This episode takes place immediately after the end of the prior episode, when Annie and Naomi were arguing outside Annie's birthday party, and a guy walked up and introduced himself as Sean, Harry's and Tracy's son.
Annie brings Sean inside and introduces him to Henry and the rest of the family, who grill him on his past. Tracy arrives shortly thereafter and gushes over him.
Kelly gets Naomi and Annie into her office to try to resolve the bad blood between them, and Kelly says that friendships are a huge thing, and it's not worth ruining them by fighting over boys. Since I'd seen the previews of the episode and knew what Brenda was going to be telling Kelly later, I knew Kelly's little lecture was going to come back and bite her in the ass.
Since all of Naomi's group (including Adrianna) is with Annie and Ethan, Naomi looks for other people to hang out with. She sits down at a table of girls, either juniors or seniors, who are obviously incredibly full of themselves. They say they don't allow freshman to sit with them, but Naomi talks her way in by promising to get them reservations to an exclusive restaurant that they want to go to. She then hits up on Ozzie to get the reservation, since his family owns it.
Kelly catches up with Brenda after seeing her in a production of The Scottish Play, and Kelly says that Brenda hasn't returned any of her calls. Brenda says she's been really busy, and when they later meet for lunch, Brenda says that they don't really have anything in common anymore, so she's not sure there's any reason for them to continue to be friends, other than for purely nostalgic reasons. Kelly gets up and leaves.
Harry is supposed to be going to dinner with Tracy and Sean, and Debbie was going to stay home to give them time together, but Tabitha tells her a story that basically says that whatever Harry is involved in, Debbie should be involved in too. OK, so this is the second time Tabitha's actually been nice to Debbie. What gives? The dinner ends up going ok, with Tracy bragging about having taken Sean to this and that swanky place, and Debbie invites Sean to stay with them for a little while, that she can cook for him, and Harry wants Sean to come to a lacrosse game. Sean seems good with all that.
With Harry spending so much time with and worrying about Sean, including at lacrosse practice, Dixon is feeling very left out, especially when there had been an earlier discussion about how much Sean looked like Harry's family. Dixon has already expressed some insecurity about not being Harry's biological son.
Silver is at Annie's while Annie is trying to figure out what cute outfit she's going to wear to the lacrosse game. Annie realizes that she's changed, and that she's changed her focus, that she never cared about clothes and stuff before and how stupid was it to worry about what to wear to a lacrosse game. Silver says no one is making her be different if she doesn't want to. (Annie also noticed that Ethan was none too happy with her earlier when she was dissing Naomi's clothes at school.)
At the lacrosse game, Silver is there with Adrianna, but Ethan can't find Annie. Ozzie asks for payback from Naomi for getting her the best table at the restaurant, and he wants her to kiss their school mascot - a wildcat - in front of everyone. Naomi does it - and it's then revealed that Annie is actually in the mascot costume. Ethan is surprised to see her, and she says that's more her style, which Ethan is perfectly ok with. Naomi has cemented her in with the new group, so I guess we'll be seeing more of the vapid girls in episodes to come. Not really interested in that myself.
During the course of the game, Dixon's anger and frustration about Harry and Sean come through in his play, and he tells off Harry on the field. When Harry later confronts him, Dixon tells him what and how he's feeling about Sean, and Harry actually has a very nice conversation with Dixon.
Kelly gets a call and leaves for the hospital - it turns out Brenda fell off the stage and Kelly was still listed as a contact for her. Brenda jokes that she must have fallen off because she actually said the name of The Scottish Play (I loved that whole bit, btw). Brenda admits that she's been trying to distance herself from Kelly and pushing her away, and then she admits that she slept with Ryan. Kelly says not a word, takes her purse, and walks out. Deja vu all over again. See, I told you so.
The Wilson family have arrived back home, and everyone is settling in for the night. Harry and Debbie tell Sean where his room is, and as he heads there, he calls someone on the phone and says he's in. Hmmm, who did he call and what's up?
Showing posts with label 90210. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 90210. Show all posts
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
"90210" - October 28, 2008 and November 4, 2008 and November 11, 2008 episodes
October 28, 2008 episode
The homecoming dance is fast approaching, and Dixon asks Silver, but she says she's not interested in phony things like that, so Dixon feigns disinterest as well. Ethan also asks Annie, and the two agree to meet up "accidentally" at the dance. OK, don't people ask for dates to homecoming much more ahead of time than say, oh, THE DAY BEFORE like Dixon and Ethan did?
Adrianna is in rehab after having overdosed, and her pleas to Naomi apologizing and asking Naomi to call or visit go ignored. Adrianna does get a visitor, but it's Navid, whose phone Adrianna commandeers to text Naomi again. She then later asks Navid to bring Naomi to see her.
Meanwhile, Naomi invites Annie to her house where she and other girls will be preparing to attend homecoming together, and Annie accepts and then tells Ethan about it. Naomi then later sees them dancing together very closely. Naomi tells Annie that she wants to be her friend, and she knows she can't control who Ethan dates, but Naomi can't be her friend if Annie is dating Ethan. However, Annie can't stay away from Ethan.
Naomi gets detention for the rest of the year for her part in lying about Adrianna's drugs, and there, she meets mysterious Ozzie.
There's a whole thing about Annie taking her driver's license test.
Silver had her wisdom teeth taken out earlier that day, so Dixon is over taking care of her. When Annie calls to check on her, she ends up telling Silver that Dixon loves things like homecoming, so Silver arranges for them to go late and tells him not to be afraid to tell her the truth. OK, so I guess her drugs worked really well, because all her pain and loopiness went away pretty fast. OK, except when she flinched when he kissed her. But still.
When Tabitha wonders why Debbie is putting up with Tracy's shenanigans, she even ends up complimenting Debbie, much to Debbie's surprise. Debbie then decides she's been too nice and confronts Tracey with very pointed words and threats of bodily harm. That was funny.
Adrianna ends up crashing the dance to see Naomi. Naomi says it hurts too much to be her friend and have to watch what she's doing to herself, but after Naomi and Annie talk more about what being a friend means, Naomi helps Navid to intervene when Adrianna decides to go back to her drug dealer, and the two of them escort Adrianna back to rehab.
Ryan finds out that Kimberly is involved in drugs, and when he goes to Harry about it, they have to tell Ryan that Kimberly is an undercover office so Ryan won't make more of a fuss and blow her cover. After finding out she's not a student after all, Ryan doesn't have the dilemma of having feelings for a student and kisses her.
November 4, 2008 episode
Harry and Debbie tell Dixon and Annie about his other son, but he says he doesn't want it to affect them at all. They don't take the news well. Tracy has told Naomi too. Ethan and Annie decide that they will keep their dating quiet for the moment. Kimberly and Ryan definitely have to keep their dating a secret.
Because of Kelly's imminent return, Silver decides to enjoy her last nights in the house and decides to have a slumber party, inviting Annie, Adrianna and Naomi. The boys end up crashing the party, as do many other people, and a full-blown party ensues.
