Beverly Hills, 90210 Discussion Thread

[tina m]

I'm half way through season 7 now, just finished the Christmas episode. There's really no heavy hitting story lines besides Val's fake pregnancy/abortion and David's problems, everything is pretty light so far. If I'm not mistaken, I think this is the season Donna loses her virginity to David. So far it's a pretty decent season. Season six was okay, I just hated how Colin was a main character throughout.

[detroitpiston]

That's why I hated season 7. It was so boring, and the stories that could've potentially been good(Val faking a pregnancy, David being bipolar,

)were so poorly plotted and acted that I just couldn't care. Everyone was so annoying that season too(especially Clare, who turned into an obnoxious bitch).

I agree about Brenda, she got especially tiresome in season 4. I could never hate her though because of ShanDoh and the fact that Kelly was so damn annoying and smug.

[YRBB]

I absolutely love Season 6... the Dylan/Toni stuff is one of my strongest BEVERLY HILLS, 90210 memories. I remember seeing it years and years ago in mid-afternoon repeats and was heartbroken. The car scene is still so touching

[classicmoment]

This discussion is hilarious and oh so appreciated. Out of all the Spelling production this one is closest to my heart. Throught all it's wrongs and it's rights. It had a great bleand of everything I needed in that time, true classic for me.

I found this picture interesting also. I wondered how many backstage jokes came out of this shoot.

I loved Kelly /Brandon way more than kelly/Dylan. I loved that whole dynamic and just always found it interesting that Brandon would look at Kelly for relationship and wanted them to explore other factors in question through tthe relationship. I loved Valerie, I liked Brenda but I think Valerie character brought more depth to the gang on a whole. I loved her dynamic with Kelly and let me see Kelly being snooty for the first time. I agree witht he poster that said they never got what the guys saw in Donna but I do remember how much I dug drunk Donna. I liked Claire but hated that they paired her with Steve for so long I never got it. I hated that they weren't ever able to bring a black major player on canvas, that sucked for me. I stopped being interested when Valerie left, errr well even before that when Brndon and Kelly were to get married and they rewrote it as if they weren't into each other, I didn't buy it never bought that she was more into Dylan either.

[tina m]

I'm halfway through season 8 - GREAT season! You guys weren't kidding when you said Tiffani Thiessen really carried the second half, especially with the Noah/Valerie date rape storyline. I even enjoyed the whole Noah/Donna/David/Valerie triangle.

I was disappointed when Brandon cheated on Kelly with Emma..felt a tiny bit out of character for him. Very excited to see how they resolve Kelly/Brandon + JP's exit in the end of season 8/beginning of season 9.

[Huntress]

When BH90210 was shown on television, I first tuned in at the end of the 3rd season and then I watched until the beginning of the 7th season. Somehow I got more interested in Melrose Place and began watching that instead of BH90210. When the DVDs came out, I started re-watching the show from the beginning. Right now I'm stuck in the middle of season 7.

Here are some of my thoughts about the show:

The beginning ~~~ Season 1 and the first half of season 2 were terrible, and I couldn't stand those "social issue of the week" episodes. I felt the show was way more balanced starting with season 3. I found it remarkable how fast Brandon and Brenda made new friends at West Bev. Kelly said to Brenda "You're my best friend" in one of the first episodes. Donna is actually never referred to as being Kelly's best friend, she's usually just there. Kelly is always said to be the most popular girl at West Bev, yet she is never shown to have many friends or having many admirers. It was the same on the OC where Marissa was supposed to be the popular girl, yet she was more of a loner. Brandon and Dylan become friends in Dylan's first episode (Dylan says "You're my friend" to Brandon at the end) which is also strange because Dylan clearly isn't the type to make friends easily.

Brandon ~~~ Brandon was my favourite male character throughout his whole run on the show, but I think that Jason Priestley began playing himself around season 4/5. Brandon changed a lot during that time. It often seems as if he improvised. He added that stupid grimace, made lots of hand gestures (pointing at people) and scratched his chin (in order to look sexy?). JP also became quite puffy once the college years kicked in and he suddenly looked much older, especially around his eyes. I also don't like the fact that Brandon became such a horndog in later years. He also became very arrogant. I understand that Brandon was supposed to be the moral center of the show and we were supposed to root for him, but the way he talks to people is so out of line most of the time.

