kalwani warwic marciana
Fortun Bawa
It's officially summer: that heinous point in the year when so much good television evaporates and we must crawl into the depths of Netflix and Hulu to survive until winter. It is this level of desperation that recently flung me in the unlikely direction of the first season of Beverly Hills 90210.
I originally decided to revisit Brandon, Brenda, and the gang because I imagined they would unintentionally make me laugh out loud a lot. And they did -- any and all scenes involving surfing or dancing are a guaranteed laugh riot in this thing. Comedy gold also comes in the kinds of scenes that involve Brenda crashing a driver's ed vehicle because she sees Henry Winkler (why him?!), and dialogue that leaps in all kinds of absurd directions on the regular ("Janet Jackson has laryngitis! Kenny is drunk and you have to come and get me!")
I had not, however, anticipated falling into a binge-watch situation, but did because -- surprise! -- Beverly Hills 90210 is, for the most part, entirely un-ironically, a really great TV show. Obviously, we're not talking Breaking Bad levels of excellence or anything, but if we can keep My So-Called Life on a pedestal, the first season of 90210 deserves a place on the podium as well (even if the rich kid characters are inherently less likable than Rickie Vasquez and Rayanne Graff).
90210 was undoubtedly what we looked to in the pre-Kardashian age to find out how rich kids in LA lived, and for millennials, this thing is a goldmine of information about How Teenagers Used to Live. Seeing all of these hot young things trying to organize their lives while tethered to landlines, phone booths, and library desks is moderately heartbreaking in 2017, especially in the episode where the Walsh family's landline breaks and the telephone company tells them they are "lucky to have a number."
The other remarkable thing to note is that, in 1990, photos were literally never taken unless you were (a) working on the school newspaper (those used to exist!), (b) on vacation, or (c) about to go to a dance. And forget about casually making videos -- those puppies required borrowing 25 pounds of equipment. Don't even get me started on the alarm clock situation, or the fact that both men and women felt okay about wearing vests over absolutely anything, on an almost-daily basis.
Despite all of the nonsense that dates the show, 90210 is still masterful at passing on life lessons. There are substance abuse problems (for both parents and teens) peppered throughout the series. Issues of privilege also weave throughout, thanks to Brenda trying to keep up with her super rich friends, and the fact that Andrea is from a poor part of town and committing school district fraud to go to a good high school.
Season 1 also tackles date rape, safe sex, AIDs, cancer scares, drunk driving, single parenting, adoption, virginity loss, and, in two separate episodes ("East Side Story" and "Every Dream Has Its Price Tag"), the issue of underpaid immigrants. Not bad for what could've just been, essentially, a super long advertisement for rampant capitalism.
On the downside, 90210 is consistently an overwhelmingly white prospect. People of color are generally reduced to corridor and crowd scenes and, once you notice, it is an aggravating thing to behold every episode. One of the only occasions that affords black characters the opportunity to speak is in "One On One," an episode that concerns itself with the fact that West Beverly High recruits African American students from outside the school district to populate their basketball team.
The premise is problematic as hell on a plethora of levels, but the episode ultimately succeeds in highlighting still-relevant issues around race, education, and white privilege. Furthermore, because the audience is automatically inclined to sympathize with Brandon and Steve, and both characters reveal themselves to be racist in the episode, it ultimately forces viewers to examine their own prejudices -- which, if you're a teen watching a show this incredibly white, is probably pretty damn necessary.
Ultimately, even if you only come to Beverly Hills 90210 to see men wearing crop-tops, David Austin Green doing Vanilla Ice dancing, Jason Priestley having an affair with paisley shirts, and a bunch of 25-year-olds pretending to be high school students, it's worth sticking around for everything else the show offers. Sure, Beverly Hills 90210 is ridiculous -- but it's also surprisingly underrated.
