Matt Fielding
Encyclopedia
Matthew "Matt" Fielding, Jr. is a fictional character in the American television series Melrose Place, portrayed by Doug Savant
. Matt was an openly gay man working as a social worker in Los Angeles. Initially Matt was not the focus of ongoing storylines, a situation that would not substantially change until the series became a serial drama in its second season. Matt Fielding appeared as a regular character from 1992 until 1997, when he was killed off-screen in a car crash.
In contrast to the promiscuous sexual behaviour and relationship issues that drove the stories for Melroses straight characters, Matt's storylines tended to be about subjects like gay bashing
and workplace discrimination. Matt occasionally became romantically involved with another man but the character was never shown in any sexual situations. The one planned instance of Matt's kissing another man was edited to remove the kiss, with a reaction shot
of another character substituted. Broadcaster Fox
and series creator Darren Star
feared backlash from social conservatives and advertisers should Matt engage in any sexual conduct. Critics questioned this decision throughout Matt's tenure on the series.
Although Matt was killed, Savant expressed interest in returning for the 2009 series revival
but producers were not interested.
apartment complex. Shortly after being gay bashed
by three people, Matt is fired from his job at the halfway house for being gay. He sues the center and accepts a $10,000 settlement, which he donates to a gay legal defense fund.
Michael Mancini (Thomas Calabro
) helps Matt get a job as a social worker at Wilshire Memorial Hospital, a favor he makes Matt repay by faking the results of Michael's blood alcohol level test in the wake of Michael's automobile accident in which Kimberly Shaw (Marcia Cross
) is critically injured and presumed dead. While working at Wilshire Memorial Matt meets Katya Petrova (Beata Pozniak
), a Russian doctor who expresses a romantic interest in him. Matt does not reciprocate her feelings but they enter into a green card marriage
so that Katya and her daughter can stay in the United States. Katya and her daughter return to Russia anyway a few months later.
Matt meets Jeffrey Lindley (Jason Beghe
), a closeted lieutenant in the United States Navy
. Matt encourages him to come out
, which leads to Jeffrey's being transferred to the East Coast. Jeffrey returns later and he and Matt resume their relationship. A few days later, Jeffrey reveals that he has tested positive for HIV
. After initially struggling, Matt decides to commit himself to the relationship. Jeffrey, however, decides that they are better off simply being friends.
When Matt is gay bashed a second time, a gay detective, John Rawlings (Tom Schanley
), is assigned to the case and begins to become obsessive, eventually taking Matt and photographer friend Jo Reynolds (Daphne Zuniga
) hostage.
Following the end of his relationship with Jeffrey, Matt becomes involved with Dr. Paul Graham (David Beecroft
) a married plastic surgeon. Paul murders his wife and frames Matt for the crime, temporarily landing Matt in jail. Matt clears himself by tricking Paul into admitting his guilt. Exonerated of the murder charges, Matt once again faces discrimination when the chief of staff fires him from his social work job at the hospital. Matt wins his case following the doctor's homophobic outburst at a deposition. He begins dating movie star Alan Ross (Lonnie Schuyler). Alan's refusal to come out leads Matt to take up with David Erikson, the man who replaced him as the hospital social worker. Matt and Alan break up when David tells Alan that he and Matt had sex and Alan marries a closeted lesbian actor.
Left in pain after a bout of meningitis, Matt begins abusing prescription pain medication. When his drug addiction becomes known he enters a rehabilitation facility and becomes romantically involved with rehab director Dan Hathaway (Greg Evigan
) Matt breaks up with him because Dan is physically and emotionally abusive.
Matt's niece Chelsea (Katie Wright
) comes to live with him after her father dies but her mother Denise (Nancy Lee Grahn
) files a custody suit. Matt loses custody but Chelsea ends up living with him anyway when Denise decides she would be better off with him. The two move to San Francisco where Matt takes a job working with AIDS patients.
About a year later word arrives at the apartment complex that Matt has been killed in a car accident. With his death a diary surfaces, in which Matt had recorded the secrets told him by several residents of the complex.
representative Robert Bray said of the character, "I'm still waiting for the guy to have a gay identity...we're still waiting for something, anything to tell us that he's gay." Series creator Darren Star
, himself openly gay, acknowledged the criticism. "I think because [Matt] is gay, people are definitely more sensitive to the fact that we're not exploring him. My feeling from the beginning was, let's establish this character first as a person who's likable, part of this group, whose sexuality is not an issue." While understanding that this aspect of the character could not remain undeveloped forever, Star expressed his hope that as people became more familiar with the character that resistance both among viewers and advertisers to Matt's having a sex life would lessen.
