Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 26, 1994 TAG: 9411090014
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LEIGH PRESSLEY LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The weekly ritual starts with a couple of clicks - one to turn the telephone off and another to turn the television on.
Having peeled off their work clothes for jeans, shorts and comfortable dresses, the five 20-something women plop themselves on the floor of a Greensboro apartment and fix their eyes on the TV.
To get in the mood, they fill their glasses with Napa Valley wine and munch on California cuisine -pitas stuffed with grilled chicken, lemon-basil pasta, tossed salad with cucumber dressing and frozen-yogurt cake.
As the theme song jukes and jives and the familiar faces flash across the screen, a wave of ``sshhs'' sweeps the room. Eyes wide, smiles brighten and excited faces turn toward each other in anticipation.
``It's on! It's on!'' says one.
All talking stops, except for a lusty comment that just spills out.
``There's Jake -he's so hot,'' adds another.
Melrose madness has returned for another season.
In case you've been hibernating in a handbag, ``Melrose Place'' is Fox's prime-time soap du jour, an hour-long showplace for women with Barbie-doll figures and men with washboard stomachs. But looks aren't everything. They've all got attitudes the size of California.
Centered around a Spanish-style apartment complex in Los Angeles, the show explores the lives, loves, joys and frustrations of a group of young people coping with life in the '90s.
To spice things up, you'll find a good bit of tabloid trash - sisters who marry the same man, a woman who turns tricks to survive the street, a bride who remembers (on her wedding day, of course) that she was sexually abused, a woman who gets pregnant by a drug-smuggling boyfriend she later shoots and kills, and a man who sleeps with his best friend's girlfriend. Oh yeah, she just happens to be the boss of his live-in mate.
But plot isn't everything, either.
At Melrose, the wardrobes are killer, the apartments are cool, and the jobs are to die for.
In other words, it's totally farfetched. Which is why everybody watches.
``It's a life that everybody wishes they had,'' says Paula Joseph, 25, one of the women who gathered for the Melrose party. It's so glamorous. To an extent, it's very unrealistic. But at the same time, we can relate to a lot of things on the show.
Now in its third season, ''Melrose Place '' started as a spinoff of ``Beverly Hills, 90210,'' with politically correct intentions of exploring serious issues that young adults tackle. Yeah, right, like anyone wants to see that.
When ``Melrose'' went down the PC path, its ratings plummeted. So in the second season, producers hired leggy Heather Locklear to play advertising executive Amanda Woodward, the resident vixen who buys the apartment complex and meddles in everyone's business.
The plot worked.
``I like Amanda because she's bitchy and really good-looking,'' says Chris Meadows, a 27-year-old Greensboro man. ``All those superficial things.''
Now a full-fledged television phenomenon - much like ``Dallas'' in the '80s, ``Melrose Place'' is climbing as high as Locklear's miniskirts. Its season finale last May finished 18th in the Nielsens, sandwiched between ``Mad About You'' and ``Roseanne.''
On post-``Melrose'' mornings, fans across the country second-guess Amanda's latest shenanigans. Telephone wires tangle, computer terminals gather dust, and sandwiches turn stale as talk turns to the show.
``First thing in the morning, we all get coffee and talk about what happened,'' says Joseph, who works for NationsBank. ``There was one guy who swore to me he would never watch it. I finally got him to watch just one episode and he was immediately hooked. He moved out of state, but he still occasionally calls to say, `Did you see what happened on ``Melrose'' last night?' It's a big gossip session.''
The program also has its own ZIP code in cyberspace.
``Place-mats'' are fans who talk about the show via on-line computer systems like the Internet. On-line is where they find show synopses, rules for ``Melrose'' drinking games, please for videotapes and debates about everything from hairstyles to weight gain among the female characters.
They also gab about Kathy Ireland, the swimsuit supermodel who has joined the show for four episodes. Her acting ability - or lack thereof - draws plenty of comment.
``Sorry, guys. Miss Ireland is gross,'' says one Internet user. ``Not only can't she act, but those bulgy, red, veiny eyes give me the willies.''
Someone else makes predictions for the next show.
``I think Michael is faking the amnesia act and knows that Kimberly used him as a human speed bump. He's plotting - and waiting - until this week. Lord, why do I watch this?!''
Critics say all the back stabbing and bed hopping at Melrose make for a show with no intellectual value. But its fans say the escapism found in the trashy twists and turns is what makes ``Melrose'' a success.
``Melrose Place'': Airs Mondays, 8 p.m., Fox 21/27.
by CNB