Dylan ~~~ I always found him to be the most unrealistic one of all the characters. While I tolerated him during the first two seasons and kind of liked him and Brenda together, he became shallow, selfish and downright unlikeable by season 3. All of his later storylines left me cold, even his father's death (btw, I loathed the actor who played Jack McKay). Dylan basically ruined season 5 for me and I was glad when he was finally gone.

Kelly ~~~ She was my favourite female character through seasons 1-4. After that she became a bit too bland for my liking. The best Kelly storyline has to be the one with Tara in season 6 although the ending was absolutely dismal. IMO, the storyline should have been resolved in the season finale with a big cliffhanger à la "Will Kelly survive?" or "On whose head will Kelly's hair style turn up next?"

Donna ~~~ Love her. Granted, her character was a big mess, especially during the later seasons, and her victim act got old quickly, but somehow I sympathized with her most of the time. Her look was atrocious, though. In season 7, her hair is golden and she wears yellow and orange tops with green eye-shadow.

Valerie ~~~ Love her too. While she's completely out of her mind most of the time and is responsible for her own problems, you just want to root for her. In that regard she's very similar to Melrose Place's Sydney. I never liked Brenda that much.

David/Steve/Andrea ~~~ While I tolerate all three of them, I never cared much about their storylines. Besides, David became such an ass during the college years. He treated Donna like crap.

Ray ~~~ I hated what the writers/producers did to him. First he was presented as a good guy and then all of a sudden he becomes aggressive and violent. Then, at the beginning of the 6th season, Ray finally became part of the gang (Kelly said "You're a good guy, Ray Pruit" in 6.02 or 6.03), only to become a jerk once more a few episodes later. Why did they even make him a regular cast member in the first place? And then, when he filed a lawsuit against Joe, everyone was so judgemental, especially Kelly. After Ray and Dylan had left in season 6, the show cleary lacked a fourth male cast member. Colin would have been a good choice if they hadn't ruined him as well.

Clare ~~~ Clare somehow changed 180° during the summer break between seasons 5 and 6. In seasons 4 and 5, she wasn't really a part of the gang. She was usually moody and against anything mainstream. Beginning with season 6, Clare was suddenly dolled up, having blonde highlights and wearing "sexy" tops. She also became a lot more shallow, giggling with Kelly and Donna all the time. Besides, I found Clare to be very unique when she first showed up and I didn't mind her with David, but as soon as she got together with Steve she became unbearable. I also loathe those one-episode-arcs with Steve and Clare (Clare buys a new car, Steve doesn't like it; Steve buys a motorcycle, Clare doesn't like it; etc.). Their relationships basically just consists of fights and competitions. And why does she have a different hair color in every other episode (none of which seem to suit her, btw)?

Colin ~~~ Loved him. Colin could have easily been a good replacement for Dylan but the writers had completely screwed him up by midseason. I don't know what they were thinking by sending him to prison and subsequently making him a fugitive. Every other main character that experimented with drugs got away with little to no punishment, but "bad people" like Colin or Emily Valentine ended up in prison or in a psychiatric ward. It's funny how many people Brandon, Kelly and their pals kicked to the curb just to make themselves feel better. If Colin had stayed on the show, I'm sure Noah would have never showed up.

Susan ~~~ Why is it so obvious that Susan is just a cheap Andrea rip-off? Maybe I should just pretend that she is Andrea. If this was Melrose Place, she sure would have taken off her mask somewhere down the line to reveal her true identity I also noticed that both Jason Wiles (Colin) and Emma Caulfield (Susan) received "Also Starring" billing in the middle of season 6. Maybe they were both supposed to stay on the show for another season, with the option of becoming series regulars by season 7. When Emma left, they created that Tracy chick to replace her in season 7.

Favourite parent ~~~ Felice Martin! God, that bitch just rocks everytime she's on screen.

Melrose Place's influence on Beverly Hills, 90210 ~~~ It's pretty obvious that Melrose Place was responsible for the change in 90210's tone beginning with season 5 – that was when Melrose entered its 3rd season and their plots became outrageous –, but 90210 still remained tame compared to Melrose Place.

On Melrose you had people cheating on each other almost every episode, you had baby-stealing, catfights, bitch slaps, explosions, a lot of deaths, business schemes etc. The relationships between the characters were never deep, because characters switched partners a lot and they never seemed to love each other, it was just lust or calculation to hurt somebody else. In addition, most of the original cast members were gone by season 6. When season 6 started, more than half of the characters had joined the cast in season 5 or later. That killed the show and it was cancelled soon after. I guess the only couples you could root for were probably Jane & Michael or Amanda & Peter. All other couples were pretty much short-lived or were completely destroyed by the writers. Melrose also had a similar story to 90210's BDK-triangle with Billy, Alison and Jake in season 4/5. In the end, Alison left town alone which upset a lot of fans because Billy & Alison were supposed to be the couple from the very beginning.

