Melrose Place Television Program

Cast in roles they never envisioned, let alone approved, many of Hollywood's top celebrities are increasingly finding that they are the star attractions on thousands of Internet sex sites. Hoping to bring the curtain down on such sites, "Melrose Place" star Alyssa Milano is expected to file two lawsuits today against several online firms accused of selling nude pictures of her and dozens of other stars over the Net.

That shaking underneath Hollywood tonight is not from a quake, but from the force unleashed by the return of a TV powerhouse no less than William Shatner reprising his role as Capt. James T. Kirk or Larry Hagman taking over "Dallas" again. Amanda Woodward -- that is, Heather Locklear -- is back on "Melrose Place," and her arrival couldn't be better timed. The first time Amanda appeared at the West Hollywood apartment complex of twentysomething troublemakers and bed-hoppers, Aaron Spelling's show wasn't living up to its "Beverly Hills, 90210" spinoff hype.

Lawyers for the Spelling Entertainment Group call it her "material change." Hunter Tylo calls it her baby. Tylo, a 33-year-old up-and-coming actress, is pregnant. And because her pregnancy is not in the script, neither is the actress. According to producers of Aaron Spelling's steamiest prime-time series, "Melrose Place," there is no place in the show for Tylo until she is back to the state she was in when they offered her a role--that is, the unpregnant state.

Now that the "90210" remake has been renewed for a second season, the CW is moving ahead with plans for a remake of "Melrose Place," which was originally a spinoff of "Beverly Hills, 90210." This week, the CW greenlighted the pilot, which was co-written by "Smallville" producers Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin, and hired Academy Award winner Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth") to direct it. On Wednesday, the network cast the first actor, Michael Rady, who recently appeared on CBS' "Swingtown."

R.I.P. "Melrose Place": 1992-99. But before it makes an exit after seven steamy, schemey years, consider this finale: A major character dies in the last episode, goes straight to hell and comes face to face with all the deranged killers and psychopaths (Kimberly, Sydney, Brooke . . .) who've bitten the dust during seasons past.

When Carol Mendelsohn and Charles Pratt Jr. took over the reins as executive producers of "Melrose Place" at the end of the 1997-98 season, they knew the job would entail more than just supervising the writing staff and ensuring there would be a sufficient number of cleavage close-ups.

Now that the "90210" remake has been renewed for a second season, the CW is moving ahead with plans for a remake of "Melrose Place," which was originally a spinoff of "Beverly Hills, 90210." This week, the CW greenlighted the pilot, which was co-written by "Smallville" producers Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin, and hired Academy Award winner Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth") to direct it. On Wednesday, the network cast the first actor, Michael Rady, who recently appeared on CBS' "Swingtown."

The two-hour season finale of Fox's "Melrose Place" scored the highest ratings in the program's history Wednesday night--but without the much-talked about kiss between two gay characters, prompting cries of censorship from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "This is defamation by invisibility," Lee Werbel, executive director of the GLAAD chapter in Los Angeles, said in a statement Thursday.

It was one of those quintessential L.A. moments: A hush fell over the crowded courtroom as the famous blond witness testified about having a baby while playing a babe on a prime time television soap opera. Heather Locklear, wearing skin-tight black pants, four-inch heels and a cropped black T-shirt that revealed just a glimpse of taut, post-pregnancy midriff, was asked Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court to describe how she played the role of a scheming super-vixen, even as a mother-to-be.

Earlier this year, the future of "Melrose Place" seemed about as bright as a condemned building. Fox's twentysomething TV saga about the fashionable residents of a Los Angeles apartment complex had started a year ago with a promotional bang, but it quickly sputtered. After 13 episodes, "Melrose Place" was mired in creative upheaval, and by spring it appeared to be a candidate for eviction from Fox's prime-time schedule, ranking No.

R.I.P. "Melrose Place": 1992-99. But before it makes an exit after seven steamy, schemey years, consider this finale: A major character dies in the last episode, goes straight to hell and comes face to face with all the deranged killers and psychopaths (Kimberly, Sydney, Brooke . . .) who've bitten the dust during seasons past.

It's official: Fox's "Melrose Place" and ABC's "Home Improvement," both long-running prime-time hits, will each conclude their runs in May, the two networks confirmed Friday. In the case of "Melrose," Fox opted not to continue the racy prime-time serial, which has seen its audience dwindle to fewer than 9 million viewers per week. The move was not a surprise, since Fox nearly canceled the 7-year-old series a year ago. "Home Improvement," which premiered in 1991, ends on a different note.

When Carol Mendelsohn and Charles Pratt Jr. took over the reins as executive producers of "Melrose Place" at the end of the 1997-98 season, they knew the job would entail more than just supervising the writing staff and ensuring there would be a sufficient number of cleavage close-ups.

Cast in roles they never envisioned, let alone approved, many of Hollywood's top celebrities are increasingly finding that they are the star attractions on thousands of Internet sex sites. Hoping to bring the curtain down on such sites, "Melrose Place" star Alyssa Milano is expected to file two lawsuits today against several online firms accused of selling nude pictures of her and dozens of other stars over the Net.

Actress Hunter Tylo, who convinced a jury that she was fired from the prime-time soap opera "Melrose Place" for getting pregnant, can keep the nearly $5-million verdict she won, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday. In denying Spelling Entertainment Group's request to throw out the verdict or at least reduce the award, Judge Fumiko Hachiya Wasserman also ordered Spelling to pay slightly more than $900,000 in attorneys' fees to Tylo's lawyers.

Claiming a "runaway jury" awarded damages so excessive they were "off the charts," a lawyer for Spelling Television on Tuesday asked a judge to toss out a $5-million verdict won by an actress who convinced jurors that she had been fired from a television show because she was pregnant.

Fox Entertainment Chairman Sandy Grushow on Thursday defended the network's plan for a "quickie" movie on the murder case involving football legend O.J. Simpson, saying Fox was committed to presenting "a good, responsible film." Responding to questions during a gathering of national television writers at the Television Critics Assn.

Stealing each other's spouses and stabbing close friends in the back, the characters on television's "Melrose Place" are not exactly the kind of people you want moving in next door. Neither are the crew members who film the racy melodrama, say disgruntled homeowners in the yachting community of Mandalay Bay.

In a groundbreaking challenge to Hollywood's power to dictate how an actress must look, a Los Angeles jury found Monday that the producers of the television show "Melrose Place" were wrong to fire Hunter Tylo because she was pregnant and ordered them to pay her nearly $5 million in damages. The 10-woman, two-man jury gave Tylo nearly double the $2.5 million that she had sought.

It was one of those quintessential L.A. moments: A hush fell over the crowded courtroom as the famous blond witness testified about having a baby while playing a babe on a prime time television soap opera. Heather Locklear, wearing skin-tight black pants, four-inch heels and a cropped black T-shirt that revealed just a glimpse of taut, post-pregnancy midriff, was asked Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court to describe how she played the role of a scheming super-vixen, even as a mother-to-be.