The babe who owns Melrose Place explains the hazards of dating below your station, why women should have all the power, and the unexpected joys of calf exercises As Amanda Woodward on the reinvigorated Melrose Place, Heather Locklear, 33, is the perfect Los Angeles landlord. She's blonde, beautiful and lives on the premises. She's nosy and expects the rent on time. On TV shows past, we might simply have called her the bitch. On Melrose Place, Locklear goes bitch one better, and everyone loves her for it. They also love that she has a résumé that includes Dynasty, T.J. Hooker, assorted TV movies and her exercise video, Heather Locklear Presents Your Personal Workout, not to mention her marriage to and divorce from Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee. Through it all, Locklear has remained the wholesome party girl next door. Contributing Editor David Rensin met with Locklear in Los Angeles. "Heather loves champagne. I wish I had known that before I arrived empty-handed."

Q1 Playboy: These days most women in America won't take phone calls between nine and ten P.M. on Wednesday evenings because they're glued to Melrose Place. Explain the show's appeal to women.

Heather Locklear: They like it because the women hold all the power--which is as it should be--and the men have no balls. So often women are on the other side of that coin. It is also great to see the men take off their shirts for a change. It's great to see the men get beat up a little bit in relationships. We don't want to make it like the guys are just dumb, of course. They are smart, but the women are just smarter. Also, the women get to have as much sex as they want and jump from bed to bed. No one's going to give them shit for it. Or at least they won't give Amanda shit for it. Naturally, the actresses are real happy with this arrangement. As for the actors, I don't know about Andrew, but Grant's like, "Give me back my balls, please." He's always fighting it. He goes, "Look, come on! I look like a wimp here. I need some balls." I'm saying, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shut up, lie down and stay hard."

Q2 Playboy: On Dynasty, Sammy Jo was a slut. On Melrose Place, Amanda's a slut with an agenda. Is this progress?

Locklear: It's just intelligence. [Laughs] When I got the role I said I wanted Amanda to be an intelligent, aggressive businesswoman in her 30s. I'm finished with playing twenty-something. They added all the sluttiness later. But I figure as long as I look smart doing it, that's fine. At first, Amanda's role was described as "adding a character for a while," a love interest for Billy. Then they added the little conflict with Alison, who wasn't competitive or a bitch. Actually, she's a whiner. Unlike other shows, Melrose Place has no bible mandating what will happen.