The New “90210″? A Real Snooze
By Chuck Barney
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 8:41 am in 90210, New fall season.
The new kids on the “Beverly Hills” block.
Now we really know why The CW didn’t send out advance screeners of “90210″ to critics. The show is turgid, listless and pretty much DOA.
And it gives me no great joy to say that. I was looking forward to two hours of frothy fun and nostalgic vibes. Instead, the remake of Aaron Spelling’s escapist teen fantasy gave us meandering storylines containing soapy plot points we’ve all seen before and lots of young actors who looked good but failed to pop. Even the relentlessly hyped reunion of Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth — which took 90 minutes to arrive — felt flat and feeble.
Good lord, this show wasn’t even lousy enough to be fun.
Like the original, the “90210″ reboot follows a family transplanted from the Midwest to the magical Oz that is Beverly Hills. Harry Wilson (Rob Estes) has made the move essentially to watch over his boozy-actress mother (Jessica Walter). He also conveniently happens to be the new principal at West Beverly Hills High School, where he can keep an eye on his kids, Annie (Shenae Grimes) and Dixon (Tristan Wilds). And then there’s his hot wife (Lori Loughlin), who had very little to do on Night 1.
Within five minutes, the show made it clear that this wasn’t your sister’s “90210″ with a scene that had a girl providing oral pleasure to a guy in the high school parking lot (Ew!). Later, there was some dialogue about Harry’s penis and a visit to a porn set. (Advice to the writers: Leave the racy stuff to “Gossip Girl,” which does it much better).
But not all was lost. Grimes, who was in “DeGrassi: The Next Generation,” made a good first impression as the would-be Brenda. She’s cute and engaging and has a great smile. She also shares a good chemistry with Wilds, just as Doherty and Jason Priestly did (But when does Wilds get a love interest?).
Also, Walter added some welcome levity in her marginal role, but when one of the best things about a teen soap is the granny, you know you’re in trouble.
But enough of my take? What did you think? Are you a fan of the new “90210″? Will you stick with it hoping it will get better? Leave us a comment or two.
[You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.]
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:00 am
I didn’t have high hopes about the new 90210, but still after seeing the new 90210, I was left disappointed. The new 90210 isn’t fun to laugh at like its predicesor and really wasn’t very fun to watch, either. After the first hour, my friends and I were only half watching and were just chatting with each other about other things (”I wish they paid Tori Spelling as much as Brenda and Jennie so we could see all three of them together again”). We were also disappointed in the new set. For example, we hoped to see the cast congregate in the old Peach Pit or at least in something that resembled the old burger joint. Instead we got a completely new fancy place that wasn’t even in the same building as the original. This doesn’t mean we won’t watch again, however. We are hoping that it will get better, as these first episodes were obviously setting up the characters and situations for the rest of the season. But if it doesn’t get better after 2 or 3 more episodes, I guess I’ll just go back to watching my DVD’s of the original.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:07 am
I didn’t have high hopes about the new 90210, but still after watching it, I was left disappointed. The new 90210 isn’t fun to laugh at like its predicesor and really wasn’t very fun to watch, either. After the first hour, my friends and I were only half watching and were just chatting with each other about other things (”I wish they paid Tori Spelling as much as Brenda and Jennie so we could see all three of them together again”). We were also disappointed in the new set. For example, we hoped to see the cast congregate in the old Peach Pit or at least in something that resembled the old burger joint. Instead we got a completely new fancy place that wasn’t even in the same building as the original. This doesn’t mean we won’t watch again, however. We are hoping that it will get better, as these first episodes were obviously setting up the characters and situations for the rest of the season. But if it doesn’t get better after 2 or 3 more episodes, I guess I’ll just go back to watching my DVD’s of the original.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:12 am
I was a fan of the original 90210 and watched it from beginning to end. While it may be hard to compete with the original series (it was such a hit), I think the new version is off to a very good start. I really liked it. I sat down with my 20 yr. old daughter and we watched it together. She has watched the old episodes on dvd. She loved the old and loved the new. I think it will be a hit. what makes me nervous is really getting into it and the network pulls the plug because of ratings. I really hope that doesn’t happen. I think this could be a very big hit. The cast is excellent and the new spin is interesting as well as entertaining. Keep up the good work and excellent writting.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:14 am
It’s not the same withought the original cast but i guess it’s okay? Was that Jason Priestley I saw on the show?