In the 1994 episode "Til Death Do Us Part", Matt is attracted to Rob (Ty Miller
) a friend of neighbor Billy Campbell's (Andrew Shue
), who returns his interest. As filmed, the episode included a kiss between the two men. As aired, Matt and Rob move toward each other in slow motion and, just before their lips meet, the scene shifts to a reaction shot of a shocked Billy watching them from his apartment before cutting back to the men separating. Fox, which had previously allowed two women to kiss in a 1990 episode of 21 Jump Street
, ordered the change. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
, an LGBT
media watchdog organization, took out a full page ad in Variety
a week before the episode was aired, urging Fox not to edit the kiss. Fox executives were mindful of the controversy that had surrounded "Strangers
", a 1989 episode of the television series thirtysomething
which showed two men in bed together after having had sex. The two did not come in physical contact with each other, but five of the show's regular sponsors still pulled out of the episode, costing the network approximately $1.5 million in advertising revenue. Fox Entertainment Group
president Sandy Grushow asserted that the network would have lost a million dollars in advertising revenue. "Our ratings aren't as high as some other networks'. We couldn't afford to take the financial hit." In contrast, GLAAD cited "Don't Ask, Don't Tell
", a critically and financially successful episode of the series Rosanne
which included a kiss between two women.
In December 1994, LGBT-interest magazine The Advocate
put Matt Fielding on its cover, asking "Why can't this man get laid?" Inside, Star reiterated the difficulty in developing Matt's sexual and romantic lives. "The nature of television and television advertising is such that we cannot permit Matt to have real physical relationships on-screen like the other characters. We walk on eggshells in terms of telling stories about his character. So we have to find ways of implying things about his love life by creating plots for him." Co-executive producer Aaron Spelling
, who had faced similar fights over gay-inclusiveness in productions like Dynasty
and HeartBeat
, concurred, saying, "We've not been allowed by the sales department to do things we want to do. To not be able to show two people kissing—it's 1994, for Christ's sake." Actor Doug Savant expressed frustration with the limitations placed on the role, saying "While I would like Matt's character to have more teeth, he's definitely a good, ethical guy. Somebody has to wear the white hat in the show, and it may as well be the gay character." Nonetheless, Savant was grateful for the opportunities the role afforded him. "It's been an incredibly interesting trip playing a gay character. It's opened my eyes to a lot of things....The fact that I've been able to make a difference in some people's lives makes it all worthwhile."
, Savant was interested in discussing the possibility of returning to the role in the 2009 series revival
. However, having already brought Leighton's character Sydney Andrews
back from the dead for the new series, producers were uninterested in doing the same with a second character.
Doug Savant
Douglas Peter "Doug" Savant is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Matt Fielding on Melrose Place and Tom Scavo on the ABC dramedy series Desperate Housewives.-Career:...
. Matt was an openly gay man working as a social worker in Los Angeles. Initially Matt was not the focus of ongoing storylines, a situation that would not substantially change until the series became a serial drama in its second season. Matt Fielding appeared as a regular character from 1992 until 1997, when he was killed off-screen in a car crash.
In contrast to the promiscuous sexual behaviour and relationship issues that drove the stories for Melroses straight characters, Matt's storylines tended to be about subjects like gay bashing
Gay bashing
Gay bashing and gay bullying is verbal or physical abuse against a person who is perceived to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender . Such abuse is used also to bully heterosexual persons and persons of non-specific or unknown sexual orientation.A "bashing" may be a specific incident, and one...
and workplace discrimination. Matt occasionally became romantically involved with another man but the character was never shown in any sexual situations. The one planned instance of Matt's kissing another man was edited to remove the kiss, with a reaction shot
Reaction shot
Reaction shot is a term used in motion picture production and cinematography referring to a basic unit of film grammar. It is a shot which cuts away from the main scene in order to show the reaction of a character to it....
of another character substituted. Broadcaster Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
and series creator Darren Star
Darren Star
Darren Bennett Star is an American producer, director and writer for film and television. He is best known for creating the hit TV shows Melrose Place, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Sex and the City.-Career:...
feared backlash from social conservatives and advertisers should Matt engage in any sexual conduct. Critics questioned this decision throughout Matt's tenure on the series.
