Beverly Hills, 90210 Discussion Thread

[Forever8]

I wish they would've gone there with Steve and Andrea. They had good chemistry since back when they had made out that one time. Imagine Brandon's growing jealousy as Steve and Andrea get closer. Brenda calling her brother out for being jealous. Steve and Andrea confronting him with Brandon admitting he had feelings for her. 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Forever8

[Chris 2]

Yep. Season 3 (and season 2) were great. There was a big drop in quality when they sent everyone off to college. Everyone being in the same college was ridiculous, not to mention the political stories, Andrea and her pregnancy, Claire, Greek life. Ugh.

I wish they had just had each new season take place during the summer, when the gang was home for college. You could have had a time jump each season. The summer episodes were always my favorite anyway.

[Chris B]

I’m into season five now, which is just fantastic. Valerie is an inspired character and I love that they’re full on soap now. I find I don’t miss Brenda, because she was such an outsider in season four that it was time. 
 

The biggest disappointment of season five is Andrea. I was shocked at how well she was written in season four and it seems everything they did right has disappeared. Instead of mostly having scenes with Brandon of Steve, they fully integrated her with the girls which I loved. She felt like a real part of the group and an important part. I loved her dating and sleeping around as well and she fit in perfectly. 
 

I don’t mind the pregnancy story, but it would’ve worked better with Steve or Brandon as the father. If it had to be Jesse, the casting needed to be better. This is probably one of the worst pieces of casting I’ve ever seen. Now in season five she’s isolated mostly to dull scenes with him, has aged a decade and is clearly in the way out. Season four proved there was a long term future for Andrea, but you can tell the writers and producers used Gabrielle’s age to push her out.

[Khan]

Agree.  There are times when it's all-too-apparent that storylines and such are being driven by BTS agendas.  To me, Andrea's marginalization was one of those times.

[Vee]

Larry Mollin discussed part of the Andrea issue here, in one of several very candid BTS interviews by a few 90210 staff on this site. They make it clear Mark Damon Espinoza was an issue.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Vee

[John]

Wait Melrose Place asked Hunter Tylo to get an abortion in 1996?

Edited February 7, 2022 by John

[Vee]

It was part of a massive lawsuit launched when she was hired to play Taylor McBride and then dropped after getting pregnant. They recast with Lisa Rinna and she sued Spelling. I'm sure that was among her allegations and it may well be true.

[John]

i knew all that but not the abortion angle. 

[Chris B]

I remember that Hunter Tylo scandal. IIRC, her son was born with a birth defect and she claimed that was due to the stress they put her under. I remember hearing when she stood up in court at 9 months pregnant, you couldn’t even tell she was pregnant. I wonder if she felt pressure to stay slim to justify keeping her job for the lawsuit. 
 

Reading those interviews @Vee posted don’t paint Aaron Spelling in the best light. I feel like Donna suffered from his interference. I liked the chemistry Tori had with Cress Williams (who was also great with Brandon), but Aaron didn’t want his daughter with a Black love interest. Watching season 5 I feel like all of the fun has been drained from Donna. That goofy, funny, but lovable girl is completely gone and she’s been turned into the type of heroine that Tori isn’t great at playing. 
 

While I’m here I almost must say that Kelly Taylor is a hateful bitch. She always has her nose turned up at someone. I’m glad Brenda is gone because I hate how she’d always do something to Brenda and turn it around to play the victim. I’m curious when her likability will return because this ain’t it.

Originally I only saw seasons 9 and 10 when they originally aired and after season 5 it’s going to be fresh for me, barring episodes here and there that I’ve seen. I’m curious how I will react because I recall seasons 6 and 7 not grabbing me from the episodes I can remember.

 

 

[Chris 2]

Kelly doesn’t get better. Only worse. She becomes judgmental and sanctimonious starting in season 5, and it only gets worse. I kept hoping Valerie would pop her in the nose, but that never happened unfortunately.

[Khan]

Thanks, @Vee, for the link.  I think I might have come across those interviews in the past, but I'm not 100-percent sure.  Regardless, Larry Mollin's comments re: the Andrea situation pretty much confirm or reinforce my suspicions.  I never suspected that they hated Gabrielle and wanted her gone, but I could tell from what I was seeing that what was happening ON-screen was being dictated by stuff that was happening OFF-screen.

[Vee]

Anything after Season 6 (which gets pretty sleazy, but has Clare and the great Emma Caulfield as Susan Keats, who should've stayed) is a wash AFAIC. Especially Season 7.

Edited February 8, 2022 by Vee

[te.]

Yeah, the show started going into the drain by season 7 though I'm fine with thinking of it as the final season. Post-college they sort of fell into being pre-Amanda Melrose. Why they thought we'd enjoy seeing these characters struggle with their careers is beyond me.

Maybe Wear This! could've been exposed as a money laundering operation or something.

[Vee]

I think it was Season 8 where a very different team took over from the old guard? One of the interviews at the site above discusses some of that. I think it was John Eisendrath? Either way the show got worse and worse. I didn't think Hilary Swank was one of those mistakes, though clearly Fox did as they shoved her off the show right before she became a star. I never understood why Kathleen Robertson left but I think it was her decision; she was doing a lot of Gregg Araki stuff at the time. I never forgave the show for her exit, I loved Clare.

I'll never get over this show being given a reprieve while MP got canned in much better shape. I think that was down to Spelling protecting Tori.

Cress Williams was indeed great on the show, and I kept wondering as a kid if they'd go there with him and Donna or another lead but suspected they wouldn't. He was all over Fox at the time; he recurred on Living Single right to the end. I was shocked when he turned up decades later as the lead of Black Lightning, I hadn't seen him in forever.

I don't know if it's discussed in those intvs bc I haven't read them all in awhile but I know there was supposedly some blunder re: Jamie Walters and that's why they chose to vilify him and write him out when it wasn't originally the intent. I def hated Ray by the end.

Edited February 8, 2022 by Vee

[te.]

The intention with Ray was to redeem him by having him work with his anger issues. Of course this was a case of Daddy Spelling pulling the plug because he thought it made his precious daughter look like an idiot (like she needed help...) and he was promptly written out before they even got to that point.