90210We're Not in Kansas Anymore
Air date: Sept. 2, 2008
Victoria - TwoCents Reviewer
victoria@thetwocentscorp.com
The show was 2 hours long and filled with characters, young and old, new and familiar. In order to keep this as easy to follow as possible I’ve decided to introduce you, character-by-character to the cast and their issues. So hold on…. It’s going to be a bumpy ride back to Beverly Hills!
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[photo: Michael Desmond/The CW]
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90210
ReplyDeleteWe're Not in Kansas Anymore
Air date: Sept. 2, 2008
Victoria - TwoCents Reviewer
victoria@thetwocentscorp.com
The show was 2 hours long and filled with characters, young and old, new and familiar. In order to keep this as easy to follow as possible I’ve decided to introduce you, character-by-character to the cast and their issues. So hold on…. It’s going to be a bumpy ride back to Beverly Hills!
Debbie Wilson is the modern Carol Walsh, only she has a career and an attitude. She’s a busy fashion photographer and she’s got no problem talking smack to her hubby’s ex, even offering to give her a ride home so they can “exchange stories about Harry’s penis” Snap! Her parenting skills are pretty on par with good old Carol, except she did forget she’d grounded Annie at one point. And she’s a little less perturbed than she should be about the fact that her husband fathered a baby with another woman (even if it was before they had met).
Harry Wilson is the modern Jim Walsh, only he's a principal at West Bev and he's not nearly as charismatic, although way better looking. He just…. Doesn’t seem to have much punch. He also blurs the lines between principal and parent which sucks for his kids. And he seems to have been a bad boy back when he was a kid. His ex – Naomi’s mom – makes that clear. She also makes it clear she had Harry’s little boy and gave it up for adoption. How is that for drama?
Navid is the modern day David Silver... in other words, all geek. His dad produces porn. We don’t find out much about him other than he video tapes stuff and he becomes Dixon’s sidekick. He helps Dixon and Ethan play a prank on a rival high school’s Lacrosse team.
Naomi Clark is the modern Kelly Taylor. All blonde, all bitch only she looks as old as Kelly’s mom. She’s dating Ethan, steals Annie’s homework, gets mad her mom thinks she’s dumb and cheats on Ethan (after he cheats on her) with his best friend. I know the writers want us to feel compassion for Naomi when she gets dumped and her mom basically says she’s not smart enough to get into Yale, but…. You just don’t. You’re too busy being creeped out by the fact that she looks like Stifler’s mom making out with a 8th grader every time she kisses Ethan.
Annie Wilson is the modern Brenda Walsh only a lot more spunky and a lot less moody. Her start at West Beverly is as rocky as Brenda’s was. She gets made fun of in Silver’s blog, she finds out Ethan (a boy she liked a few summer’s ago) cheats on his girlfriend, she gets a paper stolen, she gets grounded, she gets dumped by her Kansas BF, she makes the school play and pisses off Adriana because of it, she goes to San Francisco on a lil dinner date with the richest hottest guy in school and she causes her granny to get into an accident because she forgot to pick up her laptop for her. Oye vey. Annie, unlike Brenda, doesn’t get all pouty or moody with all the disruptions and unexpected events. She’s kinda grown up and cool about it all. And you want to like her but… Annie is uber-niave in that totally unattractive sorta way. She offers to let Naomi look at her old Tale of Two Cities paper to get "ideas" and we're supposed to believe she has NO idea that Naomi will steal the thing outright. Come on CW, you’re viewers are not that stupid, why is your character?
Dixon Wilson is the modern Brandon Walsh only African American and with a little less cool but also not as uptight. He is a bit smart-mouthed which is cool. He’s a Lacrosse player cuz he wants to be just like his adoptive dad, Harry. When did Lacrosse become the it Hollywood sport?! I’d have preferred they play Ultimate Frisbee but that’s just me.
George is a modern day Steve Sanders – all jock, only with a bigger ego and temper. He starts a fight with Dixon on the field because Dixon’s a better player and then he tries to get his buddy and team mate Ethan to lie for him and cover it up. Ethan doesn’t and they have a passive-aggressive fight going on that probably had something to do with why George decide to suck face with Naomi. I say probably because George, at this point, is as deep as a puddle. We don’t get a lot of insight into who he is.
