I liked that they did an update of the theme song, a more electric guitar version, but it was really short. Maybe they ran long on the episodes, so maybe they'll have a longer version on future episodes.
The Wilson family is newly arrived in Beverly Hills from Wichita, Kansas. Dad Harry (Rob Estes) is the new principal at West Beverly, and wife Debbie (Lori Loughlin) is involved in photo shoots (not sure if she's the actual photographer or just the coordinator). Older daughter Annie (Shenae Grimes) isn't very happy about leaving friends and a boyfriend behind. Adopted brother Dixon (Tristan Wilds) just keeps repeating that everything sucks. Part of the reason for the move is that Harry's alcoholic mother Tabitha (Jessica Walter) needs a little supervision, so the family is moving into her Beverly Hills mansion. Sounds better than it seems. Tabitha adores her son and grandchildren but not so much her daughter-in-law. Since I hear lots of real life horror stories, mother-in-laws/grandmothers who are intrusive, undermining and just downright bitchy aren't amusing to me like they used to be.
On her first day of school, Annie is witness to the antics of Naomi (AnnaLynne McCord) - super-bitch, uber-rich and seemingly queen of the school, complete with fawning entourage. She reminded me a little bit of Cordelia from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Annie is stunned when she finds out that Naomi's boyfriend is Ethan, a guy she met and hung out with when she was out visiting her grandmother a few years prior. This was not her first surprise of the day involving Ethan though - she had seen him earlier in the parking lot and had been on her way over to his car to say hello - until she saw him fidgeting with his pants and a girl's head popped up from the other side of the front seat.
During lunch, Annie is approached by Erin, who prefers to go by the name Silver (which is actually her last name). The two seem to strike up a friendship, but Naomi swoops in and "rescues" Annie, telling her she doesn't want to be seen with Silver. Whereas Naomi was very dismissive of Annie previously, she now seems more accepting.
But Naomi has her own catastrophic problems. Her "Not-So-Sweet-16" party is that weekend, and it's going to be a huge bash. She has entirely too many things to think about and do to prepare for the party, so she can't possibly deal with something as mundane as writing a paper on "A Tale of Two Cities" that's due in one of her classes. Naomi's father (played by James Patrick Stuart) even comes in to talk to the teacher and Harry about how unreasonable they're being, but they don't budge. When Naomi later tells Annie her problem, Annie says that she had just written a paper about that book, and she offers to let Naomi see it to get some ideas. Annie is horrified when she later finds out that Naomi turned in the paper as is as her own work, but all does not end well - Harry finds out about the paper and confronts Annie about letting Naomi steal her work, and both Annie and Naomi are in trouble. Harry ends up later goading Naomi into writing a paper herself.
Meanwhile, Silver is put out when Naomi is whisked away by Naomi, and she decides to punish Annie on her widely-viewed webcast by creating a video making fun of Annie's Kansas origins. Annie is very angry at Silver for doing that and for thinking that Annie had abandoned her when she went with Naomi since she didn't know that the two of them were mortal enemies. We then find out that Silver is actually the sister of Kelly Taylor, West Beverly Hills alumnus and now guidance counselor at the school. We also find out that there's some reason why Silver harbors a deep-seated hate for Naomi. Silver eventually apologizes to Annie and the two remain friends. We find out later that Silver had discovered that her mother was cheating on her father, but she didn't say a word because she was afraid it would break up her family. However, she had to tell someone, so she told then-BFF Naomi - who promptly told everyone, and the devastation that Silver was afraid would happen came to pass, and from then on, Silver vowed revenge on Naomi by making her life hell.
Dixon has his own eventful time at school. He tries out for the lacrosse team and ends up even making the team, but in the process, he doesn't realize that he has shown up BMOC George of the lacrosse team, and when a fight ensues, Dixon is blamed for it even though George is the one who instigated it by attacking Dixon. At first, fellow team member Ethan lies to support his friend George, but when Dixon is kicked off the team and Annie yells at Ethan for lying, he finally tells the truth, and Dixon is reinstated.
Harry doesn't have the easiest time returning to Beverly Hills either. It turns out that he and Naomi's mother had a thing at one point, but what he hadn't known until now is that she got pregnant, and she gave their son up for adoption. He struggles with what to do about the situation, and Debbie says he needs to think about what he wants and what the best thing would be for the family before they can say anything to Annie and Dixon.