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:59 am
I don’t think it was so horrible, Chuck. I was a big fan of the first one, but I remember that it, too, took a while to build and find its niche. Plus, I enjoyed all of the nostalgic references for us “old-school fans” … did anyone else catch that Andrea’s daughter, Hannah, was an anchor in the TV journalism class? I thought that was fun. The Brenda/Kelly reunion seemed a little forced, but it was still worth watching. I’ll give it a few more episodes before I decide to stick with it or not.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:08 am
It could have definately been better. There were some glimmers of hope but for the most part it seemed to be all over the place. I will probably watch a few more episodes just to see how it goes but I don’t hold out much hope if it continues the way that it went last night. I was kind of disappointed. It went from trying to be overly sexy to overly endearing. Then from way too over the top to really stupid. I hope they are able to find a good middle ground and soon or this one is going to crash and burn fast!
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:08 pm
It was so glamorous. I think that the appeal of the original 90210 was that, at the end of the day, the Walshes seemed like a normal family and West Beverly seemed like a real school: the parents were parents and the school was there to keep everyone in line. In the new series, even the parents are glamorous and have a past. I thought Dixon’s and Silver’s characters were well cast; both seem like real teens. I thought there was a lot of shameless product placement.
I am going to watch more. It will be interesting to see how the show weaves Kelly, Brenda, Nat/the Peach Pit, and Jackie (Kelly’s mom) into the new show. Something else I really liked about the original was the focus on the kids: Jim and Cindy’s personal lives and the lives of the teachers/administrators didn’t play into the plot line. The new series seems like it is trying to appeal to teens and adults by weaving their lives together.
There is nothing like the original, but I’ll give the new series a chance. So far, I think Gossip Girl is edgier and more captivating. I can’t wait to see what Privileged is about.
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I kept watching in hopes it would get better as the show went on, unfortunately it did not. However I will watch it next week anyway.
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Yet another completely vapid, empty eventing drama served up cold with anorexic, over-dressed and over-coiffed adults trying to pass as teenagers with impossibly glamorous lives. A waste of time and brain cells…
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:39 pm
was pretty bad. i barely made it thru the first hour, skipped the second. the cast looked like they were at least in their 30’s (okay, i know some of the original cast of 90210 were also). didn’t have authentic school feel, felt like college or post-college kids who spend their vaccuous lives at the club. what are teens doing drinking wine and cocktails at a night club? huh?
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:17 pm
I loved the first go round with 90210, this was a bit more racy, I think we could have done without some of the sexual overtones that took place. But, with that being said I did enjoy it, I liked how they did kind of work in the old details of the original from The Peach Pit and Nat to Kelly’s “sister” Silver, when they left off the show the first time the sister had just been born to David’s(Silver) Dad and Kelly’s Mom…seems like they have left it open to bring back more characters from the previous years. In fact they did mention Brandon and left it open that Kelly’s son might be Brandon’s son. So who knows where this goes but I will watch at least a few more times.
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:46 pm
LOVEDIT!!!!! My friends and I gathered to watch it last night over good food and cocktails and were definitely entertained. We all grew up with the original 90210 and we found this new version very entertaining. Of course it was all over the place, they are definitely setting the plot lines for everyone. We also enjoyed the references to past characters and the new characters that are carrying on their “legacy” so to speak. We are all in our late 30’s or just turning 40(ish)and we grew up with this show and now enjoy it on a different level. Now it is a guilty pleaseure that you watch with your friends while you sip cocktails compared to the past when we were “living it….” or so we thought/wished. Give it a chance and if you don’t like it -then don’t watch it!
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Elisa brings up a good point: The original “Beverly Hills 90210″ did, indeed, take some time to get on track (Luke Perry wasn’t even in the first episode). So maybe there’s hope … Also, Chrissy correctly points out that the show had a lot of balls to juggle and thus, the “all-over-the-place” feel. If the producers/writers are smart, they’ll figure out 2-3 storylines that resonate and hone in on those in the coming weeks. …
Thanks to those of you who pointed out that it was Andrea’s daughter, Hannah, working in the TV journalism class. Completely missed that one!
