CW gives OK to pilot of revisited ‘Melrose Place’
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.”
Rady will play Jonah Miller, a 25-year-old aspiring filmmaker who moves to the famous Hollywood street with his fiancee and makes his living as a videographer of weddings and bar mitzvahs for the rich and famous. The role sounds like a cross between Billy (Andrew Shue) and Michael Mancini (Thomas Calabro) of the original.
Like the remake of “90210,” the updated “Melrose Place” will focus on a new group of tenants, some related to the original characters, such as the son of Jake (Grant Show).
CW President of Entertainment Dawn Ostroff has also said she would love for some of the original cast to appear in the new series, especially Heather Locklear, who turned the show into a hit with her portrayal of diva Amanda Woodward.
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maria.elena.fernandez @latimes.com
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