The new Melrose Place debuted this week but failed to dislodge the Blago Reality Tour from its top ranking as Best Worst TV Series Ever.
True, Melrose Place showed just one episode on one channel. The Blago show aired on multiple installments across many channels, and across media platforms.
Take that, Paramount.
A recap:
- The Brother And His Wife. Signaling an expansion of their roles in future epsiodes, Rob Blagojevich and his leading man looks steps forward as The Good Brother With A Good Wife being persecuted by federal authorities who want him to turn on the brother whom he had hardly spoken to as an adult until taking over his campaign fund and ending up indicted.
- The Governor And His Wife. Blago and Patti Blago go on location to New York City on a whirlwind book tour, with guest appearances by Meghan McCain, Joy Behar and Sherri Shepherd.
- The Father-In-Law And His Wife. Capitalizing on the unforeseen popularity of the Patti character, the show picks up an old plot line involving her Chicago alderman father Dick Mell and spins out a weeper. Negotiations to bring Mell on as a permanent cast member, however, are reportedly faltering.
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- Regrets. Producers tie the plot line together nicely by returning to brother Rob, only this time from Rod's perspective. "I feel terrible for my brother," Rod says in today's episode. "His little brother asks him to come down and help for this last phase . . . I wanted to make sure I had someone very honest and conscientious. Also, a special guest appearance by Bonnie Hunt.
Meanwhile, despite tepid sales, it seems increasingly obvious that a movie is in the offing, if not a cartoon, an iPhone app and a recording contract. Blago Sings The Classics.
Melrose Place just can't compete.
Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.