Ozzie shows up, and Naomi flirts with him a lot. Naomi also almost catches Ethan and Annie making out in a room, but Silver manages to run interference.
Navid and Adrianna are in another room making out, but since Navid paid for her rehab, she thinks he expects sex in return, which she is fine to oblige, but he's shocked and hurt when he realizes that's what she thinks he wants and expects. Adrianna finds Navid the next day at school and apologizes and explains that she's used to people using her. They reconcile and end up as a couple.
Annie ends up drinking way too much and gets sick, and when Harry is summoned to break up the party, he finds her in a bad way, and she tells him that she is affected by the news of his son and that she's mad at him, which he understands.
The next day, drug dealer George tells Ryan that he wants back on the lacrosse team and uses as blackmail his having seen Kimberly getting into Ryan's car during the party. So as not to blow Kimberly's cover, Harry puts Ryan on a paid leave of absence. Ryan gets all indignant, but really, it was a stupid thing to do. They weren't that far from the party. They didn't think someone coming out of the party might see them together?
Naomi is flirting with Ozzie again, but she's completely stunned when she ends up seeing Annie and Ethan kissing in a classroom.
When I first watched this episode on the night it was broadcast, the ending I thought happened was that Barack Obama was elected Student Body President of West Beverly Hills High School. This episode was broadcast on election night, and I was surprised they were going to show it, but I figured it was counterprogramming. But then, repeatedly during the show, they broke in to interrupt when the presidency was called for Obama, when McCain gave his concession speech, and then the entire end of the episode was scrapped when Obama gave his speech. OK, channel 5, if you were going to cover the election, why didn't you just pre-empt this episode or reschedule it for another night? And if you were going to go ahead with the show, why then interrupt parts of it for election news? Every.other.channel is covering the election, so if people want election coverage, they have billions of places to go. If in the midst of all that, people are actually watching this show, that means they don't want election coverage, so why are you breaking in and interrupting the show for election coverage? If they're watching your channel instead of the election coverage on the other channels, it means they actually want to watch this show. You could have just run a chyron to announce Obama's election or just aired the show as is. People were watching this channel for a reason. I had to watch the episode online to see everything that happened that I missed. I'm glad they at least have that available.
November 11, 2008 episode
George the drug dealer tells everyone about Ryan and Kimberly so the sordid rumours and tales fly. Kelly returns and is dismayed to hear about the rumours, moreso when Ryan can't clarify what's going on. Kimberly finally busts the lead drug dealer, and Kelly goes to Ryan to say that things will blow over, but Ryan says he's leaving for a while. When Kelly asks to see him when he returns, Kimberly shows up, and Kelly takes her leave, with Ryan and Kimberly kissing. Nope, Kelly, sorry, you had your chance. Dylan's still not available, but now, neither is Ryan. I guess that means Ryan and Kimberly are out of the show. I liked Ryan, but I couldn't stand Kimberly.
Annie had decided to tell Naomi about her and Ryan, but when Naomi plays up the drama in her life, Annie can't bear to, and Naomi just continues to play both Annie and Ethan, telling Ethan that Annie can't stop talking about her ex-boyfriend Jason. Naomi surreptiously invites and flies in Jason for Annie's sweet 16 party. She also arranges a dinner for Dixon and Silver and Ethan and her and Annie and Jason so they can all get to know Jason better, which makes Ethan and Annie really uncomfortable.
So for the entire episode, Naomi no longer has her curly hair but instead has straight hair, and no one comments on it! With her hair like that, she looks *so* much like Tracy.
Adrianna goes by Navid's house and ends up meeting his entire extended family, who are very welcoming to her. There's a bit of awkwardness when his mother asks how she is after rehab (and she asked nicely just as a matter-of-fact question), but Adrianna later tells Navid that the question was ok, especially since they paid for it, and she was happy that they treated her so nicely even though they knew about rehab the whole time. Navid was a bit embarassed about his family, but has he met Adrianna's mother? No wonder she likes his family so much! And who knew that he lived in such a mansion? Wow!
Annie finds out that Jason still wants to be with her, but she puts an end to that hope. At Annie's sweet 16 party, she and Ethan make up after their fight earlier, and Naomi sees them kissing again. Hurt that her plan to keep them apart didn't work, she then brings Jason over to see them, and she then takes him to bed, with Ethan and Annie walking in on them right in the middle. Naomi admits to having set up Annie the entire time, and the two of them are having it out with each other in front of the house (that was a great verbal catfight, btw) when they're interrupted by the arrival of Sean - who declares that he is Harry's and Tracy's son.
The homecoming dance is fast approaching, and Dixon asks Silver, but she says she's not interested in phony things like that, so Dixon feigns disinterest as well. Ethan also asks Annie, and the two agree to meet up "accidentally" at the dance. OK, don't people ask for dates to homecoming much more ahead of time than say, oh, THE DAY BEFORE like Dixon and Ethan did?
Adrianna is in rehab after having overdosed, and her pleas to Naomi apologizing and asking Naomi to call or visit go ignored. Adrianna does get a visitor, but it's Navid, whose phone Adrianna commandeers to text Naomi again. She then later asks Navid to bring Naomi to see her.
Meanwhile, Naomi invites Annie to her house where she and other girls will be preparing to attend homecoming together, and Annie accepts and then tells Ethan about it. Naomi then later sees them dancing together very closely. Naomi tells Annie that she wants to be her friend, and she knows she can't control who Ethan dates, but Naomi can't be her friend if Annie is dating Ethan. However, Annie can't stay away from Ethan.
Naomi gets detention for the rest of the year for her part in lying about Adrianna's drugs, and there, she meets mysterious Ozzie.
There's a whole thing about Annie taking her driver's license test.
Silver had her wisdom teeth taken out earlier that day, so Dixon is over taking care of her. When Annie calls to check on her, she ends up telling Silver that Dixon loves things like homecoming, so Silver arranges for them to go late and tells him not to be afraid to tell her the truth. OK, so I guess her drugs worked really well, because all her pain and loopiness went away pretty fast. OK, except when she flinched when he kissed her. But still.
When Tabitha wonders why Debbie is putting up with Tracy's shenanigans, she even ends up complimenting Debbie, much to Debbie's surprise. Debbie then decides she's been too nice and confronts Tracey with very pointed words and threats of bodily harm. That was funny.
Adrianna ends up crashing the dance to see Naomi. Naomi says it hurts too much to be her friend and have to watch what she's doing to herself, but after Naomi and Annie talk more about what being a friend means, Naomi helps Navid to intervene when Adrianna decides to go back to her drug dealer, and the two of them escort Adrianna back to rehab.
Ryan finds out that Kimberly is involved in drugs, and when he goes to Harry about it, they have to tell Ryan that Kimberly is an undercover office so Ryan won't make more of a fuss and blow her cover. After finding out she's not a student after all, Ryan doesn't have the dilemma of having feelings for a student and kisses her.
