Melrose Place: Season Five vol. 2

For many decades people have underestimated the most successful format for telling a story ever devised; the serial. This is the story that never ends and it has been enthralling audiences practically since the beginning of time. Serials at one time manifested as chapters of a novel or a few paragraphs of a larger story. People would go to the local movie house to catch the latest installment of the latest adventure typically picking up with the hero getting out of the dire peril he was in at the end of the previous episode. Then with the age of radio the soap opera took hold of millions of American homes with some lasting to the present. Night time soap operas became popular mainly for pushing the story lines well beyond what was considered appropriate for day time broadcasting. The target demographic altered with the shift in time to include teens and young adults this naturally resulted in a paradigm shift gearing the stories to the younger viewers. One of the most popular of this new wave of serialized stories was ‘Beverly Hills 90210’. The focus of this series was a group of overly privileged high school students with all the angst and melodrama that age group is prone to experience. The problem inherent with this situation is kids have the tendency to grow up. This held true for both the cast and audience. The answer that the network came up with was to create a spin off that was geared slightly older. The result was ‘Melrose Place’ and it managed to extend its popularity from a core audience of 90210 fans to garner a fan base it could call its own. Although the series began its seven year run as an extension of ‘90210’ there was never really any solid attempt to consolidate the stories between the two shows beyond a couple of guest appearances featuring familiar face or two.

There are typically more episodes in a series from back then so CBS Paramount has decided to decide to divide each season into two volumes of about 13 episodes each to lower the financial impact for fans. Currently they are currently up to the second volume of season 5. In this season the cast was extended by the addition of s new couple, restaurateur Kyle McBride (Rob Estes) and his wife Taylor (Lisa Rinna) as well as wannabe artist Samantha Riley (Brooke Langton), who becomes the latest to inhabit the most sexually driven apartment complex in California. Megan Lewis (Kelly Rutherford) comes on the scene and almost immediately enters into a hot and heavy affair with Michael (Thomas Calabro). During this part of the season some of the more out there story lines wrapped up signaling the departure of Marcia Cross and Josie Bisset. One thing that always worked with this show was how well they could maintain a balance between the outrageous antics required for successful prime time soap and providing the loyal fans with a constant supply of fresh characters and situations.

There was always a core of some pretty standard faire always used in this type of series. First and foremost is the sheer overwhelming number of affairs these people engage in. you just about have to make a spreadsheet or chat to keep track of who’s doing whom; it is in a state of constant flux with hook ups changing at a breakneck speed. Throughout its entire run the series remained extremely popular largely due to the consistently above average production quality. The writing was frequently outrageous but always very well crafted. A similar observation held true for the acting. The performances could range from the melodramatic to sheer camp but these were professionals who always gave it their best. For this reason this series cemented the careers of many of the cast. There is now a series using the same name and general premise but this is the perennial guilty pleasure. It not only helped to define the decade but became a significant contribution to the popular culture. Like the first volume the video was not as vibrant as most are used to. The contrast is a little off with some slight artifacts where light and dark are juxtaposed. The audio is acceptable but overall a pretty routine transfer with Dolby Stereo. The channel separation is distinct but was center oriented. This is a set that holds up well exceeding the new comer.

Posted 11/10/09