Fresh Off the Boat is enlisting the help of a former resident for its upcoming Melrose Place homage.
Former star Courtney Thorne-Smith is slated to guest-star in an April episode of the sophomore ABC comedy, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The episode, titled “Jessica’s Place,” centers on the Huang family matriarch’s obsession with the primetime soap and her struggle when the season comes to an end. To fulfill her voracious appetite for drama, Jessica (Constance Wu) and Honey (Chelsey Crisp) do some snooping and discover a juicy secret about Deidre (Rachel Cannon). Meanwhile, Louis (Randall Parker) and Eddie (Hudson Yang) help Emery (Forrest Wheeler) find a way to channel negative emotions.
The episode is set to air on April 5.
Fresh Off the Boat takes place in the early ‘90s, and Melrose Place debuted in the summer of 1992. Thorne-Smith was a series regular for the first five seasons of the Fox drama, playing Alison Parker. The series ended in 1997 and was later rebooted briefly on The CW in 2009.
The single-camera comedy hails from 20th TV and is exec produced by Nahnatchka Khan, Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar.
Thorne-Smith, whose other credits include According to Jim and Two and a Half Men, is repped by Paradigm and Gochman Law Group.
