode. But I remember being on the set that night when we did this great car stunt and the car rolled down the cliff and exploded and I thought, ‘you know we have to bring her back. We have to figure out a way to bring back Kimberly.”

The eight disc DVD includes all 32 episodes with featurettes on the residents of Melrose Place highlighting Amanda, the style of the show that defined an era and behind-the-scenes footage. rn

“Heather Locklear came into the show towards the last third of the first season and initially there wasn’t much of a character there. She was just coming in as Alison’s boss. She wasn’t necessarily even nasty or evil or anything other than Alison’s boss. She was a thinly written character.”