Melrose Place Is Doomed

Usually producers worry about stunt casting when they need a little boost to the ratings. They don't generally start with it at the outset of a television series that will get big ratings initially. I'm at a loss to explain any other reason why the producers of Melrose Place have cast Ashlee Simpson in a starring role on the new show. I don't know who owes whom or who has pictures of someone, but Ashlee is not the first person I think of when the word actress comes to mind.

Oh sure, she was on 7th Heaven and so you are saying she has experience and she must be good. Need I remind you that Jessica Biel and Haylie Duff were also on the show. Let me take that back. I actually think Haylie Duff would be good on Melrose. I don't share the same opinion about Ashlee being on the show. The only reason I can think of to have her on the show is to attract viewers and her husband, and not because she is any great shakes as an actress.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the description of Ashlee's character is a person with, "disarming naiveté [that] masks the calculating, shrewd sex kitten within." Uh huh. Let me know when Ashlee figures out what naiveté means. I really had high hopes for this show. After the mostly painful disappointment of 90210, I was hoping the producers would make more of an effort in their casting.

Of course they could just be signing her up for a quick death also. I mean you need those season ending cliffhangers. Maybe Dr. Kimberly Shaw could make an appearance and kill Ashlee. That would be good television, and make for a much better season the next year. The only thing that could possibly make this better is if they cast Jessica Simpson as her mother.