If you lived like a cockroach and survived impressively through the 1990s, you probably became part of the generation that got addicted to the television show Beverly Hills 90210. Of course, you can vehemently deny it, but truth be told, you will tell the original premise of the show under the hypnosis of the deep stage. The show is pretty simple: It follows the lives and relationships of teenagers attending the fictional West Beverly High School and living in the wealthy, exclusive, and star-studded community of Beverly Hills, California. The show ended in May 2000, but now, the names of Brenda, Dylan, Kelly, Brandon, David, Donna and Andrea return thanks to a new spin-off of the popular television series. The name: 90210.
Although the TV series is a spin-off, it is not actually a clone of the original. The plot of 90210 centers on a West Beverly Hills High graduate, Harry Mills. Apparently, Harry had to move with his wife and two children from the Midwest to be the new manager of West Beverly. Harry’s wife is a former Olympian and they have a biological daughter, Annie, a theater lover, and Dixon, their adopted son who occasionally unleashes hell. Another reason Harry had to come back was because of his mother (Tabitha Mills), who is a washed up alcoholic actress trying to get sober one more time.
When I watched the show, I didn’t know if the nerve synapses in my brain were working properly. The truth is that it is like an exaggerated version of the original, without the “oomph” and “thrust” of the original. The characters, while “frighteningly thin” and handsome, lacked the magnetic appeal that drew fans to Jason Priestley, Shannen Doherty, Jenny Garth, and Luke Perry in their day. Also, some of the dialogue needs to be reworked, like when Debbie’s mom Annie and Dixon had to blurt out how they can swap stories about her husband’s “penis.” Some of the acting needs tweaking as well, particularly Shaenie Grimes, who I’ve noticed expresses the full range of human emotions, from anger, love, lust, sadness, etc., just by narrowing her eyes. Meryl Streep can do that kind of action justice, but with Shaenie, she looked like she was on a perpetual quest to soak up the sun without lathering up with sunscreen. When it comes to characters, some are so one-dimensional that it becomes unbearable just looking at them. Jessica Walter’s character, Tabitha, is a good example. She dropped so many names from Tinseltown during the two hours the show aired that she could have sworn it looked like the yellow pages in Lalah Land. The other characters, like the problem jock, Ethan, the mean girl, Naomi, the rebel, Silver, the airheaded jock, George, rich kid Ty, and the addicted wannabe actress, Adrianna, are so predictable even my dog could having written the characters himself (and probably much better).
Overall, the show is pretty ordinary and lacks the appeal of the original. In fact, I can hasten to say that the show pretty much repeats the tone and format of the original show. Judging from what I see, he still has a long way to go before he can pull off his own separate identity from the original Beverly Hills 90210 TV show.
