Beverly Hills, 90210 Discussion Thread

[YRBB]

Well! Am I sensing a cult storyline happening?

[YRBB]

Meanwhile, is there even one episode of this show that doesn't involve the boom mic coming into frame?

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[te.]

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Poor Kell-Me...

 

 

That's Aaron Spelling for you! Dynasty, Melrose Place and countless of his other shows had this "problem". We'd just call him Mike.

[YRBB]

 

"Kell-Me"  I do like that selfish little bitch though 

 

I recall this happening at Melrose but certainly not with the regularity it occurs on BH! In fact, their production values are damn near neglectful at times. Dylan was supposed to be urinating in the forest but you could very clearly see his pants were zipped and he was pretending to be holding his d!ck! I mean, why would you allow that to air?!

[YRBB]

Very pleasantly surprised by "Song for my Mother", the Season 5 episode that pretty much follows David and Donna to Portland and has no appearance by Brandon, Kelly, Steve, Andrea, Jesse, or the older adults. Brian Austin Green's been looking 5 years younger forever but, damn, all of a sudden he grew into his looks. He also did the best work he's ever done with looking for his mother and finding out she is bipolar. The whole thing was done pretty well for BH. Then, you have Dylan looking into past lives and I'm not sure about that!

[YRBB]

Thank God Kelly became a coke fiend!

 

Season 6 is pretty good, despite the loss of Charles Rosin. The first half is certainly propelled forward by the storylines he left in place and the great Toni story but once those stories wrapped up, things started flatlining a little bit. Thankfully, Kelly decided to "deviate her septum" and things are heating up. 

 

And I've got to give Jennie Garth props. I used to be a little hard on her but she's doing wonderful work as an addict. It just feels real.

[Forever8]

I'm curious on more of your thoughts on Season 6. I finished last summer myself and curious to see what you thought of it. 

[Chris B]

Reading back this thread, I see that I've been trying to rewatch this show since 2013! I didn't rewatch then because the DVDs have new music. I eventually gave up on that and started watching a couple years back on Hulu, until I noticed them talking about Scott's death and I realized each season is missing several episodes. I recently got a Bluray player and I saw the entire series (plus the recent reboot with the OGs) for $70 on Amazon so I decided to buy it. I'm almost finished with season two and am so glad I decided to watch it again.

The first season is absolutely garbage. The only thing they got right was the ensemble. Season two you can tell the show is finding it's groove. It's more serialized and while there are some self-contained clunkers, they do a lot to develop the group. I loved Mel and Jackie getting together, which helped bond David into the group and bring him closer to Donna through the connection with Kelly. I enjoyed the interlude with Brandon and Emily Valentine, although I do think that story would've been stronger had they developed Brandon's feelings for Andrea and factored her in more. She felt the most under-utilized this season, with Steve coming in second.

I'm excited to reach season three, which is when I remember really falling in love with the show. And of course those later seasons which I haven't seen since they originally aired.

[te.]

Cindy, Felice and Jackie should've gotten their own spin-off.

[Chris 2]

Beware of the post-Brenda seasons, where Kelly is promoted to female lead and starts frequently talking in a baby voice.

[will81]

Oh I so remember that afflicting a number of young women in television in the late 90's/early 00's. I kept thining, why are they all speaking like that. 

[Chris B]

Originally I started watching in season 9 so the later Kelly is the first one I met lol. I've seen the first 5 seasons multiple times, but could never sit through 6 so I never finished it again. This time I plan on finishing it.

 

BTW, something interesting I noticed on the DVD is that all the music has been changed, but the Color Me Badd episode had the original music. That gives me hope they'll keep the music in when super important, like the graduation.

Edited January 7, 2022 by Chris B

[Chris 2]

I would watch that. Maybe a sitcom. They could go to work at the Peach Pit as waitresses, and it would be kind of like the old “Alice” show.

[Vee]

For me the only song that matters on 90210 is the summer season episodes with Kelly and Dylan where they plastered both the episode and the promos for that storyline wall to wall with Sophie B. Hawkins' "Damn (I Wish I Was Your Lover)". I never forgot that.

[Chris B]

Season three is as impressive as I remember. For a teen show, this has such impressive writing and I see why it's so difficult to recreate the type of magic they had here. I miss the longer scenes shows used to have. There is so much character development we've lost in an effort to speed through things. This Brenda/Dylan/Kelly triangle today would likely just be another triangle, but the fact that it takes Brenda 13 episodes to find out made it so much more impactful. I also love that they had the complication of Brends flirting with Rick in Paris and the lack of sex between Dylan and Kelly. They spent the season really building the Brenda/Dylan and Brenda/Kelly dynamics so by the time it hit, it exploded.

Another relationship I love that I feel is overlooked is David and Kelly. Making them siblings was a clever way of maturing David and integrating him into the group in a real way as his relationship with Donna developed. The weakest part of the season for me continues to be Brandon, Andrea and Steve. The ironic thing is that Andrea has good chemistry with both guys that is completely ignored. Brandon/Andrea was teased at the start of the season, but they instead put him with a string of forgettable romances while she mostly sat on the backburner or in Blaze related plots. Steve is just kinda there.