By the 1990s "Spelling TV shows" had become "the phenomenal worldwide interest." It was explained, "In this market without some sort of hook (such as the name Spelling) to bring people in, you're in trouble." It was said "Aaron has been generationally reborn." Insisting "if you don't continue to build your young audience you will have no audience", 'Sunset Beach' marked Aaron Spelling "first exposure to a daytime bible." Since 1985, about 31% of women between the ages of 18 and 49 stopped watching daytime soap operas. However about a million women in those age brackets were still "up for grabs". Shot on location around Santa Monica and Malibu, 'Sunset Beach' was watched by roughly 1.8 million American viewers, mostly women between the ages of 12 and 34, every afternoon. "What we tried to do is create a community," the show's creator said, "make the town itself a character...It's a special place where people gravitate to and where the people live a little larger than life."
In prime time viewers watched 'Melrose Place'. "More than a TV star, Heather Locklear is a premium brand," The Los Angeles Times observed. "There is no fictional role that could overtake her in term of sheer name recognition." Frank South came from the era of "quality television" ('Cagney & Lacey', 'Fame', 'Hill Street Blues'). Back in the 1980s, Frank was "a young rebel playwright" living in New York. In those days, 'Dallas' "was one of the few TV shows I actually watched, because I always loved (Linda Gray)." In 1994 Linda starred in the 'Melrose Place' spin-off series 'Models Inc'. Frank along with Charles Pratt Jr. created the show. Frank described the production of his show, "...The term we use, is an episode has to 'burn a lot of story'. It has to tell a lot of story fast and hit high points and still it has to be grounded in a recognizable reality, tethered very strongly to emotion..." The success of 'Melrose Place' was attributed to that "element of friendship...And we know that friendship is one of the most important things in appealing to Generation X. Look at 'Friends', it even has it in the name."
Of 'Melrose Place', Charles recounted, "At first we tried to make 'Melrose' a slice-of-life drama. We had all these beautiful people in the same apartment building but nobody was sleeping with each other. It was only after we started making it more episodic, with cliff-hangers and stuff, that the show took off." A TV executive also mentioned, "Heather is one of those very few people that the audience does tend to follow." 'Sunset Beach' ran from 1997 to 1999. Like Seal Beach, the producers pointed out, "That's our vision...small, everyone knows everyone."
In prime time viewers watched 'Melrose Place'. "More than a TV star, Heather Locklear is a premium brand," The Los Angeles Times observed. "There is no fictional role that could overtake her in term of sheer name recognition." Frank South came from the era of "quality television" ('Cagney & Lacey', 'Fame', 'Hill Street Blues'). Back in the 1980s, Frank was "a young rebel playwright" living in New York. In those days, 'Dallas' "was one of the few TV shows I actually watched, because I always loved (Linda Gray)." In 1994 Linda starred in the 'Melrose Place' spin-off series 'Models Inc'. Frank along with Charles Pratt Jr. created the show. Frank described the production of his show, "...The term we use, is an episode has to 'burn a lot of story'. It has to tell a lot of story fast and hit high points and still it has to be grounded in a recognizable reality, tethered very strongly to emotion..." The success of 'Melrose Place' was attributed to that "element of friendship...And we know that friendship is one of the most important things in appealing to Generation X. Look at 'Friends', it even has it in the name."
Of 'Melrose Place', Charles recounted, "At first we tried to make 'Melrose' a slice-of-life drama. We had all these beautiful people in the same apartment building but nobody was sleeping with each other. It was only after we started making it more episodic, with cliff-hangers and stuff, that the show took off." A TV executive also mentioned, "Heather is one of those very few people that the audience does tend to follow." 'Sunset Beach' ran from 1997 to 1999. Like Seal Beach, the producers pointed out, "That's our vision...small, everyone knows everyone."
