History Trivia / MelrosePlace

* UnderageCasting: Amy Locane (b. 1971) was ''barely'' old enough to be a twentysomething, and left the show before her twenty-first birthday. She was in fact ''younger'' than most of the cast of parent series ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'', a show about high school students. Josie Bissett (b. 1970) was also in her very early twenties, and the youngest original cast member other than Locane. Her onscreen husband Thomas Calabro (b. 1959) was the ''oldest'' member of the cast (and the only one born in TheFifties), with over a decade between them.

* DawsonCasting: Averted as the characters' ages aren't usually mentioned (except Jane and Alison both mention that they are 23 in Season 1, while Billy is 22). However, many of the actors were younger than the actors who portrayed the ''teen'' characters on the show's progenitor series ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'' (e.g. Gabrielle Carteris, Andrea from ''90210'', was eight months older than Heather Locklear). An amusing scene in the first episode had Sandy rebuffing Steve's advances for being a "High School Boy" after some initial flirting (when Ian Ziering is actually 7 years OLDER than Amy Locane). Also, Laura Leighton (Sydney) is two years older than Josie Bissett (Jane), though in-series, it was inverted.

* UnderageCasting: Amy Locane (b. 1971) was ''barely'' old enough to be a twentysomething, and left the show before her twenty-first birthday. She was in fact ''younger'' than most of the cast of parent series ''Series/BeverlyHills90210''. Josie Bissett (b. 1970) was also in her very early twenties, and the youngest original cast member other than Locane. Her onscreen husband Thomas Calabro (b. 1959) was the ''oldest'' member of the cast (and the only one born in TheFifties), with over a decade between them.

* TheOtherMarty: Stephen Fanning was originally casted as Billy Campbell but was dropped from the show for gaining too much weight when filming started, and was quickly replaced with Andrew Shue. According to Grant Show, Fanning wasn’t even told of his firing until he saw Shue in his dressing room early one morning during the pilot’s filming. Shue would later apologize for this.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Well, it was set in the 1990s, with then-contemporary references sewn in for good measure.

* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: Possibly unintentional, but Perry King strongly favors Kristin Davis so it made sense for them to portray villainous father and daughter Hayley and Brooke Armstrong.

* TheOtherMarty: Stephen Fanning was originally casted as Billy Campbell but was dropped from the show for gaining too much weight when filming started, and was quickly replaced with Andrew Shue. According to Fanning, he wasn’t even told until he saw Shue in his dressing room. Shue would later apologize for this.

* TheOtherMarty: Stephen Fanning was originally casted as Billy Campbell but was dropped from the show for gaining too much weight. He was then replaced with Andrew Shue.

* DawsonCasting: Averted as the characters' ages aren't usually mentioned (except Jane and Alison both mention that they are 23 in Season 1). However, many of the actors were younger than the actors who portrayed the ''teen'' characters on the show's progenitor series ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'' (e.g. Gabrielle Carteris, Andrea from ''90210'', was eight months older than Heather Locklear). An amusing scene in the first episode had Sandy rebuffing Steve's advances for being a "High School Boy" after some initial flirting (when Ian Ziering is actually 7 years OLDER than Amy Locane). Also, Laura Leighton (Sydney) is two years older than Josie Bissett (Jane), though in-series, it was inverted.

* RealLifeRelative: Creator/LindenAshby (Coop)'s wife Creator/SusanWalters portrayed con artist Christine for seven episodes.

* RomanceOnTheSet: Several occasions, such as real-life married couple Josie Bissett (Jane) and Rob Estes (Kyle)[[note]]who, sadly, have since divorced[[/note]] ending up together in the finale, Grant Show (Jake) and Laura Leighton (Sydney) dating and she and Doug Savant (Matt) eventually marrying. Heather Locklear and Jack Wagner also dated for many years several years after the series ended.

** Around season four, tensions between cast members and producers were spiking. In particular, Daphne Zuniga was reportedly very unpopular with both the cast and crew and asked to be written out of the show before the season ended.

