Melrose Place

Melrose Place is an American drama television series that aired on The CW from September 8, 2009, to April 13, 2010. The series is a revival of the 1990s Fox series of the same name and is the fifth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise. The show follows the lives of a group of young adults living at the fictitious Melrose Place apartment complex in West Hollywood, California. Smallville producers Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer were showrunners of the series. The series was met with mixed reviews from critics. Due to low ratings, it was cancelled by The CW on May 20, 2010, after one season. Development After successfully relaunching the franchise with 90210 in 2008, there was considerable speculation as to whether The CW planned to create a new version of Melrose Place in a similar vein. An article in E! Online reported the possibility of a new version of Melrose in September 2008, though The CW declined to confirm any such project at that time. Some weeks later, The CW and CBS Paramount Network Television (successor-in-interest of Spelling Television and therefore the legal rights holders to Melrose Place) said they were "exploring the possibility" of creating a new version of the series, to potentially debut in the 2009–2010 TV season and targeting their "prized demographic: young women." Original series creator Darren Star also confirmed that discussions had taken place, but nothing was official. On October 31, 2008, Entertainment Weekly writer Michael Ausiello reported that One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn had been approached about running what was being called "Melrose Place 2.0". The Hollywood Reporter confirmed on December 14, 2008, that Schwahn was in negotiations to write the initial script for the potential series. In January 2009, The CW's head of entertainment, Dawn Ostroff, discussed the network's plans to develop a Melrose Place update, stating that she had yet to identify a writer, and that the proposed project would include both returning and new characters. She noted that the original Melrose Place series which began in 1992 started "at a time not unlike what we're going through now ... they talked about the building being foreclosed on, people not having jobs. It took place in a very similar time, a time when the economy was in a downturn." Ostroff also told reporters that unlike the original series, the new version would try to capture life in the Los Angeles Melrose neighborhood.