Beverly Hills, 90210 (often referred to by its short title, 90210[2][3][4]) is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling under his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for ten seasons on Fox from October 4, 1990, to May 17, 2000, and is the first of six television series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise. The series follows the lives of a group of friends living in Beverly Hills, California, as they transition from high school to college and into the adult world. "90210" refers to one of the city's five ZIP codes.[5]
The initial premise of the show was based on the adjustment and culture shock that twins Brandon (Jason Priestley) and Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty) experienced when they and their parents, Jim (James Eckhouse) and Cindy (Carol Potter), moved from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Beverly Hills, California.[6][7] In addition to chronicling the characters' friendships and romantic relationships, the show addressed topical issues such as sex, date rape, homophobia, animal rights, alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence, eating disorders, racism (including antisemitism), teenage suicide, teenage pregnancy, and AIDS.[8][9]
After poor ratings during its first season, the series gained popularity during the summer of 1991, when Fox aired a special "summer season" of the show while most other series were in reruns.[10] Viewership increased dramatically, and 90210 became one of Fox's top shows when it returned that fall. The show became a global pop culture phenomenon with its cast members, particularly Jason Priestley and Luke Perry, who became teen idols; the series also made actresses Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth household names in the United States. The show is credited with creating or popularizing the teen soap genre that many other successful television shows followed in the years to come.
The show had many cast changes; Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Brian Austin Green, and Ian Ziering were the only actors to appear during its entire run and appeared on the first episode of the spin-off Melrose Place. On February 27, 2019, it was announced that a six-episode reboot had been ordered by Fox and that the show would simply be titled BH90210.[11][12] The revival premiered on Fox on August 7, 2019, and was cancelled on November 7, 2019.[13]
Torand Productions was used by the production company for several seasons on the show. "Torand" is derived from the first several letters of Aaron Spelling's first and second children, Tori and Randy.[citation needed]
The original name for the show, used during shooting of the original pilot in March and April 1990, was Doing Time in Beverly Hills;[16] later, the tentative title for the show changed to Class of Beverly Hills. The show's episodes were issue-based until the producers decided it should become a teen soap opera. In the first season, the teenage characters (aside from David Silver and Scott Scanlon) were said to be in the eleventh grade, but due to the success of the show, their ages were retconned to be one year younger in the second season, making them tenth graders in the first.
Jennie Garth had to audition five times for the role of Kelly Taylor[17] and was the first to be cast on the show.[18] Gabrielle Carteris felt that she was too old to play a high school student. She first auditioned for Brenda because she thought that being a real-life twin would help her chances, but the producers felt that she would be better for the part of Andrea.[19]
When Tori Spelling (Aaron Spelling's daughter) auditioned for the show, she used the name Tori Mitchell and auditioned for the role of Kelly Taylor, but she was eventually recognized and was instead cast as Donna Martin.[20] Tori Spelling brought Shannen Doherty to her father's attention after seeing Doherty's movie Heathers and being impressed with her performance.[21]
Lyman Ward was originally cast as Jim Walsh in the pilot but was replaced by James Eckhouse, and Ward's scenes were cut and re-shot with Eckhouse. Kristin Dattilo was also up for the role of Brenda Walsh, but she turned it down. She later guest starred as Melissa Coolidge in an episode of the first season.
Additionally, Luke Perry had auditioned for the role of Steve Sanders, but the role eventually went to Ian Ziering before Perry was cast as Dylan McKay. Perry's character was not an original cast member of the show, and he was first featured in the show's second episode. He was originally intended to only appear in one story arc, for one or two episodes. Fox was initially reluctant to have him included as a regular, but Aaron Spelling felt differently and gave Perry a bigger role during the first two years until the network was won over.
In addition, in the first season Donna's mother was named Nancy Martin and played by actress Jordana Capra. When she was reintroduced in season two, she was named Felice Martin and was played by actress Katherine Cannon.
In the pilot episode, the role of Jackie Taylor was played by Pamela Galloway and by Ann Gillespie for the rest of the series. Terence Ford and Arthur Brooks portrayed Dylan's father, Jack McKay, in two episodes before Josh Taylor assumed the role.
The departure of Shannen Doherty at the end of season 4 came after a period of strife between Doherty, the other cast members, and the show's producers. Executive producer Charles Rosin commented in 2000 that Doherty "had habitual lateness, her lateness was appalling, and she had a callous attitude and an indifference."[22] Trouble between Doherty and her co-stars, Jennie Garth in particular, was also widely reported in the media.[2][23][24] Doherty, who was struggling in her personal life with her father's illness, came to an agreement with the producers to phase her out of the show at the beginning of season 4, when Brenda returns to Minnesota for college. It was planned to reduce her appearances from that point, but Doherty had a change of heart and requested to remain as a main cast member.[25] However, as the fourth season wore on Doherty's attitude deteriorated and her friction with the other cast members intensified. When she caused continuity problems by cutting her hair halfway through filming an episode, the producers and cast requested from Aaron Spelling that she be fired.[26]
90f70e40cf