'Melrose Place' Premiere: Who killed Sydney Andrews?

Who killed Laura Palmer? Who killed Lilly Kane? Tonight "Melrose Place" asks,"Who killed Sydney Andrews?"

Most weeks the recap format will be a more chronological discussion of the episode, but I thought for tonight we'd do a character/actor-driven recap so we can all make sure we're on the same page in terms of who everyone is.

Character: Sydney Andrews
Quite the drama queen of the original "Melrose Place," Sydney is back for the redux... for about 10 minutes, then we find her stabbed to death and floating in the swimming pool. Luckily, I hear her murder will be solved through a series of flashbacks so I think we'll see a lot more of actress Laura Leighton. Also, for those of you who thought she was dead the first time, it turns out Dr. Michael Mancini (her lover, one-time brother-in-law, and father to her former lover David Breck) helped her fake her death in the original. Nice ret-con, show.
Where you know her from: The original MP, duh. But also a six-episode arc on the original "90210."
Did you know? Leighton was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe in 1995 for "Melrose Place" and she's from Iowa City, Iowa. Go Hawkeyes!

Character: Dr. Michael Mancini
Apparently, he helped Sydney fake her death the first time around and now his illegitimate progeny David used to sleep with her. Like father, like son, eh? It's unclear how much Dr. Michael Mancini will be around in the present on the show or whether he'll be more a part of the flashbacks. He's a "happily" married man right now but Sydney threatened to tell his wife about their affair before she was killed.
Where you know him from: The original and, well... that's about it for actor Thomas Calabro.
Did you know? Calabro was the only cast member from the original to stay on the show all 7 seasons. He also directed 4 episodes.

Character: David Breck
The aforementioned bastard son of Mancini, David is one of the new tenants of MP. He also had an affair with Sydney, but it appears to have ended before the show started. The night Sydney dies, she texts him that she's in serious trouble and he goes to see her, but she seems to be fine. The next day, he can't remember a thing after that, so Ella Simms says he was with her all night to give him an alibi. Also, he appears to be a thief since I believe we saw him stealing a painting during the ending musical montage.
Where you know him from: "Complete Savages," a show I don't remember, and "Shark," the brief James Woods lawyer program.
Did you know? He's Canadian! (There isn't much out there on dear Shaun.)

Character: Ella Simms
This version's Amanda Woodward, she's the resident evil bitch. Except I liked her right off the bat and hope she crushes breaks up Riley and Jonah and keeps the pieces for herself. She's a high-powered publicist who is secretly in love with friend Jonah and provided an alibi for David because she just knows he isn't a killer. Does that mean that SHE is? Sydney pretty much made Ella the woman she is today and when Ella ratted to David that Sydney used to be involved with his father and was only sleeping with David to get back at Michael, Sydney swore she'd ruin Ella. Dun dun dun! She also appears to swing both ways. Woo woo.
Where you know her from: "Harper's Island" and "Supernatural" and apparently the remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street," due out in 2010.
Did you know? She is David Cassidy's daughter, making Shaun Cassidy her uncle and Shirley Jones her grandmother. Wild.

Character: Riley Richmond
She seems like the resident good girl. She gets proposed to within the first 10 minutes and doesn't say yes because she's worried her boyfriend isn't grown-up enough. I hope Ella makes her cry. A lot. Also because I don't like the actress, Jessica Lucas.
Where you know her from: "Edgemont," a show I don't remember, and "90210." She was the 21 Jump St. girl who slept with Mr. Mathews.
Did you know? She's Haitian and Pakistani (not much on her either).

Character: Jonah Miller
Filmmaker wannabe, Jonah is buddies with Ella and seems to at least suspect that she likes him. He proposes to girlfriend Riley and when she doesn't say yes, he almost agrees to basically be bought by a rich producer when he (Jonah) spies the producer macking on his daughter's best friend. In the end, Jonah won't sell out (because he's part of the "good" couple) and he and Riley get engaged because she's just SO proud of him for standing by his convictions and they smooch and make me barf.
Where you know him from: Actor Michael Rady was on "Greek," "Swingtown" and romanced Alexis Bledel in the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" movies.
Did you know? He's 6'0 tall. He doesn't look that tall.

Character: Auggie Kirkpatrick
With a name like that, I'm surprised he doesn't have an Irish accent. We dont' learn too much about Auggie in the pilot, only that he met Sydney four years ago at an AA meeting and she's the one who convinced him to get cleaned up and become a chef, which he now is. He also turns down new-girl Violet's offer at "getting coffee" and goes off to burn a bloody shirt. DUN DUN DUN.
Where you know him from: Colin Egglesfield schemed in Pine Valley for 4 years on "All My Children."
Did you know? Colin checks in as the oldest new cast member at a whopping 36 years of age. Thank god he isn't playing a student at West Bev, but I wouldn't put it past the creators.

Character: Violet Foster
New girl in the complex discovers Sydney's body (suspicious) and also makes some veiled references to med student Lauren about how boring it is to be a "good girl." Hmmm. She also gets shot down by Auggie. Maybe he'll turn up dead next! At the end of the episode, Violet steals Sydney's picture from the memorial. Anybody think she's more involved than has been shown? My money is that she's Sydney's daughter because Ashlee Simpson as a red-head could pass for that.
Where you know her from? Being Jessica Simpson's sister, being married to Pete Wentz, "singing," and that lip-syncing incident on "Saturday Night Live."
Did you know? At age 11, Ashlee Simpson was the youngest person ever admitted to the School of American Ballet.

Character: Lauren Yung
A med student, Lauren's father gets laid off and can no longer pay her tuition. What does Lauren do to supplement her income? Start having sex for money. Natch. Her first conquest is an excellent guest-star in the form of skeezy Adam Kaufman (worst-episode-of-Buffy-ever-Parker and Veronica-Mars-possibly-abusive-neighbor-Andre).
Where you know her from: "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"
Did you know? She's Chinese, Norwegian, Portuguese and English and was raised in Australia. Neat.

Thoughts & Tidbits

• I have to say, I like a little murder mystery with my soapy drama. The first MP took awhile to find its footing, so I like that this one has jumped in with both feet. The mystery will keep me interested every week, so I hope the writers have a good plot outlined for that. I also hope if this show gets renewed that they keep the formula for next season.
  
• I can't wait to see more old MP faces like Josie Bissett and Daphne Zuniga. Bring on Heather Locklear and Courtney Thorne-Smith!
• I much prefer watching actual 20-somethings (and Auggie) be conniving 20-somethings to watching actual 20-somethings be West Bev high school students behaving ridiculously.

What did you guys think?