* RealLifeRelative: Creator/LindenAshby (Coop)'s wife Susan Walters portrayed con artist Christine for seven episodes.

** This also applies to breakout star Heather Locklear, whose own career had been stagnant since leaving ''Series/Dynasty1981''.

* RealLifeRelative: Linden Ashby (Coop)'s wife Susan Walters portrayed con artist Christine for seven episodes.

** This also applies to breakout star Heather Locklear, whose own career had been stagnant since leaving ''Series/{{Dynasty}}''.

* RetroactiveRecognition:
** Before appearing as Charlotte on Darren Star's other famous show ''Series/SexAndTheCity'', Kristin Davis played Brooke Armstrong - who was ''very'' unlike Charlotte - for two seasons.
** Creator/MaraWilson appears as Matt's brief stepdaughter Nikki in several season 2 episodes.

* CreatorBacklash: Darren Star disliked Amanda's cancer storyline, stating "it wasn't much fun".
* DawsonCasting: Averted as the characters' ages aren't usually mentioned(except Jane and Alison both mention that they are 23 in Season 1). However, many of the actors were younger than the actors who portrayed the ''teen'' characters on the show's progenitor series ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'' (e.g. Gabrielle Carteris, Andrea from ''90210'', was eight months older than Heather Locklear). An amusing scene in the first episode had Sandy rebuffing Steve's advances for being a "High School Boy" after some initial flirting (when Ian Ziering is actually 7 years OLDER than Amy Locane). Also, Laura Leighton (Sydney) is two years older than Josie Bissett (Jane), though in-series, it was inverted.

** Also around this time and sometime after, many of the female costars were unhappy with the preferential treatment of Heather Locklear by both producers and the network (particularly with her increased salary over their own). This lead to the eventual resignations of both Laura Leighton (Sydney) and Courtney Thorne-Smith (Alison) who later resurfaced on fellow Fox shows ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'' and ''Series/AllyMcBeal'', respectively

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Hunter Tylo of ''Series/TheBoldAndTheBeautiful'' was to play the original [[BitchInSheepsClothing Taylor McBride.]] However, she was fired due to becoming pregnant, which she had successfully sued the show's creator, Aaron Spelling and the show's producers for her dismissal.
* YouLookFamiliar: Years before being cast as Dr. Brett "Coop" Cooper, Linden Ashby played Jo's abusive ex-husband, Charles Reynolds, in season one.

* DawsonCasting: Averted as the characters' ages aren't usually mentioned(except Jane and Alison both mention that they are 23 in Season 1). However, many of the actors were younger than the actors who portrayed the ''teen'' characters on the show's progenitor series ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'' (e.g. Gabrielle Carteris, Andrea from ''90210'', was eight months older than Heather Locklear). An amusing scene in the first episode had Sandy rebuffing Steve's advsnces for being a "High School Boy" after some initial flirting (when Ian Ziering is actually 7 years OLDER than Amy Locane). Also, Laura Leighton (Sydney) is two years older than Josie Bissett (Jane), though in-series, it was inverted.

* DawsonCasting: Averted as the characters' ages aren't actually mentioned. However, many of the actors were younger than the actors who portrayed the ''teen'' characters on the show's progenitor series ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'' (e.g. Gabrielle Carteris, Andrea from ''90210'', was eight months older than Heather Locklear). Also, Laura Leighton (Sydney) is two years older than Josie Bissett (Jane), though in-series, it was inverted.

* RomanceOnTheSet: Several occasions, such as real-life married couple Josie Bissett (Jane) and Rob Estes (Kyle)[[note]]who, sadly, have since divorced[[/note]] ending up together in the finale, Grant Show (Jake) and Laura Leighton (Sydney) dating and she and Doug Savant (Matt) eventually marrying. Heather Locklear and Jack Wagner also dated for many years several years after the series ended.