About Christmas TV History

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

1990s Christmas: Melrose Place

 Remember when viewing parties for this prime time soap were THE place to be during the 1990s?  Juniper does.  She's our guest blogger today, writing on one of several over-the-top holiday episodes of Melrose Place.  Juniper Sage is not only my fellow den mother for Dance Dance Party Party (DDPP-Akron) but she's one of the organizers for CraftyMart, a hugely successful independent crafters event held bi-annually in Akron, Ohio.  Check out: CraftyMart This third season episode of Melrose Place is available for viewing on DVD as well as streaming on Netflix and IMDbClick here for the IMDb link.   

Melrose Place ran from1992-1999 and was originally a spin-off from Beverly Hills, 90210.

Melrose Place
Holiday on Ice
Air Date: 12/19/94

Just like when I first started watching Melrose, watching this episode after so many years was confusing. I wish I had my friend Kevin sitting beside me to explain all of the ins and outs just like he did back then.

Who can forget Kimberly?
Some of the best storylines are ongoing in this episode but most are given an upbeat Christmas twist. The good get what they deserve and the bad…well, continue being bad because without that, there is nothing! Kimberly has stolen Jo’s baby BUT Michael returns the baby in time for the holiday, Allison is in rehab BUT she gets attention from a sexy fellow patient and Billy, Sydney’s dad had her committed to an institution BUT she returns home to see him for Christmas, Amanda suffers through the ghost-of-my-dead-boss-Christmas-past-and-future BUT is generous and forgiving in the end. Such a tidy Christmas package!

Oh Sydney, Sydney, Sydney.
 I came to Melrose in the fifth of seven seasons. Late in the game really. I started watching with my new friend, the above-mentioned Kevin and his friends. A group of guys that quickly, through the magic of TV, became my group of friends. Although toward the end of the series I think it was just Kevin and I watching.  But we stuck it out, made a big deal out of the last episode and everything.
It wasn’t hard for me to love Melrose. Some of my favorite characters from General Hospital and The Days of Our Lives (Jack Wagner, Lisa Rinna) were on the show and there is a hospital/doctor storyline that I found very familiar. It was after all a nighttime soap and I grew up on the daytime version.

Courtney Thorne-Smith as Allison
 It didn’t hurt that Courtney Thorne-Smith was a native of Boulder, CO where I was living at the time. When she came to town she’d work out at my gym and I once walked past her on the stairs looking all gross and sweaty – her not me.


Hello Frisco Jones.  Back off readers! he's mine.
They just don’t make shows like this anymore; shows with overwrought expressions at the ends of the touching scenes, scenarios where evil women can be “Christmas Carol”-ed into being decent, and I won’t even go into the music. But they also don’t make shows anymore where I’d make a weekly date with a friend to sit and watch and gossip, so I do actually miss it. A void was left in my life when I could no longer love to hate Heather Locklear.

Without a hint of self-awareness, Amanda asks her Ghost of Christmas Future, "If this is my funeral, where are all my friends?"

Jack Wagner's 1985 chart topping song performed on TV's 'Solid Gold.'

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