Ty Collins is a modern day Dylan McKay. He’s the richest and the most aloof however he’s far less brooding than Dylan and he looks like Zac Efron’s older brother. Or maybe it’s just Zac Efron on stilts, who knows? So yeah, he shows up predominantly in hour 2 of the 2-hour premiere. He’s the lead in the play and he sings and is definitely interested in Annie. He asks her out to dinner after rehearsal and she accepts. But Annie doesn’t realize a bite to eat after a play means a quick private jet jaunt to San Francisco! The whole whirlwind experience makes Annie forget she was supposed to pick up her granny's laptop. When Granny tries to pick it up herself she gets into a fender bender. So yeah, Mr. Tall dark and rich is basically a granny killer…. Kidding. Annie and Ty see to hit it off and in the last few seconds he shows up at her house and they kiss – while Ethan watches from the driveway. Let the brooding begin….
Now here’s where they start to go off the 90210 we know… the next list of characters are new-ish.
Ethan. I’m still trying to figure this boy out. He’s part Dylan but not totally Dylanesque. You like him even though he’s so full of apathy for his friends and relationships you wonder if someone slipped him an extra dose of Paxil. He cheats on Naomi and clearly has a thing for Annie, even though he tries to get back with Naomi and when he finally breaks free of Naomi and heads to Annie’s he catches her with Ty. At this point I like Ethan better than Ty because he’s a more developed character. And this could be a good triangle if they keep playing it right.
Adriana is a drug addicted bitch who is an actress. So not Donna Martin. Where’s our bubbly dumb Donna character? Anyway, Adriana doesn’t actually seem to like acting but does it to pay the mortgage because apparently her mom can’t do it. And she’s heavy into the pills – red ones, white ones, whatever. She doesn’t have the money to pay for them so she resorts to stealing Naomi’s purse (full of money). Mr. Matthews, the English teacher tries bonding with her but it’s not an easy task. The girl is a wall. I’m thinking they may morph her into a Andrea type character by playing up her poor factor but…. Andrea Zuckerman wasn’t a total and complete cow.
Familiar Faces:
Kelly Taylor is back. She’s the guidance Counselor at West Bev now and she’s got a little boy – father seems to be Brandon, but it’s not 100 percent sure. She’s not with the dad because she’s dating – or at least she accepts a date from Mr. Matthews the English teacher. She’s concerned about her little sister and her mom, who apparently has fallen off the wagon yet again. David and his dad seem to be MIA, as is Brandon who was her last BF when the original 90210 ended. If Brandon Walsh is the father of Kelly’s boy then the writer’s jumped the shark. Every real 90210 fan knows Brandon Walsh would never leave his kid to be a journalist in Belize. The worst thing this show could do is change the characters and integrity of the original cast members in order to propel the current situation. If Jason Priestley wouldn't come back make him dead or don't give Kelly a kid.
Silver is a familiar face only we old-time 90210’ers know her as Erin, the young sister of David and Kelly. Now she prefers being called by her last name and she writes a nasty little blog called . The main goal of the blog is to slam Naomi, but she ends up slamming Annie too. She makes it up to Annie by helping to get her into the school play and they become pretty good friends. Silver also seems to get along with her older sis Kelly, but there seems to be drama at home because they don’t talk positively about their mom. Oh and the reason Silver hates Naomi is that she went and told everyone that Silver’s dad was cheating on her mom. Ouch.
Brenda Walsh swings back into town in the final half hour of the premiere. She’s here to do a play and she and Kelly, as per usual, seem to say “oh yeah we had issues didn’t we? Ha. Ha. Let’s just be friends.” No reference to “hey didn’t you try to steal the love of my life?” from Brenda and no “hey, didn’t you steal back the love of your life?” from Kelly. In fact Dylan McKay doesn’t seem to exist. Brandon is mentioned in a vague way.
The Peach Pit is back in a totally different stone building which does seem more appropriate for Beverly Hills. But better than that, Nate is back! And Joe E Tata looks better than Shannon Doherty! Lol. It’s great to see him back!
So that was it for the 2-hour premiere of my favorite zip code. And….. If I was a teacher at West Beverly I’d have to give the pilot a solid “D”. It was too long, it had too many characters and not enough of the zippy dialogue and interesting plotlines Rob Thomas fans have come to expect. (this is no Veronica Mars, people).
Do you agree? If you used to watch 90210 back in the day, what are your thoughts? Are my character comparisons dead on, or completely off? Are you going to keep watching? Put your 2 Cents in the comments!
Actually Brandon wasn't Kelly last boyfriend. After they called off their wedding, Brandon left town and she started to date an attorney named Matt. Then Dylan rolled back into town and in the finale Kelly and Dylan decided to give their relationship another go.
ReplyDeleteSo really Dylan is a better option for Daddy and it makes more sense because he totally would up and leave.
Ah! ok. But after what dylan went through with his dad Jack I dont think he would leave either. And if Dylan was the dad wouldn't that make the Brenda-kelly friendship pretty much dunzo?
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