It’s been three decades since Melrose Place debuted on Fox — and Mondays haven’t mellowed one bit. They’re still a bitch.
Since last July — though not always on Mondays — Melrose Place stars Courtney Thorne-Smith, Daphne Zuniga and Laura Leighton have been reuniting weekly for their iHeartRadio podcast, Still the Place. Each episode takes a nostalgic stroll down 4616 Melrose memory lane, as the trio revisits and recaps their old episodes.
“It was pre-cell phone, it was pre-streaming, it was appointment television. It’s when you got together to watch a television show with your friends so you could remember watching a show where you were in your life and who you were with,” Leighton says. “And that’s a unique thing we don’t get any more with television.”
Their journeys often include candid conversations with former castmates, including Thomas Calabro, Andrew Shue, Grant Show, Vanessa Estelle Williams, Doug Savant, Jack Wagner, Rob Estes, Josie Bissett and, of course, Heather Locklear. More guest appearances are in the works, and Thorne-Smith confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Lisa Rinna is already on board.
Thorne-Smith — who portrayed aspiring advertising executive Alison Parker (fun fact: the fictional D&D Advertising Agency is the former home to THR) — says it’s the behind-the-scenes honesty — like Williams’ opening up about how the writers struggled to write for her character, Rhonda Blair; Savant talking about his groundbreaking role as the openly gay Matt Fielding; or script secrets revealed with writer Chuck Pratt and producer Chip Hayes — that makes the podcast, still exploring the series’ 32-episode first season, so compelling for fans and cast alike.
“[We} want to have the conversation with our friends,” says Thorne-Smith. “We want to be talking to them about what they remember and what was going on, because it’s so crazy the things you remember about what happened that day on set. What else was going on? It’s amazing how much you retain once you see it again.”
Each episode offers an insightful — and often hilarious — look back at the show’s storylines, iconic ’90s fashion (Thorne-Smith particularly zeros in each week on wardrobe choices, such as her character in a white negligee and uncomfortable bra), behind-the-scenes tea, topical issues of the times, production revelations, examinations of line deliveries by fellow actors and the occasional virtual visits to dip in the courtyard pool.
“How did 33 years go by, and how did we jump ahead this far in real life to now be looking back at this, watching our super-younger selves?” asks Leighton, who played the saucy Sydney Andrews/Mancini/Field. “I’m struck by the uniqueness of that gift. It’s sort of a blessing and a curse to be able to look at your younger self forever captured on film. For better or worse, you get to see what was going on in your youth. And it’s also a unique and special thing that we get to share this time together.”
Sharing those past memories in the present have brought the three women closer, shares Zuniga, who portrayed photographer Jo Reynolds and was the first new character to move into the building after the departure of Amy Locane. While Zuniga admits she didn’t really know her co-hosts all that well back when the show was filming, she now has come to appreciate their special qualities.
“Even during our last ‘Melrose Minute,’ I was thinking — these two are amazing hosts,” Zuniga says. “Laura cooks, she’s raised four kids, and every time I called her, she was either driving to water polo, baseball or juggling something else. It’s been so great really getting to know who we are as women now, because we didn’t get that chance back then.”
Zuniga — who shares that the three are now getting together for dinner parties and was touched that her co-hosts came to support her in an improvisational show — also speaks warmly about working with Thorne-Smith on the podcast.
“Courtney’s passion and joy for this podcast has been such a gift. I tend to look at things like, ‘OK, let’s get it done, check it off the list,’ but [she] always reminds me —‘Daphne, let’s have fun with this!’ And I love that. [she brings] this energy that says, ‘Let’s just enjoy it,’ and it’s been so refreshing.”
Leighton opens up about the enduring friendships among the cast, sharing that reconnecting after 30 years and working on the podcast has made them all closer.
“We were friends back then, for sure — but we were all really busy with work,” she says. “It was an amazing time, but there weren’t any big dramas. No one was feuding or not speaking to each other — it was just a friendly, supportive group. We were genuinely fond of one another.”
She reflects on how that foundation made reconnecting years later feel effortless.
“Because we had that mutual respect and kindness, it made it easy to go off and live our separate lives for 20 or 30 years,” she says. “We’d run into each other now and then — at auditions or events — but coming back together after all that time, we still really liked each other. And now, getting to know each other more deeply, it’s been such a gift.”
Thorne-Smith agrees with her co-stars, saying that real friendships have blossomed from Still the Place.
“That’s lucky, right? We could’ve come back together and thought, ‘Oof, maybe we should’ve just stayed friendly from a distance.’ But instead, we’ve actually become real friends — and that’s been really sweet,” she says.
She also touches on how rare and valuable friendship can be later in life: “At this stage in life, making new friendships isn’t always easy. So, the fact that we’ve reconnected and built something deeper now — it feels really special.”