November 4, 2008 episode
Harry and Debbie tell Dixon and Annie about his other son, but he says he doesn't want it to affect them at all. They don't take the news well. Tracy has told Naomi too. Ethan and Annie decide that they will keep their dating quiet for the moment. Kimberly and Ryan definitely have to keep their dating a secret.
Because of Kelly's imminent return, Silver decides to enjoy her last nights in the house and decides to have a slumber party, inviting Annie, Adrianna and Naomi. The boys end up crashing the party, as do many other people, and a full-blown party ensues.
Ozzie shows up, and Naomi flirts with him a lot. Naomi also almost catches Ethan and Annie making out in a room, but Silver manages to run interference.
Navid and Adrianna are in another room making out, but since Navid paid for her rehab, she thinks he expects sex in return, which she is fine to oblige, but he's shocked and hurt when he realizes that's what she thinks he wants and expects. Adrianna finds Navid the next day at school and apologizes and explains that she's used to people using her. They reconcile and end up as a couple.
Annie ends up drinking way too much and gets sick, and when Harry is summoned to break up the party, he finds her in a bad way, and she tells him that she is affected by the news of his son and that she's mad at him, which he understands.
The next day, drug dealer George tells Ryan that he wants back on the lacrosse team and uses as blackmail his having seen Kimberly getting into Ryan's car during the party. So as not to blow Kimberly's cover, Harry puts Ryan on a paid leave of absence. Ryan gets all indignant, but really, it was a stupid thing to do. They weren't that far from the party. They didn't think someone coming out of the party might see them together?
Naomi is flirting with Ozzie again, but she's completely stunned when she ends up seeing Annie and Ethan kissing in a classroom.
When I first watched this episode on the night it was broadcast, the ending I thought happened was that Barack Obama was elected Student Body President of West Beverly Hills High School. This episode was broadcast on election night, and I was surprised they were going to show it, but I figured it was counterprogramming. But then, repeatedly during the show, they broke in to interrupt when the presidency was called for Obama, when McCain gave his concession speech, and then the entire end of the episode was scrapped when Obama gave his speech. OK, channel 5, if you were going to cover the election, why didn't you just pre-empt this episode or reschedule it for another night? And if you were going to go ahead with the show, why then interrupt parts of it for election news? Every.other.channel is covering the election, so if people want election coverage, they have billions of places to go. If in the midst of all that, people are actually watching this show, that means they don't want election coverage, so why are you breaking in and interrupting the show for election coverage? If they're watching your channel instead of the election coverage on the other channels, it means they actually want to watch this show. You could have just run a chyron to announce Obama's election or just aired the show as is. People were watching this channel for a reason. I had to watch the episode online to see everything that happened that I missed. I'm glad they at least have that available.
November 11, 2008 episode
George the drug dealer tells everyone about Ryan and Kimberly so the sordid rumours and tales fly. Kelly returns and is dismayed to hear about the rumours, moreso when Ryan can't clarify what's going on. Kimberly finally busts the lead drug dealer, and Kelly goes to Ryan to say that things will blow over, but Ryan says he's leaving for a while. When Kelly asks to see him when he returns, Kimberly shows up, and Kelly takes her leave, with Ryan and Kimberly kissing. Nope, Kelly, sorry, you had your chance. Dylan's still not available, but now, neither is Ryan. I guess that means Ryan and Kimberly are out of the show. I liked Ryan, but I couldn't stand Kimberly.
Annie had decided to tell Naomi about her and Ryan, but when Naomi plays up the drama in her life, Annie can't bear to, and Naomi just continues to play both Annie and Ethan, telling Ethan that Annie can't stop talking about her ex-boyfriend Jason. Naomi surreptiously invites and flies in Jason for Annie's sweet 16 party. She also arranges a dinner for Dixon and Silver and Ethan and her and Annie and Jason so they can all get to know Jason better, which makes Ethan and Annie really uncomfortable.
So for the entire episode, Naomi no longer has her curly hair but instead has straight hair, and no one comments on it! With her hair like that, she looks *so* much like Tracy.
Adrianna goes by Navid's house and ends up meeting his entire extended family, who are very welcoming to her. There's a bit of awkwardness when his mother asks how she is after rehab (and she asked nicely just as a matter-of-fact question), but Adrianna later tells Navid that the question was ok, especially since they paid for it, and she was happy that they treated her so nicely even though they knew about rehab the whole time. Navid was a bit embarassed about his family, but has he met Adrianna's mother? No wonder she likes his family so much! And who knew that he lived in such a mansion? Wow!
Annie finds out that Jason still wants to be with her, but she puts an end to that hope. At Annie's sweet 16 party, she and Ethan make up after their fight earlier, and Naomi sees them kissing again. Hurt that her plan to keep them apart didn't work, she then brings Jason over to see them, and she then takes him to bed, with Ethan and Annie walking in on them right in the middle. Naomi admits to having set up Annie the entire time, and the two of them are having it out with each other in front of the house (that was a great verbal catfight, btw) when they're interrupted by the arrival of Sean - who declares that he is Harry's and Tracy's son.
Monday, October 13, 2008
television show updates
This article has an update on the status of a couple different shows.
NBC has ordered a few more episodes of "Knight Rider". The show has been doing just ok, but they're hoping to give it a chance by having additional episodes.
CBS has also ordered more episodes of the new show "The Mentalist", which will make the husband happy because he's been enjoying that show.
The article also says that full seasons have already been ordered for "90210" (which I am watching, so I'm happy about that) and "Fringe" (which I gave up on, so I don't care).
NBC has ordered a few more episodes of "Knight Rider". The show has been doing just ok, but they're hoping to give it a chance by having additional episodes.
CBS has also ordered more episodes of the new show "The Mentalist", which will make the husband happy because he's been enjoying that show.
The article also says that full seasons have already been ordered for "90210" (which I am watching, so I'm happy about that) and "Fringe" (which I gave up on, so I don't care).
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
"90210" - October 7, 2008 episode
Annie and Ethan are in a class together where students are paired up to take care of a baby. They're paired up as a married couple with her being a lawyer and him as a stay-at-home dad. The two share the task of taking care of their baby, and the interaction draws them closer, leading to an almost-kiss. OK, so what's up with Ty?
At one point, Annie couldn't find the baby and finally found it underneath her jeans in a corner of the bathroom. How funny was Debbie's line of "Nobody puts baby in the corner"?!
Tracy (Naomi's mother) talks to Harry and tells him that she wants to hire a private investigator to look for their son that she gave up for adoption. Harry talks to Debbie and they agree that going to the adoption agency and filling out paperwork so that if the son wants to find them, he can, is a good idea. However, when Harry goes back to talk to Tracy, she has already hired a private eye. She says that Harry might still be getting used to the idea, but she's been thinking about their son since she was 19. When Harry gives her a comforting hug, she misinterprets the gesture and kisses him, but he pulls away. He later tells Debbie, which infuriates her, and both wish that Tracy wasn't in their lives, but the existence of the joint son makes that impossible. So Tracy going after Harry for real finally begins.