While 90210 added some "spicy" storylines, it still stayed true to its original formula of having a close group of friends as protagonists. On Melrose, they were all friends in the beginning, but that soon changed, and during the later seasons, some characters who had been lovers in previous seasons didn't even speak to each other during the whole season.

Now that I think of it, both shows had quite a lot in common regarding their characters. In the beginning, Brenda and Alison were the "alpha females" and Dylan and Billy were their love interests. Both Kelly and Amanda were introduced as Brenda and Alison's friend respectively, but soon they went after Dylan/Billy. By season 3 of each show, Kelly and Amanda had become the "alpha female" because they dominated their show's storylines and were heavily involved in everyone else's lives. Strangely enough, both Kelly and Amanda were first presented as tough women, yet by season 4 of each show, they had turned into the victim and stayed that way until the end. Brenda left at the end of season 4, and while Alison remained on Melrose for another season, she was basically non-existant. By season 5, both shows introduced a new villain in the forms of Valerie Malone and Taylor McBride, respectively. These two clashed with Kelly/Amanda and fought for the same men all the time. Then, after both Valerie and Taylor had left, two new enemies entered the scene: Gina Kincaid and Lexi Sterling.

I also see similiarities in 90210's Donna and Melrose's Jane Mancini. Both were constantly hurt by the men in their lives, both loved fashion and became designers, and both had one true love (David/Michael). Like Donna, Jane was referred to as being dumb and naive (for example: "What can I say, when God was passing out business sense, Jane was in the back of the line getting her nails done.").

Andrea was similar to Melrose's Jo Reynolds. Both were smarter than the others (though Jo was of course not a nerd, but she was still an outsider) and sticked to their morals. At least until both became pregnant. That move alienated both women from the rest of the cast and they were written off their shows one season later.

When it comes to male characters, I don't see many similarities though. Besides Michael and maybe Jake, all men were usually portrayed as being stupid and/or violent. I think Jake was supposed to be some Dylan-clone at the beginning. Then he sort of became a male whore and slept with every women in the apartment building.

Edited January 16, 2011 by Huntress

[JackPeyton]

Gosh, i LOVE all of them. Kelly, Val, Gina, Amanda, Taylor, and Lexi.

[Cheap21]

wow, Huntress we have some different tastes. I hated Donna Martin and her mother was for me by far the most irritating of all the parents. Couldnt stand either of them

[All My Shadows]

I miss BH90210 My only regret in dropping SOAPnet.

And Felice was a hypocritical bitch. Give me coked out Jackie Taylor or spaced out Iris McKay anyday!

[YRBB]

Watching "Spring Training" from Season 1. Is this show serious? The whole episode is about Brandon and Steve coaching baseball and Brenda adopting a dog which found her on the street and refuses to leave her. There's also a comedy subplot about Jim throwing his back. I'm sure they'll all be learning valuable life lessons and such but I won't be finishing this crap.

On to the last two episodes of Season 1!

Edited May 26, 2012 by YRBB

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY2ZgO3gqFM

[Huntress]

I liked Carol Potter as Cindy, I wish they had done a bit more with that character in the later seasons instead of just putting her in the worst mom jeans and giving her a hairstyle that aged her like 15 years.

On Sunset Beach she basically played the same character, she just had a more whiny on-screen daughter.

[VirginiaHamilton]

That's pretty much all that needs to be said about this show.

[JackPeyton]

I totally disagree.

90210 was at its best seasons 5-8 IMO

[Huntress]

IMO, seasons 3 to 6 were the best.

Seasons 2, 7, 8 and 10 had their good moments, too.

Season 9 was the worst. The only good thing about it was the beginning of Janet/Steve. I loathed the Kelly/Dylan/Matt/Gina quadrangle. Even though I liked Matt and Gina as characters, their storylines dragged them down constantly so that Kelly and Dylan could emerge as the "good guys".

It was a bad idea to replace Val with Gina because compared to Val, Gina was too bland. She lacked a vulnerable side and didn't have the charisma to make a good villain.

To me, Val was the best character in 90210 history.