Although Matt was killed, Savant expressed interest in returning for the 2009 series revival
Melrose Place (2009 TV series)
Melrose Place is an American television series broadcast on The CW Television Network from September 8, 2009 to April 13, 2010. The fifth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise, it is an updated version of the 1990s Fox prime time drama of the same name, featuring a group of young adults...
but producers were not interested.
Fictional biography
Matt Fielding is a social worker at the L.A. Halfway House for Teens, one of a group of friends who live together in the same West HollywoodWest Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
apartment complex. Shortly after being gay bashed
Gay bashing
Gay bashing and gay bullying is verbal or physical abuse against a person who is perceived to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender . Such abuse is used also to bully heterosexual persons and persons of non-specific or unknown sexual orientation.A "bashing" may be a specific incident, and one...
by three people, Matt is fired from his job at the halfway house for being gay. He sues the center and accepts a $10,000 settlement, which he donates to a gay legal defense fund.
Michael Mancini (Thomas Calabro
Thomas Calabro
Thomas F. Calabro is an American actor and director.-Biography:Calabro graduated from Fordham University in New York City.Calabro began his acting career in theatre with various roles in New York...
) helps Matt get a job as a social worker at Wilshire Memorial Hospital, a favor he makes Matt repay by faking the results of Michael's blood alcohol level test in the wake of Michael's automobile accident in which Kimberly Shaw (Marcia Cross
Marcia Cross
Marcia Anne Cross is an American actress. She is known for her television roles as Bree Van de Kamp on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and as Dr...
) is critically injured and presumed dead. While working at Wilshire Memorial Matt meets Katya Petrova (Beata Pozniak
Beata Pozniak
Beata Poźniak is a Polish-American actress, film director, painter, fashion model and activist who is now based out of the United States.-Biography:...
), a Russian doctor who expresses a romantic interest in him. Matt does not reciprocate her feelings but they enter into a green card marriage
Green card marriage
Green card marriage is a neologism that refers to the phenomenon of a marriage of convenience between a legal resident of a country and a person who would be ineligible for residency but for being married to a resident.-Description:...
so that Katya and her daughter can stay in the United States. Katya and her daughter return to Russia anyway a few months later.
Matt meets Jeffrey Lindley (Jason Beghe
Jason Beghe
Jason Beghe is an American film and television actor and critic of Scientology. As a young man he attended the Collegiate School in New York City, where he became best friends with John F. Kennedy, Jr. and David Duchovny. Beghe is married and lives in Los Angeles, California.Beghe starred in the...
), a closeted lieutenant in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. Matt encourages him to come out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
, which leads to Jeffrey's being transferred to the East Coast. Jeffrey returns later and he and Matt resume their relationship. A few days later, Jeffrey reveals that he has tested positive for HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
. After initially struggling, Matt decides to commit himself to the relationship. Jeffrey, however, decides that they are better off simply being friends.
When Matt is gay bashed a second time, a gay detective, John Rawlings (Tom Schanley
Tom Schanley
Tom Schanley is an American actor who has appeared in a number of television shows and feature films.His television credits include roles in Castle, Dexter, The Forgotten, Criminal Minds, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, The Yellow Rose, Fame, T.J...
), is assigned to the case and begins to become obsessive, eventually taking Matt and photographer friend Jo Reynolds (Daphne Zuniga
Daphne Zuniga
Daphne Eurydice Zuniga is an American actress known for her roles as Jo Reynolds on the Fox primetime soap Melrose Place, as Victoria Davis on The CW teen drama One Tree Hill and as Princess Vespa in Spaceballs.-Early life:...
) hostage.
Following the end of his relationship with Jeffrey, Matt becomes involved with Dr. Paul Graham (David Beecroft
David Beecroft
David Beecroft is an American actor noted for his television appearances, having played both regular and recurring roles in shows such as Falcon Crest , Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Melrose Place. In 1992 he starred on the short-lived series Hearts are Wild...