Silver is celebrating a half-birthday, and she gets a bunch of people to attend a screening of "Psycho" at Hollywood Forever. Dixon isn't really into horror movies, so she tries to show him the ones she really loves, but it's not really taking. He does try to take an interest in things that interest her. You would *never* catch me agreeing to see a movie in a cemetery. No.way.
Naomi sees Adrianna and says that she hasn't talked to her in a long time. Adrianna says that she's been really busy with auditions and stuff, and Naomi fills her in on all the bad things happening in her life. The two reaffirm their BFF status by switching the matching necklaces that they're wearing. Adrianna has the audition for the slasher movie that afternoon, and she and Naomi arrange to meet afterward to hang out. Adrianna gets the part but ends up celebrating by doing coke with her other friends, standing up Naomi instead. When Naomi confronts her the next day at school, Naomi is really worried, moreso when she sees a telltale lipstick container. It seems that Naomi was the one who introduced Adrianna to "c&c" - coke and champagne - and the lipstick container was what Naomi used to hold the coke. She's appalled that Adrianna has it and is still using. At that moment, drug-sniffing dogs enter the school, and Adrianna panics that if she gets caught, she will be suspended or expelled and will lose her movie. Naomi takes the lipstick container from her, runs to the bathroom, and dumps out the contents, but she's caught with the container, which still has residuals of the coke. She's taken to jail, and she thought her father would be able to get her out of the mess, but he says he can't. Annie had seen Naomi take the container from Adrianna, and she and Ethan implore Adrianna to tell the truth and bail Naomi out. When Adrianna later goes to see Naomi, Naomi also asks her to fess up, which Adrianna agrees to do. She goes home to break it to her mom first, but her mother reveals that they were about to lose the house, but now that Adrianna's gotten the part, everything's going to be fine. OK, one slasher film can't pay all that well - that's going to save the house? Doesn't the mom work? Naomi and her father meet with a lawyer, and Naomi keeps telling them that Adrianna is going to show up and explain everything, but Adrianna never does. Naomi then leaves a scathing voicemail for Adrianna, telling her that she's dead to Naomi. Unbeknownst to Naomi, Adrianna has overdosed and is being treated by paramedics and her condition is unknown.
There's this new girl in Annie's class named Kimberly, but she's really a bitch and rubs everyone the wrong way. It turns out that she's actually an undercover police office with the narcotics division to try to bust the drug ring in school, and Harry is aware of her real identity.
What was up with the striped shirts that looked like referee-wear? There were a couple scenes where 3 or 4 people were wearing shirts like that.
At one point, Annie couldn't find the baby and finally found it underneath her jeans in a corner of the bathroom. How funny was Debbie's line of "Nobody puts baby in the corner"?!
Tracy (Naomi's mother) talks to Harry and tells him that she wants to hire a private investigator to look for their son that she gave up for adoption. Harry talks to Debbie and they agree that going to the adoption agency and filling out paperwork so that if the son wants to find them, he can, is a good idea. However, when Harry goes back to talk to Tracy, she has already hired a private eye. She says that Harry might still be getting used to the idea, but she's been thinking about their son since she was 19. When Harry gives her a comforting hug, she misinterprets the gesture and kisses him, but he pulls away. He later tells Debbie, which infuriates her, and both wish that Tracy wasn't in their lives, but the existence of the joint son makes that impossible. So Tracy going after Harry for real finally begins.
Silver is celebrating a half-birthday, and she gets a bunch of people to attend a screening of "Psycho" at Hollywood Forever. Dixon isn't really into horror movies, so she tries to show him the ones she really loves, but it's not really taking. He does try to take an interest in things that interest her. You would *never* catch me agreeing to see a movie in a cemetery. No.way.
Naomi sees Adrianna and says that she hasn't talked to her in a long time. Adrianna says that she's been really busy with auditions and stuff, and Naomi fills her in on all the bad things happening in her life. The two reaffirm their BFF status by switching the matching necklaces that they're wearing. Adrianna has the audition for the slasher movie that afternoon, and she and Naomi arrange to meet afterward to hang out. Adrianna gets the part but ends up celebrating by doing coke with her other friends, standing up Naomi instead. When Naomi confronts her the next day at school, Naomi is really worried, moreso when she sees a telltale lipstick container. It seems that Naomi was the one who introduced Adrianna to "c&c" - coke and champagne - and the lipstick container was what Naomi used to hold the coke. She's appalled that Adrianna has it and is still using. At that moment, drug-sniffing dogs enter the school, and Adrianna panics that if she gets caught, she will be suspended or expelled and will lose her movie. Naomi takes the lipstick container from her, runs to the bathroom, and dumps out the contents, but she's caught with the container, which still has residuals of the coke. She's taken to jail, and she thought her father would be able to get her out of the mess, but he says he can't. Annie had seen Naomi take the container from Adrianna, and she and Ethan implore Adrianna to tell the truth and bail Naomi out. When Adrianna later goes to see Naomi, Naomi also asks her to fess up, which Adrianna agrees to do. She goes home to break it to her mom first, but her mother reveals that they were about to lose the house, but now that Adrianna's gotten the part, everything's going to be fine. OK, one slasher film can't pay all that well - that's going to save the house? Doesn't the mom work? Naomi and her father meet with a lawyer, and Naomi keeps telling them that Adrianna is going to show up and explain everything, but Adrianna never does. Naomi then leaves a scathing voicemail for Adrianna, telling her that she's dead to Naomi. Unbeknownst to Naomi, Adrianna has overdosed and is being treated by paramedics and her condition is unknown.
There's this new girl in Annie's class named Kimberly, but she's really a bitch and rubs everyone the wrong way. It turns out that she's actually an undercover police office with the narcotics division to try to bust the drug ring in school, and Harry is aware of her real identity.
What was up with the striped shirts that looked like referee-wear? There were a couple scenes where 3 or 4 people were wearing shirts like that.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
"90210" - September 30, 2008 episode
Ryan, Kelly, Brenda and Harry are gathered in Harry's office with Adrianna and her mother, and they express concern over Adrianna's behaviour, but her overbearing stage mother is in denial and insists that Adrianna is fine.
While Ryan is trying to get Kelly to have dinner with him that night, Brenda gets a phone call - and it's from Dylan, who then apparently asks to speak to Kelly. I was wondering why Dylan was calling Brenda if he wanted to talk to Kelly? Well, lo and behold, they actually addressed that issue later when Ryan asks Kelly the same thing, a question which unnerves Kelly. Kelly asks Brenda if anything is happening with her and Dylan, and Brenda says no, that she just doesn't want to see Kelly hurt. Later, alone in her car, Brenda deletes Dylan's number from her phone. I'm not quite sure what that means, whether anything was actually going on with them, or whether Brenda was hoping so or what the deal was. Oh, and when she was scrolling through her phone book for Dylan, I stopped the frame to see if I recognized any of the other names on her list. Nope.
