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Okay, for a break in the lazy summer, here's a mind-stretching quiz: What is 90210?
A. The number of times the male cast members appear shirtless in an average episode of Melrose Place
B. The annual income you'd need to live as stylishly downscale as the characters on Melrose Place
C. The number of marriage proposals actor Grant Show will receive by episode four of Melrose Place
D. The number of ads the Fox network is running to promote Melrose Place

The answer, of course, is all of the above — in other words, dear reader, forget about Luke Perry and his buddies at the beach. The hottest hour on prime time has splashed into pool waters several zip codes away from Fox's Beverly Hills 90210 — into an adobe-and-tile apartment complex in Melrose, 90069, one of L.A.'s hippest 'hoods.

To be sure, this hyped-to-heaven spin-off of the smash 90210 is sun-baked from the same recipe of soap opera, morality play, and fashion parade. But while the pampered 90210 kids cope with adolescent angst and puppy love, Melrose Place's eight young trendies (all in their 20s, all struggling with new careers, all blessed with amazing bone structure) grapple with the more worldly problems of bounced checks, bogus relationships, creepy bosses, deadbeat roommates, and other twentysomething predicaments.

There is one benefit to growing up: While 90210's Brenda (Shannen Doherty) and Dylan (Perry) have had only one acknowledged tryst in bed — with much after-regret — the Melrose crew can enjoy plenty of action between the sheets. Call it 90210 With Guilt-Free Sex. And tell Dan Quayle to throw his remote control out the window.

To nobody's surprise, the series' July 8 debut sprang cleanly into the Top 20, with 16 million viewers. That made it the first hit of the new TV season, which the other networks won't even be inaugurating for another two months. Of more importance to advertisers, Melrose ranked No. 1 among teens; in its second week, it even beat the 90210 season premiere.

For Fox, the stakes couldn't be steeper: Melrose is its first foray into Wednesday-night programming and a key component in its plans to eventually expand from a five- to a seven-day schedule. If Melrose can hang on to its audience, it should help complete Fox's transformation from fledgling to full-fledged network. And the show's success bodes well for Fox's youth-niche strategy, which will continue this year with new entries like Class of '96, about a group of college freshmen, and The Heights, about a struggling rock band.