) a married plastic surgeon. Paul murders his wife and frames Matt for the crime, temporarily landing Matt in jail. Matt clears himself by tricking Paul into admitting his guilt. Exonerated of the murder charges, Matt once again faces discrimination when the chief of staff fires him from his social work job at the hospital. Matt wins his case following the doctor's homophobic outburst at a deposition. He begins dating movie star Alan Ross (Lonnie Schuyler). Alan's refusal to come out leads Matt to take up with David Erikson, the man who replaced him as the hospital social worker. Matt and Alan break up when David tells Alan that he and Matt had sex and Alan marries a closeted lesbian actor.
Left in pain after a bout of meningitis, Matt begins abusing prescription pain medication. When his drug addiction becomes known he enters a rehabilitation facility and becomes romantically involved with rehab director Dan Hathaway (Greg Evigan
Greg Evigan
Gregory Ralph "Greg" Evigan is an American actor best known for the TV series B.J. and the Bear, My Two Dads, P.S. I Luv U and TekWar.-Personal life:...
) Matt breaks up with him because Dan is physically and emotionally abusive.
Matt's niece Chelsea (Katie Wright
Katie Wright
Katie Wright is a former American actress. She was born Katherine Wright in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Biography:...
) comes to live with him after her father dies but her mother Denise (Nancy Lee Grahn
Nancy Lee Grahn
Nancy Lee Grahn is an American actress who has starred in such soap operas as Santa Barbara as Julia Wainwright Capwell from 1985 to 1993 and General Hospital as Alexis Davis since 1996.- Early life and career :...
) files a custody suit. Matt loses custody but Chelsea ends up living with him anyway when Denise decides she would be better off with him. The two move to San Francisco where Matt takes a job working with AIDS patients.
About a year later word arrives at the apartment complex that Matt has been killed in a car accident. With his death a diary surfaces, in which Matt had recorded the secrets told him by several residents of the complex.
Development and criticism
Melrose Place was criticized for not featuring Matt and his love life as prominently as it did other characters. In the 90 minute series premiere, Matt got 90 seconds of screen time and would not appear more regularly until episode four, when he began serving as "the show's conscience", acting as a confidante to the show's heterosexual characters. Several months after the series premiere, the network announced Matt's first story arc, the gay bashing arc. In response, National Gay and Lesbian Task ForceNational Gay and Lesbian Task Force
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force builds the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community from the ground up. The Task Force is the country’s premier social justice organization fighting to improve the lives of LGBT people, and working to create positive, lasting...
representative Robert Bray said of the character, "I'm still waiting for the guy to have a gay identity...we're still waiting for something, anything to tell us that he's gay." Series creator Darren Star
Darren Star
Darren Bennett Star is an American producer, director and writer for film and television. He is best known for creating the hit TV shows Melrose Place, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Sex and the City.-Career:...
, himself openly gay, acknowledged the criticism. "I think because [Matt] is gay, people are definitely more sensitive to the fact that we're not exploring him. My feeling from the beginning was, let's establish this character first as a person who's likable, part of this group, whose sexuality is not an issue." While understanding that this aspect of the character could not remain undeveloped forever, Star expressed his hope that as people became more familiar with the character that resistance both among viewers and advertisers to Matt's having a sex life would lessen.
In the 1994 episode "Til Death Do Us Part", Matt is attracted to Rob (Ty Miller
Ty Miller
Ty Wesley Miller is an American actor, probably most well known for his role as The Kid on The Young Riders, which ran for three seasons...
) a friend of neighbor Billy Campbell's (Andrew Shue
Andrew Shue
Andrew Eppley Shue is an American actor, known for his role as Billy Campbell on the television series Melrose Place . He is currently on the Board of Directors for Do Something and is the co-founder of the social networking website CafeMom.-Early life:Shue was born in Wilmington, Delaware...
), who returns his interest. As filmed, the episode included a kiss between the two men. As aired, Matt and Rob move toward each other in slow motion and, just before their lips meet, the scene shifts to a reaction shot of a shocked Billy watching them from his apartment before cutting back to the men separating. Fox, which had previously allowed two women to kiss in a 1990 episode of 21 Jump Street
21 Jump Street
21 Jump Street is an American police procedural crime drama television series that aired on the Fox Network from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focused on a squad of youthful-looking undercover police officers investigating crimes in high schools,...
, ordered the change. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is a non-governmental media monitoring organization which promotes the image of LGBT people in the media...