Debbie has apparently been working as a photographer's assistant, but she gets a shot at being an actual photographer and is good enough at a photo shoot to actually shoot a fashion show. Annie and Dixon are going to help her out, but Ryan gets Annie to reluctantly agree to let Adrianna help as well. There ends up being someone there who saw Annie's performance in "Spring Awakenings" who is producing a slasher-type movie, and she wants Annie to go in and read for it. Annie manages to wrangle an invite to read for Adrianna as well. In appreciation, Adrianna tells Annie the truth that nothing happened with Ty and that Ty wasn't even there that night in the hotel room when Annie arrived. Annie is furious because she had earlier told Ty that she never wanted to speak to him again. Later that night, she is surprised at Ty's arrival, who says that he got a text from Adrianna, explaining about the other night. The two decide to remain friends.
Naomi arranges to have dinner with her father and Gail and lets it slip that her father and mother had sex recently, which upsets Gail. Naomi then tries to get her mother and father together at the fashion show by letting her father see how hot her mother looks and how other men are interested, but the move backfires when her father is adamant that the marriage is over and that he's with Gail now. Later, Naomi laments to Ethan that she wishes things could go back to the way things were before, but she realizes they can't, and she also realizes that goes for her and Ethan as well, and both of them decide that it's really over between them. I'm a little tired of Naomi mooning over her parents, so I hope she goes back to being the bitch at school - she's a lot more fun and interesting that way.
Silver had been reluctant to go to the fashion show because she's against that sort of thing, but she ended up agreeing to go with Dixon. She's hit on by one of the clients of the photographer that Debbie works for, who tells Silver that she should be a model, and that they should go back to his place and discuss her career in the jacuzzi. Her protestations and disgust that she's underage don't seem to phase him, but when Dixon intervenes, he bristles. Debbie steps in as well, but then the guy makes some reference to Dixon as the Compton boy, at which point you know Dixon has to deck him, which he promptly does, and the guy tells Debbie's boss that he's just lost a client. Debbie is fearful that her boss will fire her, but he says he understands and that they don't need to work for a jerk like that, and he doesn't want to lose someone as talented as Debbie.
When Silver returns home, she finds bags packed, and Kelly tells her that she and Sam are going to see Dylan for a couple of weeks, and hopefully, she'll be able to figure out if things will work out or if she'll finally get Dylan out of her system. (I'm thinking she's better off without him - I mean, Dylan was already recently a bad guy on "Law and Order: SVU" and it looks like he's also going to be a bad guy on "Criminal Minds". He has no business being around an innocent little four-year-old.) Silver is reluctant to stay with her father for the time that Kelly is gone, and Kelly doesn't want her to go back to her mother, so Kelly agrees to let Silver stay at her house. You know shenanigans are going to happen, and they will probably involve at least Dixon, since she and he are getting hotter and heavier.
Meanwhile, Brenda and Ryan were working the fashion show and end up leaving together. Are Brenda and Kelly going to end up sharing yet another man?
While Ryan is trying to get Kelly to have dinner with him that night, Brenda gets a phone call - and it's from Dylan, who then apparently asks to speak to Kelly. I was wondering why Dylan was calling Brenda if he wanted to talk to Kelly? Well, lo and behold, they actually addressed that issue later when Ryan asks Kelly the same thing, a question which unnerves Kelly. Kelly asks Brenda if anything is happening with her and Dylan, and Brenda says no, that she just doesn't want to see Kelly hurt. Later, alone in her car, Brenda deletes Dylan's number from her phone. I'm not quite sure what that means, whether anything was actually going on with them, or whether Brenda was hoping so or what the deal was. Oh, and when she was scrolling through her phone book for Dylan, I stopped the frame to see if I recognized any of the other names on her list. Nope.
Debbie has apparently been working as a photographer's assistant, but she gets a shot at being an actual photographer and is good enough at a photo shoot to actually shoot a fashion show. Annie and Dixon are going to help her out, but Ryan gets Annie to reluctantly agree to let Adrianna help as well. There ends up being someone there who saw Annie's performance in "Spring Awakenings" who is producing a slasher-type movie, and she wants Annie to go in and read for it. Annie manages to wrangle an invite to read for Adrianna as well. In appreciation, Adrianna tells Annie the truth that nothing happened with Ty and that Ty wasn't even there that night in the hotel room when Annie arrived. Annie is furious because she had earlier told Ty that she never wanted to speak to him again. Later that night, she is surprised at Ty's arrival, who says that he got a text from Adrianna, explaining about the other night. The two decide to remain friends.
Naomi arranges to have dinner with her father and Gail and lets it slip that her father and mother had sex recently, which upsets Gail. Naomi then tries to get her mother and father together at the fashion show by letting her father see how hot her mother looks and how other men are interested, but the move backfires when her father is adamant that the marriage is over and that he's with Gail now. Later, Naomi laments to Ethan that she wishes things could go back to the way things were before, but she realizes they can't, and she also realizes that goes for her and Ethan as well, and both of them decide that it's really over between them. I'm a little tired of Naomi mooning over her parents, so I hope she goes back to being the bitch at school - she's a lot more fun and interesting that way.
Silver had been reluctant to go to the fashion show because she's against that sort of thing, but she ended up agreeing to go with Dixon. She's hit on by one of the clients of the photographer that Debbie works for, who tells Silver that she should be a model, and that they should go back to his place and discuss her career in the jacuzzi. Her protestations and disgust that she's underage don't seem to phase him, but when Dixon intervenes, he bristles. Debbie steps in as well, but then the guy makes some reference to Dixon as the Compton boy, at which point you know Dixon has to deck him, which he promptly does, and the guy tells Debbie's boss that he's just lost a client. Debbie is fearful that her boss will fire her, but he says he understands and that they don't need to work for a jerk like that, and he doesn't want to lose someone as talented as Debbie.
When Silver returns home, she finds bags packed, and Kelly tells her that she and Sam are going to see Dylan for a couple of weeks, and hopefully, she'll be able to figure out if things will work out or if she'll finally get Dylan out of her system. (I'm thinking she's better off without him - I mean, Dylan was already recently a bad guy on "Law and Order: SVU" and it looks like he's also going to be a bad guy on "Criminal Minds". He has no business being around an innocent little four-year-old.) Silver is reluctant to stay with her father for the time that Kelly is gone, and Kelly doesn't want her to go back to her mother, so Kelly agrees to let Silver stay at her house. You know shenanigans are going to happen, and they will probably involve at least Dixon, since she and he are getting hotter and heavier.
Meanwhile, Brenda and Ryan were working the fashion show and end up leaving together. Are Brenda and Kelly going to end up sharing yet another man?
