Heather Locklear Didn’t Know “Melrose Place” Was in Trouble When She Joined the Cast: 'I Wouldn’t Have Done It'

Heather Locklear says she wouldn’t have joined the cast of Melrose Place if she’d known about the show’s ratings decline in 1993.

Locklear’s character, advertising executive Amanda Woodward, was introduced midway through the show’s first season, in an effort to improve its ratings, which had been trending downward since it premiered on Fox in July 1992. But as the actress told fellow Melrose Place alumnae Courtney Thorne-Smith, Daphne Zuniga and Laura Leighton on the most recent episode of their podcast Still the Place, she never felt any pressure to save the show from cancelation because she didn’t know it was in trouble.

“Did you even know that the show was kind of limping along?” Thorne-Smith, 57, asked.

“If it was limping along, I wouldn’t have done it,” Locklear, 63, said. “I did not know.”

Related: Heather Locklear Thought She Was 'Too Old' to Be on Melrose Place When She Joined the Cast in 1992

Locklear was initially brought on Melrose Place for a four-episode guest arc in early 1993 (producer Aaron Spelling called her his "lucky penny"). Her character quickly evolved into one of the show’s most compelling antagonists, and Locklear was promoted to a main cast member for season 2 — though she retained her “special guest star” credit for the rest of the series.

Locklear may not have understood her role in changing the trajectory of Melrose Place at the time, but she said she did feel other pressures that affected her experience working on the series.

“I just wanted to be good,” she said. “And I just wanted to be good the next day and the next day.”

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“I was really grateful, but I just wish I had paid attention to what was going on around [me],” she added. “You know, like caring about what you're going through, and you're going through. You know, not just being so ‘I hope it's okay’ or ‘I hope I'm good’ or whatever, and ‘I hope I know my lines.' I’d just like to be more personable with everybody, and know their lives rather than just ‘Memorize your lines,’ … Rather than just thinking about myself.”

Related: Jack Wagner Used to Pretend He 'Couldn't Remember' Heather Locklear's Name on Melrose Place Set

Thorne-Smith noted that filming more than 30 episodes each season — something unheard of even on network TV today — put pressure on everyone.

“Yeah, I guess we all felt that way,” Locklear agreed. “But just — I guess there was no time to really form friendships.”

More than 25 years after Melrose Place ended, Thorne-Smith said that getting to spend time with former co-stars like Locklear has been the pest part of revisiting the series on the Still the Place podcast.

“It's been the sweetest, biggest surprise about this podcast is the reconnecting moments,” she said. “It's so sweet.”

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