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I liked it. I think they did a good job of not copying off of the orginal. I really like Silver. I liked how they had Andrea’s daughter Hannah in the begining I hope she gets included more. I also liked how Mr Matthews asked Kelly if anyone ever told her she was easy and she said not in a long time! I don’t really like the whole adoption thing. Its like 90210 meets the OC (which I hated). I don’t really like Tristian Wilds (I think that is his name…) I would have rather seen 90210 meet One Tree Hill! Mr Wilson could have knocked up 2 girls at the same time and picked one of them but gotten both kids! I think don’t think they need the old cast - it helps get more viewers but I think the show could do well without them. I really hope Kelly’s son is Brandons and NOT Dylans, then the show would have been better off not including any! They are lacking 2 strong heartthrobes - They really only have Ethan…
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I enjoyed the show very much. I thought they did a good job of including some references for those of us who were old fans, such as including a reference to Jessie and Andrea’s daughter looking “30 or something”. I also enjoy the new family that is featured, especially the grandmother’s character. The adopted african-american son will raise some interesting issues.
I hope they also continue to raise other issues facing teenagers. I don’t know what a lot of these are now, but they dealt with a lot of hot button issues back in the day, such as Kelly getting sucked into a dangerous cult and Donna abusing pain medication. I hope they continue this trend in the new show.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I have been eagerly anticipating the new spinoff for weeks now and was not as impressed as I thought I would be. The highlight? Seeing the old characters- Kelly, Brenda and Nat! I liked how they brought back Erin (Kelly’s sister) and Andrea’s daughter. I kept waiting to be swept away but didn’t get that feeling. Honestly, at a couple of moments I would have been fine with going to sleep instead but will definitley still give the next episode a fair chance. I might just need a little extra time to warm up to the characters
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I liked it. Thought it was entertaining and liked that old characters and places were involved. I’ll watch again next week.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I enjoyed the winks to the original and the inside jokes. My favorite was near the beginning, when Hannah Zuckerman-Vasquez was on the campus tv station and a teacher made the comment “what is she, like 30?” Even though she looked younger than most of the other “high schoolers” it was a great inside nod to Gabrielle Carteris’ real age in the original. Continuity isn’t exactly a priority…if “Silver” is just now in high school, there’s a huge gap because Dylan’s sister Erica was already of high school age in the original - I don’t think enough time has passed for that to be plausible. But then again it’s a tv show! There were some nice hidden references though.
I have to admit, I looked forward to the Kelly Taylor scenes and those references to the original a little more than where the new plot lines were advancing. I thought they were trying a little too hard to be cool and updated. The scene near the beginning where a character was getting pleasured in his car was way out of line…definitely not true to the spirit of the original. They tried so hard to set everything up in the first hour that it got to be too much, almost as if they didn’t expect to be around long enough to let things fall into place naturally. That being said, the second hour was better with a couple of stand alone plots along with some set ups that could make for interesting storylines down the road. (Love the grandmother….but I hope they don’t overuse her too soon!)
It seemed like they weren’t sure how to find their footing - I got whiplash from the number of times that Dixon was on and off the lacrosse team. They were all over the map setting up this conflict and that pressing issue. If they can find a focus and not try and do too much they might be okay.
I could actually go on and on about other things (the father of the new kids is also the new principal of the school and had a relationship with the parent of a current student,? Stop! The cool theater guy whisks the new girl off to SF for dinner on a private plane? Please. And how did somebody from Kansas get a job in fashion photography so quickly?) but I know you’re not looking for a book
I’m willing to stick around and give the show a try. To be honest though, I think I am more interested to see who the father of Kelly’s son is, how Brenda and Kelly interact, who the son of the new principal is, etc. than I am to see if Annie chooses the cool theatre dude or the cool lacrosse dude. That being said, I’ll be tuning in again for the forseeable future.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:54 am
I missed the pilot episode…does anyone know if and when it will air again?
September 4th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Hey G — The CW is re-airing the “90210″ pilot tonight.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:32 am
At first I didn’t like it, but in the end I started to get more interested. I think I enjoyed seeing the old characters the most. I also really liked seeing Andria’s daughter as the news anchor, and Kelly and David’s little sister in the show.