Former ‘Melrose’ stars happy, busy

Former “Melrose Place” co-stars Laura Leighton and Doug Savant are cuddling in a backyard love seat at their publicist’s home.

Moments earlier, Savant arrived – still in makeup from the set of his hit ABC series, “Desperate Housewives” – bearing a latte for his six-months-pregnant wife.

“I’m like her personal assistant,” he jokes.

There’s no seven-year itching going on for this affectionate couple, who refuse to allow Leighton’s belly to get in the way of their newlywed-like canoodling.

The pair already are parents of 4-year-old Jack and are raising the two daughters Savant had with his first wife, Dawn (Arianna, 13, and Maddy, 11).

Savant says their L.A. home is not unlike the zoo his “Housewives” character, Tom Scavo, shares with his wife, Lynette (Felicity Huffman) – except that Leighton is no longer a stay-at-home housewife.

In her new ABC drama, “Eyes” (premiering tonight at 10), Leighton plays sexy, savvy attorney Leslie Town, who will assist Tim Daly’s P.I. in more ways than one.

“(Life) only gets complicated when our workdays overlap,” Leighton says of juggling her shooting schedule with Savant’s. “But we’re happy to have that problem.”

Having finally overcome a career-stalling “Melrose” connection, several former residents of that nutty ‘90s Aaron Spelling apartment complex returned in new shows this season.

While Savant and Marcia Cross hit the jackpot on “Housewives,” Heather Locklear’s airport drama “LAX” crashed and burned soon after takeoff. And last week, Grant Show’s demonic drama, “Point Pleasant,” was exorcised from Fox’s lineup.

“It’s come around to where it’s not a bad thing anymore to have that (‘Melrose’) association,” says Leighton, 36, who will be forever remembered as the nighttime soap’s red-haired hooker, Sydney Andrews Mancini.

She has colored her hair a dark “raveny red” for “Eyes,” which will feature yet another “Melrose” veteran, Linden Ashby, as her character’s boyfriend.

Savant, 40, says he was told by an F/X executive that there was an additional “Melrose” stigma he would have to overcome; he played the gay hospital administrator, Matt Fielding.

And he recalls a NBC casting director telling his manager, “Let’s let the gay thing wear off a little bit.”

A possible soap opera bubbled behind the scenes of “Melrose” when Leighton, having ended a live-in relationship with co-star Show, fell for Savant. But the couple says the potentially awkward on-set situation was handled with great sensitivity.

“I had a conversation with Grant about it,” Savant says, “but other than that, we weren’t out as a couple at work.”

Adds Leighton: “We didn’t want to make waves.”

The couple’s first date was spent at her home during a blackout, drinking red wine. After 18 months, they wed in May 1998.

“She’s the single greatest thing that ever happened to me,” he says.

Recently, Savant and Leighton joined their neighbor, Show, and his new wife, actress Pollyanna McIntosh, for a friendly dinner. The couples have gone skiing together, and when Show was out of the country, Leighton and Savant took in his dog.

Says Show, who still goes on fishing trips with Leighton’s father: “I have a picture of Laura and Doug’s three lovely kids on my refrigerator from the Christmas card they sent me.”

With their dual shows, the couple has reached a point where they must finally hire their first nanny. Savant hopes she’ll look something like the sexy young woman (Marla Sokoloff) that Tom and Lynette hired a few months back on “Housewives.”

Leighton laughs and rolls her eyes.

“I think we can all relate to those desperate housewives,” she says.