Despite the fact that Lifetime has only aired one of their slightly over-the-top behind-the-scenes exposés about once-beloved TV series, the network cannot seem to stop itself from ordering up more. A mere two weeks after it announced a tell-all about Beverly Hills 90210 was coming in the future, Lifetime is now going to get into the nitty gritty behind the more adult-skewing Fox primetime soap Melrose Place. All hail Heather Locklear lookalikes. All hail Heather Locklear lookalikes.
Lifetime gave the greenlight to The Unauthorized Melrose Place Story, further cementing the fact that they’re seeing this Unauthorized…Story title as a full-on way to brand their TV movies. This new and presumably hyper-dramatic look at Melrose Place, created by Darren Star, will be inspired by interviews from the original cast and crew, which included Locklear, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Marcia Cross, Thomas Calabro, Andrew Shue, Josie Bissett, and more. There are quite a few stories to be told here, from Locklear’s promotion to troublemaking ringleader to Amy Locane’s quick absence after one season to the actors craving juicier storylines. I still get the major shudders when I think about what happened with Cross’ Kimberly Shaw a few seasons in.
According to THR, The Unauthorized Melrose Place Story will be written by Dana Schamlenberg, whose limited credits include an episode of The Famous Jett Jackson and an episode of Single Ladies. It will be directed by Mark Griffiths, who has a slew of TV movies under his belt, with the most recent two being A Novel Romance and June in January.
The original TV run of Melrose Place lasted from 1992 until 1999, spanning seven seasons and 226 episodes. The show was later updated for The CW in 2009, with several actors reprising their original roles, but it only lasted one season. Now let’s stop messing around and join together in reliving and humming along to that classic screeching guitar theme song, shall we?
A premiere date for The Unauthorized Melrose Place Story has yet to be announced, but we’re assuming it’s going to come after the Full House one, and at some point after Lifetime exposes everything Aaron Spelling was a part of by announcing The Unauthorized The Heights Story, The Unauthorized Malibu Shores Story and The Unauthorized Dynasty Story. We’re totally into that last one, for the record.
