During the cast’s time at California University, conventional nighttime soap plots took over. Consider this: At its height, 90210 had a 58 rating share among adolescents.Īnd as the audience aged, the characters did as well. Maximum time was also devoted to developing relationships among the characters, as the angst-ridden love triangle between Brenda, Kelly, and Dylan took shape years before the Riverdale stars were zygotes. AIDS, sex, pill-popping, alcoholism, and eating disorders were all on the metaphorical Peach Pit menu. (Perry once had to escape throngs of fans by jumping in a laundry bin and hiding under the soiled linens.)īack in the zip code, the West Bev teens had carte blanche to act like adults. If you watch Pearl Jam’s award-winning 1992 “Jeremy” video, you’ll catch “90210” scrawled on the blackboard along with “Genesis 3:6” and “ignored.” Fans mobbed the cast in public, treating Perry, Priestley, et al., as if they were John, Paul, George, and Ringo circa 1964. There were CD soundtracks and an “I Hate Brenda” zine devoted to bad girl Doherty. Dolls and backpacks and pillowcases popped up in stores. Priestley and Perry, with their retro-looking sideburns, became teen magazine cover staples-despite the fact that the actors were a combined 47 years old. Once new episodes turned up in the summer of 1991, 90210 evolved into an addictive, must-see phenomenon.
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They were all influencers without the benefit of iPhones. By the end of Season 1, Brenda slept with the soft-spoken rebel loner Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) without a shred of remorse Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) shared her traumatic experience about being date-raped Andrea Zuckerman (Gabrielle Carteris) shed her neuroses Steve (Ian Ziering) raged because of his childhood adoption Brandon got into a drunk-driving accident and virginal Donna (Tori Spelling) started befriending freshman geek David Silver (Brian Austin Green).
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#BEVERLY HILLS 90210 FULL#
90210 (no fan ever referred to it by its full title) was the first small-screen entity to ever capture the attention of Generation X because it examined teens from the perspective of teens-with a healthy dose of sudsy melodrama thrown in.
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Not so much a black hole as a beige one.”
#BEVERLY HILLS 90210 CODE#
Los Angeles Times TV critic Howard Rosenberg called it “a zip code for stereotypes and stock characters,” while Tom Shales of The Washington Post sniffed that the show’s producers “created a vacuum, a perfect void, a black hole in the already vast and empty TV schedule. Expectations were low, as adults didn’t know what to make of it. It was dumped on Thursday nights at 9 p.m., opposite Cheers. Veronica Sawyer’s doom was our gain.īeverly Hills, 90210 premiered on Octoas a wholesome fish-out-of-water tale about Minnesota twins Brandon and Brenda Walsh (Jason Priestley and Shannen Doherty) trying to adjust to a life of fast cars and loose morals in a luxe zip code.
#BEVERLY HILLS 90210 SERIES#
The story goes that when Fox entertainment chief Peter Chernin was putting together his schedule for the 1990-91 TV season, he had to decide between an adaptation of Heathers and an Aaron Spelling–produced series titled Beverly Hills High.