, an LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
media watchdog organization, took out a full page ad in Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
a week before the episode was aired, urging Fox not to edit the kiss. Fox executives were mindful of the controversy that had surrounded "Strangers
Strangers (thirtysomething)
"Strangers" is a 1989 episode of the television series Thirtysomething. The episode contrasts two relationships, one between Melissa Steadman and Lee Owens and the other between Russell Weller and Peter Montefiore . Melissa worries about the age difference between herself and Lee as she is...
", a 1989 episode of the television series thirtysomething
Thirtysomething
Thirtysomething is an American television drama about a group of baby boomers in their late thirties. It was created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick for MGM/UA Television Group and The Bedford Falls Company, and aired on ABC. It premiered in the U.S. on September 29, 1987...
which showed two men in bed together after having had sex. The two did not come in physical contact with each other, but five of the show's regular sponsors still pulled out of the episode, costing the network approximately $1.5 million in advertising revenue. Fox Entertainment Group
Fox Entertainment Group
The Fox Entertainment Group is an American entertainment industry company that owns film studios and terrestrial, cable, and direct broadcast satellite television properties...
president Sandy Grushow asserted that the network would have lost a million dollars in advertising revenue. "Our ratings aren't as high as some other networks'. We couldn't afford to take the financial hit." In contrast, GLAAD cited "Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Don't Ask, Don't Tell (Roseanne)
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is an episode of the American situation comedy series Roseanne. Written by James Berg and Stan Zimmerman and directed by Philip Charles MacKenzie, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was the 18th episode of season 6. It follows lead character Roseanne Conner on her visit to a gay bar...
", a critically and financially successful episode of the series Rosanne
Roseanne (TV series)
Roseanne is an American sitcom broadcast on ABC from October 18, 1988 to May 20, 1997. Starring Roseanne Barr, the show revolved around the Conners, an Illinois working class family...
which included a kiss between two women.
In December 1994, LGBT-interest magazine The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
put Matt Fielding on its cover, asking "Why can't this man get laid?" Inside, Star reiterated the difficulty in developing Matt's sexual and romantic lives. "The nature of television and television advertising is such that we cannot permit Matt to have real physical relationships on-screen like the other characters. We walk on eggshells in terms of telling stories about his character. So we have to find ways of implying things about his love life by creating plots for him." Co-executive producer Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling was an American film and television producer. As of 2009, Spelling's eponymous production company Spelling Television holds the record as the most prolific television writer, with 218 producer and executive producer credits...
, who had faced similar fights over gay-inclusiveness in productions like Dynasty
Dynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
and HeartBeat
HeartBeat (U.S. TV series)
HeartBeat is an American television series in the medical drama genre. The series followed the staff of Women's Medical Arts, a medical center founded by three women who are frustrated with how women's health concerns are addressed in the male-dominated medical field. The fictional WMA was based on...
, concurred, saying, "We've not been allowed by the sales department to do things we want to do. To not be able to show two people kissing—it's 1994, for Christ's sake." Actor Doug Savant expressed frustration with the limitations placed on the role, saying "While I would like Matt's character to have more teeth, he's definitely a good, ethical guy. Somebody has to wear the white hat in the show, and it may as well be the gay character." Nonetheless, Savant was grateful for the opportunities the role afforded him. "It's been an incredibly interesting trip playing a gay character. It's opened my eyes to a lot of things....The fact that I've been able to make a difference in some people's lives makes it all worthwhile."
Return
According to Savant's wife and Melrose Place co-star Laura LeightonLaura Leighton
Laura Leighton is an American actress. She is best-known for the role of Sydney Andrews, introduced in the 1990s television series Melrose Place. She reprised the role in the 2009 series of the same name...
, Savant was interested in discussing the possibility of returning to the role in the 2009 series revival
Melrose Place (2009 TV series)
Melrose Place is an American television series broadcast on The CW Television Network from September 8, 2009 to April 13, 2010. The fifth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise, it is an updated version of the 1990s Fox prime time drama of the same name, featuring a group of young adults...
. However, having already brought Leighton's character Sydney Andrews
Sydney Andrews
Sydney Andrews is a fictional character in the American television series Melrose Place and the 2009 series of the same name, portrayed by Laura Leighton....
back from the dead for the new series, producers were uninterested in doing the same with a second character.