“Melrose Place” star and actor Grant Show has opened up about the quality of the first season of the series. Speaking honestly in a podcast, Show revealed that he didn’t think the early episodes of the spin-off were very good and that it struggled to find instant success when the first season aired.
Grant Show Talks Openly About ‘Melrose Place’
Show was involved in “Melrose Place” from the very beginning of the series, portraying the character Jake Hanson throughout the first five seasons. A spin-off of “Beverly Hills, 90210,” his character was first introduced in the hit teen drama for several episodes before moving over to “Melrose Place.”
It would eventually go on to air seven seasons in total before its finale in 1999. However, Show has lifted the lid in a candid moment about how it wasn’t necessarily a success from the start and it was not always clear that the series would find an audience.
During an episode of the “Still Here Hollywood Podcast w/ Steve Kmetko,” Show spoke honestly about the early days of “Melrose Place” and how the series was first received. He opened up about how the spin-off went on to find success over time but it was not a hit right at the start.
“Well, the first season was really touch and go,” explained Show.
Elaborating, he went on to reveal how the show’s “ratings were not very good” for the first season. This made some nervous that a second season of the 1992 series might not go ahead. This was even more of a worry for Show, who thought that the quality of the initial batch of episodes was also not very impressive.
He continued, “The show wasn’t very good, I don’t think. It was all right. So it was the second season [when] it took off and when it did take off, it took off like a rocket.”
An Executive Previously Revealed What Ended the Show
GettyWhile the beginning of “Melrose Place” was rocky, it ran for seven seasons in total and found plenty of success after its first season. But why exactly did such a popular show come to an end?
Writer and producer Charles Pratt has some answers. Speaking earlier this year, he explained that a lawsuit between actor Hunter Tylo and Aaron Spelling led to Fox deciding to axe the series as a cost-cutting measure and to avoid bad publicity over the legal action.
“[Fox] had moved on in their mind, but, you know, the ratings were starting to go down, you know, and then the last year, I know why it was canceled, why we didn’t get an eighth season, which we really wanted,” Pratt said.
“It was the show between the lawsuits and the stuff, it was really tainted,” he continued. “And quite frankly, they said, we can’t afford to pay Heather Locklear.”
