I watched the original Melrose Place. I remember Brooke, Billy, Sydney, and Amanda, and who could forget the pool? I don’t remember much, but I do remember I enjoyed the craziness week after week and it was a pretty entertaining show (even if 90210 was clearly superior).

Anyway, the remake of Melrose Place has large shoes to fill. They certainly got the pool and the apartment complex right. They also have returning actors Thomas Calabro (Dr. Michael Mancini) and Laura Leighton (the aforementioned Sydney). I’ve heard Grant Show might be back as well as some other familiar faces. But now there is a new generation who live at the infamous apartment complex: David (Shaun Sipos), Ella (Katie Cassidy from Supernatural), Auggie (Colin Egglesfield), Lauren (Stephanie Jacobsen), Jonah (Michael Rady) and his girlfriend Riley (Jessica Lucas from Cloverfield). And the most recognizable face is that of Violet (played by Ashlee Simpson-Wentz).

Each character knows Sydney (she is the landlord on the new show) and they all have qualms against her. David’s father is Dr. Mancini, and Sydney has an affair with both of them. Ella (a high-powered publicist) considered Sydney to be her mentor until betrayal tore them apart. Violet is a newcomer who has a secret connection to Sydney. Full of unexpected twists and turns as well as connections to the old show, Melrose Place was interesting, I’ll give it that. But I think it lacked a ton of depth…it could have been because it was just a pilot and they still have a lot of character development to work on, but I’m just not sure about this one yet.

However, I recently had the opportunity to watch the 2nd episode, which was written by Liz Tigelaar (love her–she is the creator of my favorite new CW show Life UneXpected). And I have to say, what the first episode was lacking, this 2nd episode made up for it. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and there were a lot of interesting developments. We learn Violet’s secret connection and we find out more about Auggie’s past. I think that Tigelaar’s writing really shined through, and that the 2nd episode exhibited a ton of potential.

Melrose Place premieres Tuesday, September 8th at 9 PM on the CW (right after 90210, how fitting).