Alex has made 4 references throughout the course of the series about having given birth to three children.

Brooke Taylor was named after Ali Larter’s character in Legally Blonde.

Horror Movie Connection: Devon Graham was named after a character in the 1978 film Halloween.

Every season except the first started the same way: a character in the dark with a flashlight or some other localized light source.

The season two characters Janet Harper, Timothy Fallmont, and Samantha Fallmont were prominent characters in my first episodic endeavor from junior high school entitled The Young at Heart.

Original plans had Alex killing Jordan in season one by hiding his heart medication.

Horror Movie Connection: Several references have been made to the 1981 Canadian slasher flick Happy Birthday to Me. They are: 1) the character Will Thomerson was named after a character from the movie. 2) the character Dr. Farraday was named after a character from the movie. 3) Heather and Suzanne’s car accident depicted in season four was inspired by events in the movie.

Episode titles named after songs by Pet Shop Boys: 12. They are: Violence; In the Night; Yesterday, When I was Mad; One and One Make Five; The Ghost of Myself; Can You Forgive Her?; The Resurrectionist; This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave; We’re All Criminals Now; The Former Enfant Terrible; After the Event; and KDX 125.

The character Van Edgewater was named after my best friend in high school.

Stormy was named after a hockey player from Minnesota whom I met at a strip club.

Stormy’s full real name is the same as James’s but reversed. Ryan James Blackthorne. (James’ is James Ryan Blackthorne).

Renee moved up from supporting cast to regular cast in season 3 for the sole intention of spinning her off to a sister series entitled Moonshadows.

Benji and Sierra’s first sexual experience together (Sierra’s first ever) was on the beach at Paradise Cove, which was where I lost my virginity.

Most of the younger cast members’ names came from a baby names website giving suggestions for people who wanted their newborns to be groomed for Ivy League schools (e.g. Duke, Hunt, Ashton, Blake, Sheldon, etc).

When the website launched in 2005 and I created the StarLog feature, I spent hours writing filmographies for Alex, Nathan, and Suzanne complete with names of fellow actors, directors, etc. From these hastily put together filmographies came characters like Scott Kelly, Cassidy Solomon, Eric Autumn, Jack Childers, and Frank Dunning.

The season 3 finale had James being shot by Seth Walker and then taken to the hospital where he recovered. The original version of the episode, however, had James dying at the end of the episode. It was scrapped and rewritten only an hour before the episode was uploaded onto the site.

The first episode of the series only featured the characters of James, Brooke, Miranda, Stormy, Heather, Ethan, Jordan, Victor, Kenny, Renee, and Marilee.

Suzanne referenced her Sherman Oaks rental house being on Valley Vista Blvd, which was the street I grew up on.

The first season took just over two months to write. The process started March 6, 2004 and was completed May 24, 2004. The series did not make it on line until December 10, 2005.

The first two seasons were written in “Acts”. One episode was made up of two acts with a mini-cliffhanger in between. When it came to releasing the episodes on line, however, I split each act into separate episodes. Thus, every odd numbered episode ended rather abruptly.

No one character has appeared in all 131 episodes, but James has appeared in the most, with Brooke being a close second.