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
"90210" - September 23, 2008 episode
Annie is the understudy for Adrianna, and she's been filling in for Adrianna a lot because Adrianna has been missing rehearsal. Adrianna even misses the first part of the dress rehearsal, but when she finally shows up, Brenda works with her and hears how amazingly she sings and acts. However, Brenda can see that she's troubled, and she brings it to the attention of Kelly and Ryan. They both suggest taking Adrianna out of the show, but Brenda says she thinks it's the only thing she's hanging onto. Shortly before the show, Brenda ends up meeting Adrianna's very pushy mother who is the epitome of a stage mom. She tells Adrianna that she has agents and talent scouts in the audience, and she just has to be good. Yeah, no pressure or anything. 10 minutes before showtime, stage manager Silver can't find Adrianna, but she's apparently resting on the couch in the makeup room. It's obvious that she's loaded though, and Brenda makes the difficult decision to not let her go on, so Annie is called to go on in her place instead. Harry, Debbie and Tabitha (and Ethan) are happy to see Annie in the lead, but Kelly is concerned about Adrianna, so she goes looking for her. After talking to Brenda, she finds Adrianna and ends up having a confrontation with Adrianna's mother, who is livid that Adrianna is not in the show and refuses to listen when Kelly says that Brenda thinks Adrianna might be doing drugs.
During the dinner break at the dress rehearsal, Annie is mortified when Harry catches her and Ty making out backstage, but Harry is even more rattled. He goes home and tells Debbie, and he wants to talk to Annie, but Debbie says it's more of a mother's job. When Annie gets home, Debbie tries to talk to her, but Annie is reluctant. Debbie just tells her to make sure she knows what she's doing. Ty tells Annie that he's gotten a room at the Roosevelt Hotel, where the after-party is being held, which surprises Annie, but she covers. After an incredibly successful show, she decides she's ready to give her virginity to Ty, and she tracks down Dixon to ask him for the condom he's been carrying around in his wallet for 4 years. OK, do brothers and sisters really talk about that sort of thing, so that the sister would know the brother keeps a condom in his wallet? I mean, I have siblings, but that just seems like an odd topic. And to actually *ask* him for it, which means he obviously knows what you need it for. And, not to mention, FOUR YEARS? I thought they told us in health class that they don't really keep for that long, especially in a wallet where it's subjected to heat, so the integrity of the condom isn't really going to be good anyway.
Annie makes her way to Ty's room (though I'm wondering how she knew what room he was in), but she is surprised when Adrianna opens the door dressed only in a towel. When Annie says she was looking for Ty, Adrianna says she has the right room and invites her in. She says Ty is in the shower "rinsing off" and asks if Ty asked Annie to his room too and further wonders how many other girls he asked there. When Adrianna offers to get Ty, Annie declines and runs out, visibly upset. (Naomi had previously mentioned that Ty was a player and that since Annie and Ty were at least friends, Annie should see what other benefits came with them. She also mentioned that she and Ethan pretty much had sex almost immediately.) Adrianna goes into the restroom and pulls back the shower curtain - revealing the water falling on an empty shower. Adrianna had overheard Ty and Annie talking about the room earlier, and she had seen Ty on the balcony of the room, so she had gone to his room. He had said that he was waiting for Annie, but Adrianna had lied that she saw Annie leave with Ethan and that they were making out. Apparently, Ty left after that, which enabled Adrianna to pull off the rest of her charade.
Harry and Debbie are surprised when Annie returns home so early, but she says the party was too loud and she was more tired than she thought, so she is just going to go to her room and go to bed. Harry and Debbie can sense that something is wrong, but they let her go. Annie goes into her room and manages to shut the door before crumbling into tears. So now, both Annie and Ty think the other is messing with Ethan and Adrianna respectively, so that's gonna be a huge mess to work out.
Meanwhile, Naomi berates her mother Tracy since Tracy has been lethargic and depressed for the past week. Naomi's father has apparently moved out and into the beachhouse with Gail, so Naomi says she's going to call him to come help them. But when he arrives, Tracy is all made up again. Later, Naomi is hopeful that her parents will get back together, so she is shocked when she finds her mother gathering all of her father's things to give away. Tracy says she told him to choose between her and Gail, and he said he couldn't, so she made the choice for him. She tells Naomi that they're getting divorced, but that she and Naomi will be ok. So does this mean that Tracy is really going to go after Harry now? Their son was finally mentioned again (Harry and Debbie were talking, with Harry concerned about Annie's budding relationship with Ty, and Debbie telling him that he can't let his past [his mistakes, he said] affect how he is going to treat Annie. Debbie actually had a really good line about how their job is to lead their kids to the right path, but ultimately, the kids have to choose the path for themselves.), so maybe more will come of that soon.
Silver and Dixon are definitely an item now, having shared their first kiss and make-out session. Dixon laments the fact that he's had the condom for so long and on this night, he doesn't have it, but Silver makes it clear that they weren't going to have sex anyway. Just a clothed romp, I guess.
When Kelly, Harry and Ryan arrived at the auditorium to watch the dress rehearsal, they were talking about other musicals, and "Mamma Mia" was brought up. Kelly said she loved it and had seen it twice on Broadway. Yeah, Kelly! Harry made some disparaging comment about the show. Boo, Harry. Kansas people suck.
In a few scenes, but most noticeable to me in the scene where Brenda is talking to Kelly and Ryan about Adrianna, Brenda's eyes were just so incredibly dark, like she was a raccoon or something. It really bothered me because it looked weird. She just seemed to have on so much really dark eye shadow. Was that supposed to be more dramatic?
During the dinner break at the dress rehearsal, Annie is mortified when Harry catches her and Ty making out backstage, but Harry is even more rattled. He goes home and tells Debbie, and he wants to talk to Annie, but Debbie says it's more of a mother's job. When Annie gets home, Debbie tries to talk to her, but Annie is reluctant. Debbie just tells her to make sure she knows what she's doing. Ty tells Annie that he's gotten a room at the Roosevelt Hotel, where the after-party is being held, which surprises Annie, but she covers. After an incredibly successful show, she decides she's ready to give her virginity to Ty, and she tracks down Dixon to ask him for the condom he's been carrying around in his wallet for 4 years. OK, do brothers and sisters really talk about that sort of thing, so that the sister would know the brother keeps a condom in his wallet? I mean, I have siblings, but that just seems like an odd topic. And to actually *ask* him for it, which means he obviously knows what you need it for. And, not to mention, FOUR YEARS? I thought they told us in health class that they don't really keep for that long, especially in a wallet where it's subjected to heat, so the integrity of the condom isn't really going to be good anyway.
