2000 Malibu Road has been cancelled!!

[Willie Oleson]

Now I still don't know all the details about Jade O'Keefe's fake/planned/framed murder case.
Was this the shortest short-lived prime time soap ever?
I liked it, it was darker than BH 90210 and Melrose Place.

The show starts with hooker Jade (Lisa Hartman) telling her client (Robert Foxworth, on ImdB credited for "unknown" episodes) that she's going to quit her job i.e. getting paid for special services.

So far so good.
It must have been a very lucrative business because she owns a big house in Malibu. Actually I don't know how big it is but the rooms look huge, especially since they're practically empty.
A house without furniture, fascinating!

And now she's going to rent some rooms to other people because she still needs money of course.
One of the tenants is Perry Quinn, played by the charming Jennifer Beals, and she'll get her own spectacular storyline that ends with a cliffhanger - because it was cancelled - but at least it explains the situation.


The other rooms are for two sisters, the aspiring actress Lindsay Rule (Drew Barrymore) and her sister/manager Joy, played by Tuesday Knight (not Weld!).
This storyline wasn't my favourite because Tuesday was supposed to be the older, ugly, fat sister.
But she looked younger, ugly as in "wearing glasses and no make-up", and fat...pff, God forbid Hollywood would actually hire a fat actress. They just had her wearing wide dresses but she was probably thinner than Drew Barrymore.
I liked the idea of this obsessive mover & shaker, but she never achieved anything and there was too much comical stuff going on.

Drew Barrymore was OK, and she was sort-of-not-dating Eric Adler, played by Brian Bloom.


Constance Towers and Mitchell Ryan play the super-rich parents from hell, so there's a dysfunctional family too.

Oh, she's wicked!

 

[tommie]

This got a weird voice-over by Lisa Hartman (!) in Europe explaining how everything went for our Honey-Bunny's.

It's a bit bizarre but goes along with how Aaron Spelling knew how to sell a series to "Europe" (oh what a difuse concept it is!)

 

[Romain]

If I remember correctly, Aaron Spelling was furious with CBS because they scheduled 2000 Malibu Road opposite Melrose Place, which meant he had two productions in direct competition with each other.
When this aired in my country, it did have a final montage explaining what happened to each character, which made me think some additional episodes were produced and they used that extra footage to give the show a "proper" conclusion. The one thing I remember from it was Joy got struck by lightning!

The cast picture above seems to be one of the earliest entries in the "entire cast wearing white" trend of the Spelling shows promo pics from the 90s. I also remember that when Shannen Doherty was let go from Beverly Hills, 90210, Drew Barrymore was in the running to play the show's new bad girl Valerie Malone, and so was Alyssa Milano (who would eventually join Melrose Place as Michael's sister Jennifer Mancini a few years later). The part of Valerie ended up going to Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, and Drew Barrymore never worked for Aaron Spelling again (her movie career was relaunched by the big success of Scream).

As for Jennifer Beals, she is IMHO one of the few actresses who got better-looking with age. She did nothing for me on this show but she was absolutely gorgeous on The L Word, a dozen years later.

 

[Willie Oleson]

This got a weird voice-over by Lisa Hartman (!) in Europe explaining how everything went for our Honey-Bunny's.

Do you remember the explanation?

 

[tommie]

Do you remember the explanation?

I mostly remember that Drew and Tuesday Knight's characters went their own ways.

And yes, Honey Bunny did survive getting hit by lightning - phew!

I'm currently going through my VHS tapes so I'm hoping to find it eventually.

 

[tommie]

If I remember correctly, Aaron Spelling was furious with CBS because they scheduled 2000 Malibu Road opposite Melrose Place, which meant he had two productions in direct competition with each other.

This was the excuse, but 2000 Malibu Road aired on Sundays, not Wednesdays (where Melrose aired).

No one thought 2MR would be a success and in all honesty it was a summer burn-off - if you watch the series you can even see how Drew's character talks about being cast in pilots, which indicates that it was supposed to air in the spring. Of course, it ended up being a hit, but all of the cast contracts had expired. So they had to go through lenghty negotiations and they... failed.

 

[Toni]

As for Jennifer Beals, she is IMHO one of the few actresses who got better-looking with age. She did nothing for me on this show but she was absolutely gorgeous on The L Word, a dozen years later.

Romain, you read my mind with this comment, I agree about Miss Beals. Besides, she had become a quite decent actress when she starred in "The L Word" (if not the best of the cast).

 

[tommie]

Do you remember the explanation?

I might add that the explanation was pretty shit.

If I find it I will write it out, but expect crap. It was horrid.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Terry Louise Fisher, the show’s creator, has passed away.

Terry Louise Fisher Dies: ‘L.A. Law’ Co-Creator & ‘Cagney & Lacey’ Writer Was 79

Terry Louise Fisher, the co-creator of 'L.A. Law' and a writer for 'Cagney & Lacey', has died. She was 79.

deadline.com

 

[Monzo]

I wasn't aware that a soap opera called "Daughters of Eve" was ever planned. The only information I could find about it is this:

"Daughters of Eve" was the name of a primetime soap opera pilot that was intended to star Sophia Loren, but it was not picked up. The show was created by Terry Louise Fisher, who also co-created the series "L.A. Law". The "Daughters of Eve" pilot was intended to be the first international prime-time soap opera, and it was financed by Procter and Gamble.

Does anyone know who else was part of the cast of "Daughters of Eve" and which network was planning to air it?

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I wasn't aware that a soap opera called "Daughters of Eve" was ever planned. The only information I could find about it is this:

"Daughters of Eve" was the name of a primetime soap opera pilot that was intended to star Sophia Loren, but it was not picked up. The show was created by Terry Louise Fisher, who also co-created the series "L.A. Law". The "Daughters of Eve" pilot was intended to be the first international prime-time soap opera, and it was financed by Procter and Gamble.

Does anyone know who else was part of the cast of "Daughters of Eve" and which network was planning to air it?

There is very little information about it online but in March 1994, it was being reported that they were courting Elizabeth Taylor for the lead role (her agent denied she would be starring in it). The blurb described the main character as a wealthy woman with a past, whose three daughters were now making their own splash in London, Paris and New York. It was reported that Taylor would be paid in the region of $125,000 per episode and that while Paramount was negotiating with networks, the show may not be ready for the fall schedule that year.

 

[Monzo]

Scott Bryce—whom fans of primetime soaps know as a series regular on 2000 Malibu Road and as Leslie Bibb's father on Popular, and whom daytime fans definitely know from As the World Turns—has passed away.

Scott Bryce, ‘As the World Turns’ Craig Montgomery, Passes Away at 68

Heartbreaking news to report this Sunday evening, July 13. Two-time Daytime Emmy nominee and beloved soap veteran and television actor Scott Bryce (ex-Craig Montgomery, As the World Turns) has died at the age of 68. Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, Bryce’s longtime friend and former co-star announced his...

michaelfairmantv.com

I only knew Scott Bryce from primetime series and was always happy to see him, even when he appeared merely as a guest actor in recent years. Dick Wolf seemed particularly fond of him, as he appeared in all of Wolf's current franchises (Law & Order, Chicago, FBI).