Melrose Place - Canon, S01E05

Melrose Place has succeeded in pulling itself away from the dangers of not being watched by me. It is lucky, because as a Tuesday night show it does not have any other competition and therefore can stay on the roster. It is also lucky that I'm the kind of girl who actually has enjoyed soaps in the past (I used to watch General Hospital).

No, it will never be great television, but the characters are a lot of fun, and between Ella (Katie Cassidy), Violet (Ashley Simpson-Wentz), David (Shaun Sipos) and Lauren (Stephanie Jacobsen) I am interested enough to keep watching.

Violet is a terrific psycho. She is so crazy. When she tells Ella of her financial problems, Ella tells her to simply decide what she wants and then get it. To a normal person, that advice would mean work hard and take advantage of every opportunity. Violet took the advice a little too literally. She decided that she wanted to become a bartender, but since the restaurant she and Auggie (Colin Egglesfield) work for was not in need of bartenders, she put $700 from the cash in one of the bartender's purses and then made sure Auggie found it. Having someone insane on the show does make it worth my time.

Katie Cassidy, as Ella, continues to be my main draw. A lot of the evidence is beginning to make her look guilty, which means of course that she did not do it. Instead, she is trying to cover up the fact that she hired a PI to break into Sydney's apartment and take back all the info Sydney was using to ruin Ella's life.

Again, it's her ability to go from completely competent when anyone is looking to vulnerable the minute she is alone. She is working everyone she knows to be a great success, but she is fully aware that she is not untouchable and always in real danger.

She and David continue to grow on me and to people who use the people around them, and therefore truly have the ability to understand one another.

Finally Lauren has signed up to be a call girl. Getting paid $750 an hour to start is not a bad deal, and she should have her med school debt paid off in no time, but we will see how well it works. It won't be long before the hours she is asked to work interfere not only with her leisure time but also the hours she ought to be at the hospital. And how long before someone figures out that she's going somewhere and getting money?

Do you have a show that you watch which is purely candy like this one?