MELROSE PLACE SERIES FINALE IN THE WORKS

Word's still out on the fate of MELROSE PLACE, but Co-Executive Producer Charles Pratt Jr. promises that if the struggling series is cancelled at the end of this season, long-time fans will be rewarded with a series finale that they'll never forget. "We have to be ready either way," explains Pratt. "We do have a little time [to plan] - at least until the end of January [when a renewal decision is expected]."
     Pratt confides that he and Co-Executive Producer Carol Mendelsohn have concocted two season-ending scenarios: One is a classic cliffhanger to set the stage for another season. The other ending would forever close the door on what has become the wildest apartment complex in TV history. "If [MP] never comes back, we have a series finale planned that would rival M*A*S*H and a few others," promises the exec. "We haven't gotten any stories approved yet, but all [our ideas] are controversial. We decided MELROSE viewers will have an expectation that is different from SEINFELD or shows like that. Everyone's going to want to know where all our characters are going to be and who they're going to be with - not just at the end of the season, but for the rest of their lives."
     Though he's excited about his hush-hush plot, Pratt admits that writing the final script would be bittersweet: "This will be hard - really tough but this story has just flown out of us. We're going to see if we can bring back some of our loved characters at the end. We have a category of people we want to bring back for this - even for just one reunion scene. That way, we have them reuniting in something really special."