Well we do know that the Simpson family were not too happy when Ash did get the boot - with bigger sister Jessica even tweeting her dislike!
“CW catching up on MP.who writes this crap?i have had bad scripts to work with,but this?thank God my sister is amazing and got you some press,”
but thats neither here nor there. If you have actually watched the show, you would see that Ashley Simpson did deliver a good performance. Now if you tune in expecting to see a grand celebrity esque portrayal - then you would be sorely disappointed… Ashley actually and factually took on her character - her character WAS skittish, light weight and all over the place - she WAS playing Sydney's daughter after all… this was great topic of discussion in the POPrepublic.tv offices too, and we all agreed that when you watch Melrose, you didn't see Ashley as Asley Simpson - you saw her as her character! So job well done!
So why the boot? Why the drama?
Well we hazard a guess that Ashley WAS initially employed by the show to pull in a younger generation of TV viewers, thanks to her past successes on other TV Shows and of course her musical chart success. Knowing Pappa Joe, (her father/manager) she would have been paid VERY well for her contract… the Simpsons ARE very good at making sure every possible penny is earned. SO she would have been an expensive cast member.
When Ashley's fame didn't drag in as many viewers per dollar spent on her, she was an expensive option that wasn't returning on investment - so when producers were given the option of getting Heather Locklear back on board - she would have been the first in the firing line!
Get the money swapped over to a new character, don't blow out budgets, secure the series and at-dah, Ashley comes out worse for wear.
This isn't a jibe at either side, but just something we thought was never really spoken about - and AShley didn't really deserve all the crap that was thrown at her by other press… she DID do a good job at that role, and we reckon it just came down to sheer economics!
The shorelines that Ashley were involved in were wrapped up so fast in typical Melrose place style that you know they could have also lasted seasons longer… but what a couple of episodes! Total rapid fire scandal and shock!
Either way - Heather Locklear has brought the bitch back to Melrose, Ashley is kicking ass in Chicago on Broadway and seems like everyone is happy.
The sad sad thing is that no network in Oz has picked up Melrose Place as of yet. What are the channel waiting for???
