Original 'Melrose' hands Leighton, Calabro glad to be in new version

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Laura Leighton and Thomas Calabro won't be the only familiar faces on the new "Melrose Place." Josie Bissett, who played Jane (Syd's sister), and Daphne Zuniga, who played photographer Jo, will also make appearances this fall. Producers have also been talking with Grant Show, who played Jake in the original series.

Leighton said she was eager to reprise her role because producers "incorporated my character in a very unique way. I think Sydney's always been sort of doomed to be the center of controversy, and she's very much in that position."

Calabro was attracted by Michael's continued descent into evil.

"I was very excited to find out he had even more money than before and ultimate power," Calabro said. "So I thought if he continues to be an evildoer, that bodes well for his ability to do so."

Executive producer Todd Slavkin said "the door is always open for Heather Locklear" to return. The original "Melrose" (1992-99, Fox) was a bit of a flop until her character was added midway through the show's first season.

But Slavkin and executive producer Darren Swimmer are eager to give this new show their own spin, too.

"Part of the concept is that L.A. is a city full of many layers and many artifices and different sides to everybody," Swimmer said. "You don't really know anybody the way you think you do. And that's something we want to explore."

(Contact TV editor Rob Owen at rowen(at)post-gazette.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

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