Annie had been in a small school production back in Wichita, and she's excited when she finds out that West Beverly is doing "Spring Awakenings". She volunteers to do scenery just so she can be around the production. She's working away when the chorus is rehearsing, but the director just thinks something's missing. Trying to get back into Annie's good graces, Silver suggests they let Annie give it a shot since she's been to all the rehearsals and has been paying attention so knows all the songs and moves. The director reluctantly agrees, and Annie is a smash, so the director adds her to the chorus, much to the chagrin of Adrianna, who had previously been the star of the chorus. Adrianna has other more pressing problems though - she is apparently being pushed to be a real actress by her parents, and she's also taking drugs. When she can't afford the money to pay for them, she ends up stealing money from BFF Naomi.
Annie is having a bad day when her boyfriend in Wichita breaks up with her because they are now geographically incompatible, but she doesn't remain miserable for long - she meets and gets the attention of Ty Collins, one of the handsome leads in the school musical. He asks Annie out for dinner one night after rehearsal, but when she accepts, she doesn't realize they're going to board his private jet and fly to San Francisco for dinner. He's obviously smitten by her, partly because she's so different from everyone else, meaning that unlike Naomi, Annie doesn't go around casually buying $800 dresses.
Meanwhile, Naomi has found out that Ethan has been cheating on her, and she's devastated, but Silver broadcasting the news all over her webcast is the final straw because now everyone knows. Naomi then hooks up with George, thinking it will make Ethan jealous when the news is spread. However, it has the opposite effect - Ethan says he wants out of the relationship. It turns out that Annie's grandmother and Ethan's grandmother (played by Linda Gray) are very good friends, so Ethan is able to spend a little time talking and reminiscing with Annie when the two grandmothers are visiting. Ethan's feelings for Annie have started to re-ignite, but when he goes to pay her another visit, he finds her on her front doorstep, kissing Ty.
There is also this whole other story about how a rival school's lacrosse team trashed the halls of West Beverly, and even though Harry told them not to retaliate, Dixon masterminds a scheme (OK, really, it's a scheme that is handed to them by Tabitha, apparently something Harry had done when he was in high school) wherein they commandeer three pigs from Dixon's friend's dad (who happens to be a porn producer), and they dress them in West Beverly lacrosse gear and let them loose at the other high school, causing quite a mess and damage. And the twist is that they number the pigs "1", "2" and "4" so they'd spend hours looking for "3". Ummm, OK, I've heard that trick before, but it's usually with mice, which are much harder to find. I would think it would be pretty easy to realize there really are only three pigs - it's not like a pig could hide in a little space. Rather than let the entire team be punished for the crime, Dixon takes full responsibility for the prank, and he refuses to give up his co-conspirators since they already regard him as the "principal's kid". In the end, his co-horts fess up, they all get minimal punishment, and all is right with the world.
It's not just the newbies who have matters to deal with. We find out that Kelly is the mother of a four-year-old son, and dad is apparently not around very much. We find out later that dad is none other than Brandon Walsh, though we don't find out if they got married and then were divorced or if they never got married and just had a baby together. And speaking of the Walsh family, Kelly meets up with Brenda, who is apparently an actress and is in town for a production she's working on, and the two agree to catch up. Their initial meeting is at The Peach Pit, still run by Nat, but looking very different than before. And the after hours section is no longer called The Peach Pit After Dark - now it's just The Pit. Ryan, a teacher at the school, had previously proceeded horribly in his quest to ask Kelly out on a date, and he shows up at Kelly's house with flowers to apologize. Brenda is there to catch up with Kelly, but she says she can look after the sleeping child and urges Kelly to accept the offer for coffee.
I wasn't sure how I would feel about the show, but generally, I liked it. It had a lot of stories about the kids, but there were enough stories about the adults as well to keep my interest.
Tabitha's character is fairly one-dimensional - she's a lush, she's a bitch to Debbie, and she name-drops. Jessica Walter is such a great actress, so I really hope they give her more to do.
I had originally thought that Silver was going to be David and Donna's daughter, but it turns out she's Kelly's and David's sister. I had forgotten there was a sister, but then I remembered that Kelly's mother married David's father, making them step-siblings, and their parents had a child together, Erin, so this would be the child grown up as a teenager. I like the character of Silver - tough and edgy but funny and with a vulnerable side to her.
