Beverly Hills 90210 TV Show: Spinoff Review

If you lived like a cockroach and impressively survived through the 1990s, you probably became part of the generation that became addicted to the Beverly Hills 90210 TV show. Of course, you can vehemently deny that, but in truth, you may telling the original premise of the show under deep stage hypnosis. The show is quite simple: it follows the lives and relationships of teenagers studying at 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’s not really a clone of the original. The plot of 90210 centers on a West Beverly Hills High graduate, Harry Mills. Apparently, Harry had to relocate with his wife and two children from the Midwest to be the new principal at West Beverly. Harry’s wife is a former Olympian and they have a biological daughter, theater-loving Annie, and Dixon, their adopted son who occasionally unleashes hell. Another reason Harry had to return was because of his mother (Tabitha Mills), who is a washed-up alcoholic actress trying to get sober once more.

When I watched the show, I didn’t know if the nerve synapses in my brain were working properly. The truth is, it’s like an over-the-top version of the original, without the “oomph” and “oomph” of the original. The characters, “while frighteningly thin” and attractive, 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 revisiting, like when Debbie, Annie, and Dixon’s mom had to blurt out how they can trade stories about her husband’s “penis.” Some of the acting needs tweaking as well, particularly Shaenie Grimes, who I’ve noticed she expresses the full gamut of human emotions from anger, love, lust, sadness, etc., just by squinting. Meryl Streep can do that kind of action justice, but with Shaenie, she seemed like she was on a perpetual quest to soak up the sun without lathering up with sunblock. When it comes to characters, some are so one-dimensional that it becomes unbearable just to watch them. Jessica Walter’s character Tabitha is a good example. She dropped so many Tinseltown names during the two hours the show aired that you could have sworn it looked like the yellow pages in Lalah Land. The other characters, like the troubled jock Ethan the mean girl, Naomi the rebel, Silver the airhead jock George, the rich kid Ty, and the addicted aspiring actress Adrianna are so predictable even my dog ​​could having written the characters himself (and probably much better).

Overall, the show is pretty run-of-the-mill and lacks the appeal of the original. In fact, I can hasten to say that the show almost repeats the tone and format of the original show. Judging from what I see, it still has a long way to go before it can achieve its own separate identity from the original Beverly Hills 90210 TV show.