Sex and the SoCal
Like Lifetime’s previous unofficial outings about
Full House and
Saved by the Bell, two new movies about popular nineties dramas
Beverly Hills, 90210 and
Melrose Place are coming. Both shows draw from public information and press coverage that was lavished on the SoCal-centered hits created by Aaron Spelling and Darren Star (played in both flicks by
The Simpsons’ Dan Castellaneta and Canadian theater vet Adam Korson, respectively). “Biographies, autobiographies, magazine interviews with a million people—there was a lot to cull from,” notes Braunstein, who worked at Fox through the filming of the
90210 pilot. "The
Melrose movie starts at an affiliates party and it’s there that we see Fox is pushing to find an [spin-off] idea. Darren Star had become a commodity, so they start pushing to get one."
Similar to
90210,
Melrose wasn't a hit right off the bat (thank you, Heather Locklear!), but the original cast sure did become iconic. While the addition of Locklear and the end of Star’s partnership with Spelling shook the foundation of TV’s most sexually active apartment complex, the original cast’s behind-the-scenes antics made waves as well. Here, Braunstein offers some scoop about the actors in the storied ensemble.