Last weekend we got to check out a few new promo pics for the new CW series The Vampire Diaries and today we get to check out a few new promo pics for the revamped Melrose Place series. While the VD photos were themed Love Sucks, these MP photos aren’t really themed … they’re just sexy group shots:

It shant be long until the craziness gets going again at everyone’s fave apartment complex … so much pretty, so much DRAMA! I am really looking forward to MP being back on the air again. I just hope they keep things trashy … cuz that’s really what made the show such a big hit the first time around. Keep it trashy and I’ll be happy :)

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The ad campaign push for the redux of the hit ’90’s series Melrose Place is finally upon us! The series, which debuts on The CW, on September 8 is lookin’ to hype up the überdrama that Melrose fans have come to know, love and expect. Here is the first new MP poster which proudly proclaims that Tuesdays Are A Bitch!

Cute. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to watch the pilot ep of the new Melrose Place and I can assure you, the drama will be broughten … which is exactly what this new ad campaign is trying to make clear to viewers. After the jump, check out two more promo posters (which are both very punny) for the Melrose Place redux …

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First it was Laura Leighton, then it was Thomas Colabro and now we learn that Melrose Place album Josie Bissett has signed on to reprise her role of Jane Andrews-Mancini on the upcoming redux of the series set to debut on The CW this Fall. As some of you may recall, Jane was married to Dr. Michael Mancini (Colabro) and was older sister to Sydney Andrews (Leighton) who ended up stealing away Michael from Jane. After all these years, these dramatic characters will be thrown together again in the upcoming redux … and I can’t hardly wait!!!

Looks like Melrose Place is getting more tenants – Josie Bissett is returning to her old haunt as a guest star, PEOPLE confirms. Bissett reprises her role as Jane Andrews Mancini, sister to Laura Leighton’s Sydney Andrews, in at least one episode and may do more, according to a source. Bissett joins original Melrose castmates Leighton and Thomas Calabro when the new incarnation airs on the CW network this fall. Meanwhile Bissett’s ex-husband, Rob Estes (also a former Melrose alum), appears on the CW in 90210.

Altho Bissett will only be returning as a one-episode guest star, something is better than nothing. Fans of the original version of Melrose may remember that Heather Locklear joined the cast of MP as a mere “guest star” and she ended up becoming the HBIC star of the show. Trust me, I’m not counting on that same thing happening for Josie Bissett but … stranger things have happened. I am SOOO excited that all these old alums are coming back to the show. Surely there’s room for more old skoolers to come back … right? Daphne Zuniga, you sit by that phone girl … it could ring at any sec!

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Late last year we learned that The CW was planning to produce a redux of the famed 90’s hit TV drama Melrose Place after their redux of Beverly Hills, 90210 did so well in its first season. In March, we learned that Ashlee Simpson was the first name attached to the new project and then, subsequently, learned that both original MP castmembers Laura Leighton (Sydney Andrews) and Thomas Calabro (Michael Mancini) signed on to reprise their roles (after we learned that Marcia Cross and Heather Locklear both decided to pass … for now). Today, we get our first look at the new crop of tenants moving into Melrose Place … whose drama we’ll be subjected to come this Fall … behold:

Well, there you have it, The CW’s cast of the new “Melrose Place” … What happened to the good old days when co-stars would lie on top of one another for photo shoots? In more exciting news, it’s Sydney Andrews! Yes, here is your first look at Laura Leighton reprising the role that earned her legions of loyal leopard-ear wearing fans back in 1993! But it appears that she’s traded leopards for cougars, as she digs her claws into Shaun Sipos’ nubile flesh. His character, David, is reportedly the son of OG “Melrose Place” character Michael Mancini, who Sydney spent many seasons schtupping, making this pairing all the creepier. In a good way! Here’s hoping producers don’t declaw Sydney and allow her to drag some unsuspecting simpleton into the pool for a good old catfight. Someone point her towards Ashlee Simpson, m’kay? Two more pictures lie under the cut, so make like Kimberly Shaw and blast this sucker open!

HMMMMMM … I still dunno … it’s way too early for me to be gettin’ too excited about this show. I’m curious to see how it all comes together so I’ll deffo be watching but at this early stage, judgment must be reserved. After the jump, check out the two photos mentioned in the article — yes, Sydney Andrews Mancini Andrews is featured …

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Yesterday we learned the amazing news that original Melrose Place album Laura Leighton (who played the wickedly fun Sydney Andrews Mancini Andrews) has signed on to reprise her role in the upcoming Melrose redux for The CW this Fall and today we learn that alum Thomas Calabro has also agreed to reprise his role for the redux as well. As you may recall, Calabro played Dr. Michael Mancini who was also a wickedly fun character on the show and was the only actor that appeared in every season of the original Melrose Place series run:

First Sydney, now Dr. Michael Mancini: The CW’s new Melrose Place has yet another familiar face joining the cast. Thomas Calabro will be reprising his role as Dr. Mancini, the good guy-turned-cheater, a source tells PEOPLE. Calabro, who appeared every season in the original Melrose, will be the father to David Patterson, played by Shaun Sipos. No other details were revealed.