Naomi started out as a fairly predictable character, but I like that they also gave her brains. I loved the scene after she got busted passing off Annie's paper as her own, and she and her mother are in principal Harry's office. Naomi says that she *can* write the paper, she just has too many things on her mind. Her mother dismisses the paper since it's not like she's going to Yale anyway. Naomi is taken aback at that comment and asks why she can't go there since she's just as smart as her sister, who is apparently attending Yale. You distinctly understand that her mother doesn't give her any credit for being smart, and Harry picks up on that, saying that she can prove everyone wrong by writing the paper herself. When Naomi agrees, he hands her a pad of paper and a pencil. Ummm, who writes that way anymore? Don't they have a computer for her to use? And by the way, what kind of place still has their HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS reading their paper out loud to the class? And I've never been to a sweet 16 party, so is that kind of party what I've been missing out on - live band, huge venue, food and champagne and video screens everywhere? Many weddings are less elaborate than that. I guess that's just to show how rich and willing to spend money and be extravagant Naomi's family is, and it's not just her with the dress shopping - apparently, she gets all that attitude from her parents.
Naomi's mother is apparently a lush and a slut. She was making goo-goo eyes at Harry as soon as he got back in town, and then she had the nerve to show up at his house and start talking about how it was when they were together, right in front of Debbie? And then, on top of that, she wants Harry to drive her home? However, I loved Debbie's line that she should drive her home, and they can compare stories about Harry's penis on the way. Perfect comeback!
One thing that was just a little too convenient was how easily Annie and Dixon intermixed in the school. He's a standout on the lacrosse team - just like that. She's in the school musical - just like that. And speaking of the musical, I'll admit that I haven't seen "Spring Awakenings", but I know a little about the show. First, I'm surprised that it would have already been authorized for school productions, but second, I don't recall there being that many female parts in the show. OK, so they were the chorus so maybe that's different, but still.
Harry was good as a character, having a lot to do at school in his new job and with his personal life. Debbie, though, is fairly undeveloped, so we'll see if they do anything with her.
I loved the bit about the pentapus!
One thing that I kept thinking while watching the show is how much Shenae Grimes (Annie) looks like Julia Roberts in so many of her expressions and mannerisms. Heck, "Pretty Woman" was referened, and then she proceeded to have her own "Pretty Woman" experience when Ty jetted her off to San Francisco for dinner! The husband says he doesn't see the resemblance at all, but I was seeing it constantly. I think Shenae looks like Julia Roberts when she was younger, which is not meant to be an insult to Julia Roberts since she's obviously older now and looks a little different. The innocence and openness of her smile reminds me of Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman".
And then we get to the familiar people. It was really nice seeing Brenda and Kelly together again. If I recall, Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth had problems with each other on the original show, which was part of the reason for Shannen's departure. I don't know if they've actually resolved their differences or if they're just damned good actresses, but it was nice in the little scene with them at the Peach Pit, and they talked about the time spent apart and how they needed to be closer again. And, they were at the Peach Pit! How cool was that? OK, so it's a different one, but still, and it was great to see Nat. And then when they were at Kelly's house, and after Brenda offered to sit for her son while she went out, Kelly pointed out that Brenda had just gotten there. Brenda's response, with a coy little smile, was that she wasn't going anywhere. I *loved* that. I'm definitely looking forward to learning more about Kelly and Brandon and how their son came into being. Donna is supposed to be showing up sometime too, so we'll see how that goes.
One thing that this new show really makes me think of is a website that I stumbled upon at the time, and I have no memory of why or how I found it. It was later in the run of the show, probably 1996 or 1997. I had gotten a little tired of the show itself, but I was still watching it. And then I found Mediarama. And I found The 90210 Weekly Wrapup, written by Daniel Drennan. Oh.my.gosh. His synopses were hilarious. Yeah, they were recounts of what happened on the show, but they were completely injected with his humour and observations and commentary and random tangents. Even though the show itself wasn't that good anymore, I really looked forward to reading his reviews. He also would just randomly reference things, and I happened to be interested in some of the same things. For instance, when Lindsay Price appeared on the show, he kept referring to her as "An Li", and I knew exactly what he was referring to because she'd played that character on "All My Children". I definitely harkened back to that when I realized that James Patrick Stuart was playing Naomi's father, because he used to play "Will Cooney" on "All My Children". I loved Danny's writing so much that it led me to read a blog of his at the time called "New York Diaries". He had the same irreverent tone in writing about his adventures in New York. His writings were eventually published into a book, though I was disappointed that they were toned down so much - I guess that was the difference between being free to write how and what you wanted on a blog and what publishers and editors might demand. He is now apparently not happy with how the book turned out, but I still remember it as being a good read.
For the time being at least, I'm sticking with the show. The next show is supposed to have Kelly's mother in it - same actress! - and that looks to be good.
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