THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 18, 1995 TAG: 9512160059
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
I'M IN A FUNK because ``Melrose Place'' isn't on tonight. No rerun. No nothing. This is a lousy way to start the week.
I'm as addicted to this show as the O.J. Simpson jury.
I'm a ``Placemat.''
What am I going to do with myself between 8 and 9 tonight?
I know. I'll read a couple chapters of David Wild's new book, ``The Official Melrose Place Companion.''
It will get my mind off worrying about Jane, who last week had two terrible things happen to her. Somebody cut off almost all her hair and then she overdosed on tranquilizers and champagne.
I'll go back to the episode when Marcia Cross as Dr. Kimberly Shaw stood before the bathroom mirror and, ugh, revealed the horrible scar on her head.
``We went way over the top. Beautifully over the top,'' said producer Aaron Spelling in talking with Wild. ``When somebody comes up with a crazy idea for the show, and the rest of us say, `You should be ashamed of yourself,' that's taken as a great compliment.''
Maybe I'll revisit the episode when that creep from Australia kidnapped Sydney and forced her to live in luxury at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Or maybe I'll go back to the show on Jan. 27, 1993, when Heather Locklear first appeared as Amanda Woodward.
That's the nice thing about Wild's 183-page book, published by Harper Perennial. You can relive every campy moment of the Fox series right up to the start of its third season in September 1995.
Or, if you were late getting addicted to ``Melrose Place,'' you can use Wild's book to dig out a little history on the characters. For instance: Sydney has been a call girl, madam, waitress, stripper, cult member and mental patient who blackmailed Michael into marriage.
Wild, who writes for Rolling Stone magazine, says he has seen every episode of ``Melrose Place'' several times in doing his research. And he still wants more. Wild watches with his wife every week.
And he thinks the show is still a hoot even after its creator, Darren Star, left to produce ``Central Park West'' for CBS.
``The producers will try every trick they know to pump up `Melrose Place' and keep it going,'' said Wild. ``This show and `Beverly Hills 90210' are important franchises for Fox. They are the cornerstones on which the network was built.''
I guess you know that ``Melrose Place'' is a spinoff of ``Beverly Hills 90210,'' also created by Star. ``Melrose Place'' began in March 1992 when Jake Hanson (Grant Show) arrived on ``Beverly Hills 90210'' as Dylan's old surfing buddy.
Dylan: Where you livin' these days, man?
Jake: Ah, it's a little place off Melrose, nothing special.
And so began ``Melrose Place,'' with two women in the cast who faded away quickly - Amy Locane as Sandy and Vanessa Williams (not the beauty queen/singer) as Rhonda. Think of all the big paydays they have missed.
Wild had Spelling's full cooperation. He had access to the scripts, the sets, actors. He gives the readers juicy little tidbits from the producers, such as the address of the apartment complex: 4616 Melrose Place.
If it's more trivia you want, Wild obliges. Billy Campbell's family business is Campbell & Sons Furniture. Alison came to Los Angeles from Wisconsin. The baby that Jo had to give up for adoption was named Austin.
Wild has also done a companion piece to the NBC sitcom ``Friends.''
TV books make great stocking stuffers. Now that I've finished Wild's books, I'm reading ``Behind the Scenes at ER'' by Janine Pourroy.
How do the producers get all those sensational shots of an emergency room team on the move in moments of crisis? By using a Panaflex Steadicam.
I'll read more the next time NBC makes it a Thursday night without ``ER.'' by CNB