Raise your hand if you were disappointed by the final scenes of the Melrose Place series
finale! Yes, the formerly saucy sudser got a bland and banal send-off, but did you know
that a top-secret final scene was filmed and then junked at the last minute?
Longtime fans will remember that Natalie, Allison's first roommate, vacated the premises in
the dark of night early in the first episode. That's why Allison needed a new roommate (name
ly Billy). Well, TV Guide Online has learned that the writers and producers wrote and filmed
a final scene in which Natalie finally returns to the apartment complex only to find that
Allison, Jane, Michael, Rhonda, Sandy and Jake are long gone, and poor Matt is dead.
Hey if you can't get Allison (Courtney Thorne-Smith) back, at least give the audience a
final scene that ties up the loose ends established in the first scene, right? Wrong. The
producers and writers thought no one would get the joke, and that the twist was too "inside"
for most fans.
Other endings that were considered (but not filmed): the return of Thorne-Smith in a funny
cameo; a brief appearance by Marcia Cross at the conclusion of Eve's (Rena Sofer) storyline;
and a fabulously campy visit to hell, where we'd see all of Melrose's dead villains living
the high life. Jonathan Reiner