Looking back on the old episodes for each actress has been a fun experience, and there is more to come as the storylines are about to get crazier. At the moment, Billy Campbell (Shue) and Alison Parker are still not an onscreen couple, and Michael Mancini (Calabro) is just about to start his steamy affair with Dr. Kimberly Shaw, portrayed by Marcia Cross. Estes is still portraying Mancini’s college friend, Sam (he later joined the show as another character, Kyle McBride), Sydney was introduced in a few episodes but is about to return in a bigger capacity on the show with forays into prostitution, getting held hostage by Shaw before she blows up the building and inadvertently joins a cult.
“There are so many fun storylines we haven’t even touched on in our recaps yet, and I’m really looking forward to it. The show started out as this sweet series about eight young people trying to make it, with each episode neatly wrapped up. But once the tone shifted — and especially by the time my character joined — it became something else entirely,” Leighton says. “We got to dive into wild, dramatic storylines, and I felt so lucky to be part of that. I remember reading some scripts, especially the ones where I had to strip, and thinking, ‘Wait, I have to do what?’ I was definitely uncomfortable at the time. But looking back, I really appreciate getting to play a character who went through such outrageous and fun twists. It was way more exciting than the neat little stories from the beginning.”
From left: Daphne Zuniga, Laura Leighton and Courtney Thorne-Smith
Courtesy of IHeart Media
Asked if there are any storylines they wish were different, Zuniga reflects on what she described as the victimization of her character, from being conned and nearly murdered by James Wilder’s Reed, to having her baby kidnapped and then beaten and abused by Dan Cortese’s character, Jess, brother of Show’s Jake Hanson.
“It was easy to make her a victim of bad relationships, but I wish she’d had more independence and career growth. Toward the end, it all felt repetitive — not just for my character, but for everyone,” she says. “That’s what happens when a show runs a long time.”
Rewatching the episodes has also given the actresses a greater appreciation for their fellow castmates, and when asked if they’d ever swap roles, they don’t hesitate to answer.
“I would’ve played Amanda because I feel like she got all the really good lines and I was the one going [in character], ‘Oh, oh,’” says Thorne-Smith. “That would’ve been nice to be the one who did zingers.”
Zuniga shares that if she could have swapped characters, Calabro’s Mancini would have been the most fun.
“Amanda had some great zingers, and I think Michael would’ve been a fun character to play — if he were a woman,” she says. “Maybe even Kimberly. She was so bold and unapologetically in your face. That would’ve been a blast to play.”
Shares Leighton, “I’ve always been partial to Sydney, but if I had to choose: Alison — so I could make out with Andrew.”
Quips Zuniga, “You mean in your trailer — between scenes?”
Speaking of kissing — this is Melrose Place — which guys were the best kissers?
“There were so many. Oh, so many,” says Thorne-Smith of her onscreen paramours, which included Shue, Show, David James Elliott, Brian Bloom, William R. Moses, Parker Stevenson, Perry King and more. “I didn’t realize that would be the only time in my life and they’d be bussing cute boys in for me to kiss. I would have appreciated it more.”
Zuniga — who also kissed Show, Wilder, Cortese, Patrick Muldoon and Brad Johnson on the show — doesn’t exactly kiss and tell, adding, “I liked all of the guys I kissed. They were all great. There’s this one guy that I didn’t [like kissing] and I’m not going to tell you who that is, because I don’t kiss and tell, but I did enjoy kissing all of them.”
Leighton — who smooched onscreen with Calabro, Show, Chad Lowe, Estes and David Charvet, among others, shares: “It’s easier to remember your least favorite. But the one I never got to kiss on the show was my husband (Savant).”
Yes, real life did overlap on Melrose Place. Shue and Thorne-Smith dated. Leighton dated Show before marrying Savant, and then Locklear and Wagner later on after the show had wrapped.
“We were watching seasons five and six and jumped ahead to these episodes and we were laughing so hard at like, just the crossover,” Leighton says. “It’s like I’m having a storyline with my friend Josie’s husband and she’s having a storyline with Grant, who I was dating at the time. And Courtney is now in a relationship with Grant, but now she used to be dating Andrew and like all this stuff was going on, the crossover of real life. And Heather and Jack are together on the show and they got together in real life later on.”
Thorne-Smith adds: “People would talk about it with me and say, ‘No, it wasn’t like that.’ We’re like, yeah, it really kind of was like that.”
While there is talk of a Melrose Place reboot in development in the future with CBS Studios (would Reynolds’ son, Austin, find his mother after being given up for adoption?), in the present, all three actresses are enjoying the past.
“When you revisit when you were younger, it’s a softer version of life,” shares Zuniga. “It’s a break from your mind right now dealing with life. It’s not that the time necessarily was trouble-free, but there’s something relaxing about letting the reality of right now go for a little bit.”