Annie makes her way to Ty's room (though I'm wondering how she knew what room he was in), but she is surprised when Adrianna opens the door dressed only in a towel. When Annie says she was looking for Ty, Adrianna says she has the right room and invites her in. She says Ty is in the shower "rinsing off" and asks if Ty asked Annie to his room too and further wonders how many other girls he asked there. When Adrianna offers to get Ty, Annie declines and runs out, visibly upset. (Naomi had previously mentioned that Ty was a player and that since Annie and Ty were at least friends, Annie should see what other benefits came with them. She also mentioned that she and Ethan pretty much had sex almost immediately.) Adrianna goes into the restroom and pulls back the shower curtain - revealing the water falling on an empty shower. Adrianna had overheard Ty and Annie talking about the room earlier, and she had seen Ty on the balcony of the room, so she had gone to his room. He had said that he was waiting for Annie, but Adrianna had lied that she saw Annie leave with Ethan and that they were making out. Apparently, Ty left after that, which enabled Adrianna to pull off the rest of her charade.
Harry and Debbie are surprised when Annie returns home so early, but she says the party was too loud and she was more tired than she thought, so she is just going to go to her room and go to bed. Harry and Debbie can sense that something is wrong, but they let her go. Annie goes into her room and manages to shut the door before crumbling into tears. So now, both Annie and Ty think the other is messing with Ethan and Adrianna respectively, so that's gonna be a huge mess to work out.
Meanwhile, Naomi berates her mother Tracy since Tracy has been lethargic and depressed for the past week. Naomi's father has apparently moved out and into the beachhouse with Gail, so Naomi says she's going to call him to come help them. But when he arrives, Tracy is all made up again. Later, Naomi is hopeful that her parents will get back together, so she is shocked when she finds her mother gathering all of her father's things to give away. Tracy says she told him to choose between her and Gail, and he said he couldn't, so she made the choice for him. She tells Naomi that they're getting divorced, but that she and Naomi will be ok. So does this mean that Tracy is really going to go after Harry now? Their son was finally mentioned again (Harry and Debbie were talking, with Harry concerned about Annie's budding relationship with Ty, and Debbie telling him that he can't let his past [his mistakes, he said] affect how he is going to treat Annie. Debbie actually had a really good line about how their job is to lead their kids to the right path, but ultimately, the kids have to choose the path for themselves.), so maybe more will come of that soon.
Silver and Dixon are definitely an item now, having shared their first kiss and make-out session. Dixon laments the fact that he's had the condom for so long and on this night, he doesn't have it, but Silver makes it clear that they weren't going to have sex anyway. Just a clothed romp, I guess.
When Kelly, Harry and Ryan arrived at the auditorium to watch the dress rehearsal, they were talking about other musicals, and "Mamma Mia" was brought up. Kelly said she loved it and had seen it twice on Broadway. Yeah, Kelly! Harry made some disparaging comment about the show. Boo, Harry. Kansas people suck.
In a few scenes, but most noticeable to me in the scene where Brenda is talking to Kelly and Ryan about Adrianna, Brenda's eyes were just so incredibly dark, like she was a raccoon or something. It really bothered me because it looked weird. She just seemed to have on so much really dark eye shadow. Was that supposed to be more dramatic?
Saturday, September 20, 2008
"90210" - September 16, 2008 episode
Annie is upset to hear from Harry that her drama teacher had to leave because of an emergency, so there's now a chance that the musical will be cancelled if he can't find someone to take over. His mother Tabitha takes that as a cue and volunteers to be the new director of the musical. You know that's going to be a bad idea. Tabitha ends up being a horrible director, and Annie pleads with her father to get someone else. Harry asks Kelly if she knows anyone, and after Kelly says she does, Harry later ends up introducing Brenda to Tabitha, telling his mother that Brenda will be her assistant, a development that doesn't please Tabitha in the least. Brenda praises Tabitha for a performance of "Hedda Gabler" that she'd seen her in and mentions that she's played the part herself. OK, I happen to really like "Hedda Gabler", and I'll agree that it's a fabulous part for a woman, but I think Brenda would have been entirely too young to play that role. During a rehearsal, Brenda sees that Tabitha is riding Annie entirely too much, and she was taping the rehearsal, so she shows Tabitha the tape under the pretense of showing her which girls need work in what areas. But in the process, Tabitha sees what a shrew she was being and makes up an excuse to bow out, but she tells Annie that Annie is very talented and that they're in good hands with Brenda.
Kelly and Brenda meet for breakfast at the school, and Brenda is reminded of old times. Kelly asks about Donna, and Brenda says she saw her recently and that she has an adorable baby. Nice nod to Tori Spelling. Speaking of which, I hadn't heard the updated story that despite earlier reports about Donna's inclusion in the new series, Tori won't be in the show after all. There is apparently some kind of dispute about salary, and Jennie Garth seems disappointed in Tori's non-return, but Shannen has a slightly different take. I was curious about Donna, but for my money, I'd rather have Kelly and Brenda.
Brenda wants to know what's going on with Kelly and Ryan, but Kelly isn't sure, and she's a little bothered that Ryan is 10 years younger than her. Brenda asks about Sam's father, but Kelly says he doesn't need to know anything about this. Later, Brenda and Ryan are talking about the musical, and Ryan asks Brenda about the father of Kelly's son. Brenda says she's not comfortable talking about Kelly's private life and that Ryan should talk to Kelly herself. When Ryan pushes, Brenda says there's a lot of history. Ryan then later tells Kelly that he's concerned about her unwillingness to talk about Sam's father and mentions that he talked to Brenda. Ummm, yeah, Ryan, wrong thing to say. Kelly catches up to Brenda to ask what she said to Ryan, and she says she didn't say much but that Kelly needs to get her story straight. Brenda says that Kelly is going to find it hard to move on with anyone else because she's still in love with Sam's father, Dylan. OK, I had it in my head that Brandon was the father, but now I'm second-guessing whether Kelly and Brandon had a thing. I thought they did. Am I mis-remembering? It's been too long.
Meanwhile, Naomi is having a difficult time adjusting to the facade of a family that she discovers she has. She doesn't see how her mother can be so non-chalant about her father's affair with Gail, but her mother says it's just a fling and doesn't mean anything. She's even more irritated when they have a photo shoot for their family Christmas picture, but her sister Jen isn't there and will be photo-shopped into the picture. (So they show the picture later, and it's just a picture of the three of them, perfectly centered in the frame. So where's the sister, and how would you photo-shop her in since it would throw off the balance of the picture? Did they use the wrong picture for that shot?) Naomi thanks Ethan for his support when she was freaking out, but Ethan tries to keep a distance between them to just be friends. Naomi had been told by her mother that Gail lives in another state, but Naomi discovers she's actually in town, and she goes over to Ethan's to talk to him about it. Ethan is giving his mother a break and minding his adult autistic brother Steven, who is a little disconcerted because the furniture had been moved by cleaners, but Naomi is able to calm him down, which impresses Ethan. Naomi wants to confront Gail and asks Ethan to accompany her for moral support, and Ethan agrees. Ethan waits in the car while Naomi goes into the boutique and tells Gail to leave her father and her family alone. Gail says she can't help herself because she's in love with him, and she has just moved to town to be closer to him. Naomi is appalled when she sees some of Gail's moving boxes and realizes that her father has moved Gail into the family beach house. She tells her mother, who realizes that it's not just a meaningless fling after all.
