Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 25, 1994 TAG: 9407220012
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAMES ENDRST THE HARTFORD COURANT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Can he make TV lightning strike with his soapy "Melrose Place" spinoff, "Models, Inc.," the way he did when he spun "Melrose Place" off "Beverly Hills, 90210"?
Of course he can.
Sure, there's no guarantee that "Models, Inc." - which makes its debut Wednesday on Fox Broadcasting (at 8 p.m. on WJPR/WFXR-Channel 21/27) - will be a hit.
But the odds are definitely with the 71-year-old producer.
After all, Spelling is in the Guinness Book of Records as television's most prolific producer, with more than 2,600 hours of programming, including "Family," "Dynasty," "Hotel," "Hart to Hart," "Fantasy Island," "Burke's Law" and on and on and on.
And here he comes again.
He'll have seven series running come this fall, including NBC's "Madman of the People" starring Dabney Coleman.
But in case you've somehow missed the promos or have never watched Fox Broadcasting, "Models, Inc." stars Linda Gray of "Dallas" fame as Hillary Michaels, CEO of a successful boutique and modeling agency.
Fans of "Melrose Place" are already acquainted with Hillary, who made several appearances on the show as mother of Amanda (Heather Locklear), queen witch of "Melrose."
But in a phone interview the other day from Hollywood, Spelling said there wouldn't be much in the way of crossovers.
What? No visits from Heather?
"No," says Spelling. That will happen "rarely, if at all."
One reason is because Locklear is too busy, but it's also because Spelling says this show has strong enough legs to stand on its own.
"You know what my problem with this one is? I love it too much," says Spelling, rarely one to speak disparagingly of his or anybody else's shows. "If this doesn't work I'm going to be so disappointed."
On the face of it, "Models, Inc." would appear to have the look many Fox viewers want to know better - a hormone blast of young and beautiful, if inexperienced and unknown, actors and actresses (five women, three men).
"Outside of Linda Gray," says Spelling, "very few of these people have ever done anything."
"Melrose Place" fans will recognize Cassidy Rae, who plays model Sarah Owens. But co-stars Teresa Hill, Carrie-Anne Moss, Stephanie Romanov, Kylie Travis, Cameron Daddo, Brian Gaskill and David Goldsmith will be brand-new faces.
There is an upside to inexperience, however.
True, there's a certain amount of on-the-job training (which created some well-publicized problems on the ``90210'' set in the early days). But it also means the actors aren't as likely to look at a script, says Spelling, and tell a producer "I can't say this" or "Can we change that?"
Not that dialogue in this Frank South and Charles Pratt Jr. creation is likely to be the main attraction at the start.
"I think it probably won't get the young, young audience that's attracted to `Melrose Place,' " says Spelling. "But I do think it will get another kind of audience - those who are interested in fashion and style."
This is a show with glamour, he continues, but it's not a "Dynasty" for the '90s.
The staged fashion shows will indeed be spectacular, he promises, "But `Models, Inc.' is not about modeling and runways. It's really about the lives of people. ..."
For Linda Gray, 53, a starring role in Spelling's latest prime-time soap was one of those once-in-a-great-while opportunities for actresses of a certain age.
Rumors had everyone from Lauren Hutton to Joan Collins up for the role but both Spelling and Gray say she was the first and only choice.
Gray wasn't crazy about the name Hillary, in deference to the first lady, but says she loves everything else about the character.
"I like her. Absolutely," says Gray, calling Hillary a woman of the '90s. "The bottom line is she's this independent woman who started this modeling agency from scratch. So she was not beholden to a man. In other words, there was no J.R. Ewing around.
"The girls are her surrogate daughters," she says, explaining that after Hillary left her husband and, as a result, her daughter Amanda, "There was a chunk of Hillary that was never fulfilled. She never fully mothered or nurtured and Amanda missed out on the mothering she could have had."
If that all sounds a little too sweet, a little too boring an approach - not to worry.
Spelling is a firm believer that - beginning with the Garden of Eden - the snake always gets the good lines in a soap opera.
And when it comes to "Models, Inc.," he says, the runways are going to be just crawling with them.
by CNB