As far as Melrose bad guys go, Dr. Michael Mancini is the best of them … altho his character started out as a nice guy in season one (when all of the characters on the show were nice … and boring), Dr. Mancini turned into Mr. Hyde almost overnight. In fact, Calabro’s character was even married to Sydney Andrews for a short while on the show after she stole him away from her big sister Jane Andrews who was happily married to him at the time. I fondly remember Sydney’s wedding day to Michael … Jane showed up, called her a bitch, ripped her wedding dress and threw her ass in the Melrose Place pool. If memory serves, the marriage didn’t last and Sydney was forced to start stripping become a prostitute to a Heidi Fleiss-like madam in order to pay her rent to stay at Melrose Place. Sigh. That’s good TV. Now, I didn’t watch Melrose in its final seasons so I have no idea if Michael Mancini became a father on or off the show. I do know that he was married to Jane, Sydney and Dr. Kimberly Shaw (played by Marica Cross) — and we all remember her, right?

And I believe there was some fraternization with Amanda Woodward (played by Heather Locklear) but I have no idea who his babymama is … but I guess we’ll find out when the revamped Melrose hits the airwaves this Fall. I must admit, I’m very excited that both Sydney (who, I’m told, died on the series but miraculously will still be alive for the revamp) and Michael Mancini are returning to the show. Are you excited too?

UPDATE: I’m hearing that when Laura Leighton’s Sydney Andrews returns for the redux she will be the OWNER/Landlady of Melrose Place! Not a bad gig to come back from the dead for, eh?

[Source, thanks Kent]

At last!! Some great casting news has come from The CW’s planned remake of Melrose Place … after learning that Ashlee Simpson would be joining the cast (which may or may not be good news) but that Heather Locklear as well as Marcia Cross and Courtney Thorne-Smith would NOT be returning to Melrose Place we learn today that the other red-headed vixen, Laura Leighton, as signed on to reprise her role as Sydney Andrews when the redux hits the airwaves this Fall. While Heather Locklear won’t be reprising her devilishly bitchy character Amanda Woodward, Leighton’s reprisal of Sydney Andrews is a pretty good runner up:

After weeks of speculation about who if any of the original “Melrose Place” cast members might drop in on the CW’s new “Melrose Place,” Laura Leighton has joined the CW pilot as a recurring. She will reprise her role as the irresponsible and scheming Sydney Andrews, one of the most popular characters on the Fox series. In the dramatic fifth-season finale of “Melrose Place” in 1997 – and Leighton’s last episode on the show — Sydney was run over by a car on her wedding day in a near-fatal accident. While she was presumed dead for the rest of the Fox series, she now is back at Melrose Place, and while the script is being kept under wraps, sources said she would be the landlord to the new crop of tenants. Leighton’s casting on CW’s “Melrose” is reminiscent of the CW’s tapping of “Beverly Hills, 90210″ alumna Jennie Garth to reprise her role on the new “90210.” Leighton’s two-episode stint on the original “Melrose Place” in 1993 was her first acting gig. It led to a full job on the series for four years. On “Melrose,” Leighton also met her husband, co-star Doug Savant, now on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives.” After finishing her contract on “Melrose Place,” Leighton recurred on “Beverly Hills” alongside Garth. Leighton, who next stars in Hallmark Channel’s movie “The View From Here,” is repped by APA and Untitled.

Finally, some good news. I love that Sydney was “left for dead” all those years ago and that she will rise again for the redux. Brills. I had no idea that Leighton was married to Doug Savant … perhaps Leighton’s involvement will lead to Savant’s return to Melrose as well. While Savant’s character Matt Fielding was the most ungay gay character on TV in the 1990’s, there is still time for him to reprise his role and give his character a little man-on-man action to make up for all the action Matt Fielding wasn’t getting back in the day ;) But, I digress. News of Laura Leighton’s return to Melrose Place is the best casting news of the series so far for me. Sydney is a crazy beyotch and I’m now really looking forward to having her back on TV. Woot!!

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Pete Wentz has gone on the record about plans for his wife Ashlee Simpson to join the cast of the Melrose Place redux that is currently in production for The CW. Talking to US Weekly on the red carpet of the 2009 Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards over the weekend, Pete reveals that it is his sincere hope that Ashlee plays the “bitch” on the show. Lovely. Here is a pic of the pair together at the 2009 MTV Australia Awards in Sydney, Aus last week:

Pete Wentz hopes his wife Ashlee Simpson-Wentz gets to be a diva on Melrose Place. “I’m excited to watch. She’s a good actor,” Pete told Usmagazine.com at the Kids’ Choice Awards on Saturday. “I think it will be awesome. I told her that I hope she gets to play the bitch.” Ashlee, 24, and Pete, 29, didn’t grow up watching the primetime drama, which went off the air in 1999. “She was way too young, and I was a little too young,” Pete said. “I was into 90210 and I kind of got into Melrose Place, but I was more, like, a Saved By the Bell kind of guy!” No matter: Pete says the spinoff, due to premiere in this fall on the CW, will be different than the original. “I think they are revamping it,” he said. “They are not ignoring [the past], but it’s getting a new look, a makeover.” Ashlee told Us earlier she was “thrilled” to play a lead character named Violet, a small-town girl who moves to L.A. with a secret.

Ha! To be honest, I totally get the sentiment that Pete is trying to convey. The bitchy character tends to get a lot of attention so why wouldn’t he want her to be the villain. Honestly, I don’t know that Ashlee has the chops to be able to pull off a role like that. That being said, it’s not toally unreasonable to think that a “small-town girl who moves to L.A. with a secret” can’t turn into an überbitch character. Kristen Davis played a horribly evil character on the original Melrose Place. She was so good at the role that I loathed the sight of her for years! It wasn’t until I got into Sex and the City (years after the show went off the air) that I found new love for her. I guess we’ll see who gets bitchy and who doesn’t when Melrose debuts on The CW this Fall.

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]