From the May 25th Soap Opera Digest:

Moving Out Of
MELROSE PLACE

Six stars of the prime-time sudser share their favorite moments, what they'll miss (and what they won't!) and where they're headed next.

By Jeffrey Epstein

THOMAS CALABRO (Michael)
What was your favorite MELROSE moment?
"Kimberly's scar is a defining moment for the show. But it's a lot of different things for me. For me, it's the Burns/Mancini [scenes] with Sydney as a receptionist."
What are you going to miss?
"It's just a great place to come to work. It's not like working for seven years. It's like being on vacation for seven years."
What's next?
"To go and look for work the way I did before. Start all over again and hope I'll be as fortunate as I have been for this run. I have a lot of irons in the fire, but nothing definite."

ROB ESTES (Kyle; ex-Glenn, DAYS OF OUR LIVES)
What was your favorite MELROSE moment?
"Kimberly taking off the wig and seeing that nasty scar that looked like something was about to eat her alive. That was the best MELROSE moment. But in this final episode, what happens to Rena [Sofer, Eve] is the best by far, I think."
What are you going to miss?
"I'm going to miss all the people a lot, and the crazy stuff we get to do."
But you get to take home one of the cast members.
"At least I get Jos [Josie Bissett, Jane - and Rob's very pregnant wife] to go home, and we're going to multiply."
Is there anything you wish you'd gotten to do?
"I would have loved it if Kyle had killed somebody. I would have loved Kyle to have gotten shot. I wish that Peter [Jack Wagner] and I would have gotten stuck on a desert island somewhere and spawned two difrerent camps. That could have been fun."
What are you not going to miss?
"6 a.m. calls."
Are you excited about being a dad?
"Oh, totally. It puts everything in perspective. I know so many actors, and acting's their life. For me, I love to act, but it's not my life. Having a kid really helps put that in perspective. We've got books, videos, classes. I'm becoming an EMT [Emergency Medical Technician]. I will be prepared for anything."
What's next?
"I'm doing a show for one of the producers from ER, Neal Baer. He's got a new, one-hour drama called OUTREACH. It's about what modern-day medicine should be, taking medicine to the people. It's exceptional. It's a pilot for The WB, which I love."

RENA SOFER (Eve; ex-Lois, GENERAL HOSPITAL)

What's been your favorite MELROSE moment?
"Beating up Lexi [Jamie Luner], I swear to God. The fight that me and Jamie had where we beat the crap out of each other was the most fun scene I've had to play on this entire show. We had a blast, nonstop. We were a little bruised, but we enjoyed those bruises. We were so wired by the end of that scene."
You've run the gamut of emotions in a short time. What's the experience been like?
"I've had the time of my life this past year. I'm very fortunate that no matter what show and job I have, I tend to always get great characters. Eve started getting really boring for a while, and I was concerned that she was just going to end up being happily married. This was a total shock to me and, man, are we having fun."
What are you going to miss about the show?
"The paycheck. The steady work. The incredible crew. The cast has been really warm and welcoming to me."
What are you not going to miss?
"I'm not not going to miss anything. I'm a very early riser, so early calls didn't bother me. I'm even going to miss the drive to [the Valencia studios], which was really pleasant."
Is Wally [Kurth, Ned, GH] excited to have you home more?
"I don't know how excited, because we both want me to get another job. We're both ready for that. But I get to spend more time with [my daughter] Rosabel, which is always fun."
What's next?
"I'm just kind of seeing what's happening and taking it one day at a time."

JOHN HAYMES NEWTON (Ryan)
What was your favorite MELROSE moment?
"Fighting with Rob [Estes, Kyle] was a lot of fun: he's great to work with. Since we know each other pretty well off-screen, we let it really fly when we're acting. We definitely had fun."
What are you going to miss the most?
"Hanging out with everybody. I really got close to a lot of people on the show. I think I'm going to miss that sense of family, almost like a country club. Its like the country club is closing, and you can't go back."
What will you miss about playing Ryan?
"He's a good guy. He's solid and pretty reliable. Because I was only on one season, I never got to be a bad guy. I figure if I was on for a few years, I'd run the gamut of doing horrible things. I had a couple of illicit affairs, but that was expected."
Is there anything that you wish you'd been able to do?
"It would have been nice to have gone a little darker with my character: to have him be a little more devilish."
What's up next?
"Hopefully, in September, I'll shoot a feature that I wrote called Groovers and Shakers. It's a dark comedy about these two wannabe-Mafia young guys who move from New York to L.A. to start a nightclub and get legitimate. I'd like to play the lead, but I'd step aside for a bigger actor."

KELLY RUTHERFORD (Megan; ex-Sam, GENERATIONS)
What was your favorite MELROSE moment?
"That's like saying your favorite ice cream! I like all the ice creams: I want to try them all. I love working with Thomas [Calabro] and Jamie Luner [Lexi], and when Marcia Cross [ex-Kimberly] was on. I really enjoyed working with her. I had fun working with so many different people."
Any particular memorable moment?
"I think Megan falling though the roof [with Michael] is the thing that comes to mind the most when people ask that question. It's definitely the episode when everybody wakes up in the arms of the wrong person - and then we all end up in the same bedroom."
What will you miss the most?
"It's just nice to work with people consistently that you like. I just hope that continues."
What are you not going to miss?
"To drive like an hour-and-a-half back and forth to work, although books on tape have become my friend. And the Kraft [food] service table. I could stand to be away from the Kraft service truck for a while."
Is there anything you wish Megan had gotten to do?
"No, because when I came on the show, I thought, 'These characters are so extreme. I just want to be solid.' Even though by all appearances, Megan would be the odd person out. I think she ended up becoming the core or the heart, sort of that 'voice.' I think they wrote it really great. The whole thing about her past and her family. I think they did a good job with it."
What's next?
"I'm doing a pilot right now for CBS. There's no title right now, just a working title which is SHERMAN OAKS, but I think they're supposed to change it. It's kind of Robert Altman-esque, like Short Cuts, where it's sort of like the reality life of couples. I play a mother of two kids, and I'm married to Jonathan Silverman."

JAMIE LUNER (Lexi; ex-Peyton, SAVANNAH)
What was your favorite MELROSE moment?
"I've had some really good ones. I loved Lexi showing up at Peter's honeymoon naked in front of the fireplace on the bearskin rug. I really pushed the envelope. And skinny-dipping was fun. Being naked is always fun."
What will you miss most? "I think the crew. Oh, I'm gonna cry [she actually gets teary]."
What will you miss the least?
"The size of my trailer I could probably miss the least. That thing is so small, I couldn't even change my mind. But I can't complain about it because my life is so good."
Is there anything you wish Lexi had been able to do?
"I think she should have definitely bagged Kyle [Rob Estes]. Maybe that was just a personal thing: He's the only guy on the show she didn't sleep with."
What's next?
"I'm going to Toronto in a couple of weeks to do a pilot called THE FORCE for The WB. I play a totally different character, an undercover cop. I'm playing a really serious, dramatic role."
But you're so good at comedy.
"I think so, too, but I can't neglect what the universe is sending my way. I need to ride the wave."

Rob's Outreach, Kelly's Sherman Oaks and Jamie's The Force did not make next fall's schedule. Maybe I'll bump into them at the unemployment office. Rena's Oh, Grow Up made ABC's lineup and will air Wednesdays at 9:30.

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