The triangle-plus-one is setting itself up quite well. Ethan asks Annie out on a date of sorts, to meet at the Peach Pit on Thursday afternoon, which Annie accepts. Immediately after, though, Ty asks her to go to a concert, but she has to turn him down and admit that she's meeting someone else, news that he doesn't take well. When Silver hears that Annie is meeting up with Ethan, she warns her against it. Annie claims that Ethan and Naomi are over, but Silver says they're never over, that they're an impenetrable bubble. Annie finds out that Silver knows exactly what she's talking about when she is stood up by Ethan (when he went with Naomi when Naomi confronted Gail), and she doesn't want to hear the explanation when Ethan sees her at school the next day. She realizes that she made a mistake in blowing off Ty (even though he did leave her at the bowling alley to go to the pier concert), but he's cold to her efforts when she apologizes. He is unimpressed with the snickerdoodles that she baked for him, but he reacts much better when she plants a kiss on him. Meanwhile, after having watched video of herself and Ethan in happier times, Naomi decides she wants to try again with Ethan, who is receptive to the idea.
Dixon has problems of his own when he's driving his father's car and accidentally breaks the side mirror of a fellow student's very expensive car when he makes a mistake in parking the car. Having overheard his parents discussing their difficulty in selling the house in Kansas, he doesn't want to further burden them, so he convinces the student to leave the insurance company out of it and agree to just let him pay cash to take care of the problem. Dixon gets a job at the Peach Pit to make the $500 that he needs, but he doesn't tell his parents why he has the job, using girls and having nice things as his reasons instead. Harry says he can keep the job as long as it doesn't interfere with school and lacrosse, but the hours spent at work take a toll on his schoolwork, and he gets an incomplete on a test in English class. Harry finds out about it and questions the number of hours that Dixon is working at his job, and Dixon finally admits why he needs the job. Harry says he'll take care of the money needed for the repair and Dixon can just pay him back gradually.
Naomi had previously pleaded with Silver not to mention her father's affair on Silver's video blog, but Silver said Naomi told everyone about her parents, so why shouldn't she do the same. Naomi apologized again for doing that, saying it was awful and that she understood now what Silver went through. In the end, Silver takes to heart Dixon's off-handed comment about boys not holding grudges because life was too short, and she tells Naomi that she won't mention her father's affair on the blog, for which Naomi thanks her. A cease fire to the war seems to have been declared.
Silver and Dixon seem headed for a relationship.
Kelly and Brenda meet for breakfast at the school, and Brenda is reminded of old times. Kelly asks about Donna, and Brenda says she saw her recently and that she has an adorable baby. Nice nod to Tori Spelling. Speaking of which, I hadn't heard the updated story that despite earlier reports about Donna's inclusion in the new series, Tori won't be in the show after all. There is apparently some kind of dispute about salary, and Jennie Garth seems disappointed in Tori's non-return, but Shannen has a slightly different take. I was curious about Donna, but for my money, I'd rather have Kelly and Brenda.
Brenda wants to know what's going on with Kelly and Ryan, but Kelly isn't sure, and she's a little bothered that Ryan is 10 years younger than her. Brenda asks about Sam's father, but Kelly says he doesn't need to know anything about this. Later, Brenda and Ryan are talking about the musical, and Ryan asks Brenda about the father of Kelly's son. Brenda says she's not comfortable talking about Kelly's private life and that Ryan should talk to Kelly herself. When Ryan pushes, Brenda says there's a lot of history. Ryan then later tells Kelly that he's concerned about her unwillingness to talk about Sam's father and mentions that he talked to Brenda. Ummm, yeah, Ryan, wrong thing to say. Kelly catches up to Brenda to ask what she said to Ryan, and she says she didn't say much but that Kelly needs to get her story straight. Brenda says that Kelly is going to find it hard to move on with anyone else because she's still in love with Sam's father, Dylan. OK, I had it in my head that Brandon was the father, but now I'm second-guessing whether Kelly and Brandon had a thing. I thought they did. Am I mis-remembering? It's been too long.
Meanwhile, Naomi is having a difficult time adjusting to the facade of a family that she discovers she has. She doesn't see how her mother can be so non-chalant about her father's affair with Gail, but her mother says it's just a fling and doesn't mean anything. She's even more irritated when they have a photo shoot for their family Christmas picture, but her sister Jen isn't there and will be photo-shopped into the picture. (So they show the picture later, and it's just a picture of the three of them, perfectly centered in the frame. So where's the sister, and how would you photo-shop her in since it would throw off the balance of the picture? Did they use the wrong picture for that shot?) Naomi thanks Ethan for his support when she was freaking out, but Ethan tries to keep a distance between them to just be friends. Naomi had been told by her mother that Gail lives in another state, but Naomi discovers she's actually in town, and she goes over to Ethan's to talk to him about it. Ethan is giving his mother a break and minding his adult autistic brother Steven, who is a little disconcerted because the furniture had been moved by cleaners, but Naomi is able to calm him down, which impresses Ethan. Naomi wants to confront Gail and asks Ethan to accompany her for moral support, and Ethan agrees. Ethan waits in the car while Naomi goes into the boutique and tells Gail to leave her father and her family alone. Gail says she can't help herself because she's in love with him, and she has just moved to town to be closer to him. Naomi is appalled when she sees some of Gail's moving boxes and realizes that her father has moved Gail into the family beach house. She tells her mother, who realizes that it's not just a meaningless fling after all.
The triangle-plus-one is setting itself up quite well. Ethan asks Annie out on a date of sorts, to meet at the Peach Pit on Thursday afternoon, which Annie accepts. Immediately after, though, Ty asks her to go to a concert, but she has to turn him down and admit that she's meeting someone else, news that he doesn't take well. When Silver hears that Annie is meeting up with Ethan, she warns her against it. Annie claims that Ethan and Naomi are over, but Silver says they're never over, that they're an impenetrable bubble. Annie finds out that Silver knows exactly what she's talking about when she is stood up by Ethan (when he went with Naomi when Naomi confronted Gail), and she doesn't want to hear the explanation when Ethan sees her at school the next day. She realizes that she made a mistake in blowing off Ty (even though he did leave her at the bowling alley to go to the pier concert), but he's cold to her efforts when she apologizes. He is unimpressed with the snickerdoodles that she baked for him, but he reacts much better when she plants a kiss on him. Meanwhile, after having watched video of herself and Ethan in happier times, Naomi decides she wants to try again with Ethan, who is receptive to the idea.
Dixon has problems of his own when he's driving his father's car and accidentally breaks the side mirror of a fellow student's very expensive car when he makes a mistake in parking the car. Having overheard his parents discussing their difficulty in selling the house in Kansas, he doesn't want to further burden them, so he convinces the student to leave the insurance company out of it and agree to just let him pay cash to take care of the problem. Dixon gets a job at the Peach Pit to make the $500 that he needs, but he doesn't tell his parents why he has the job, using girls and having nice things as his reasons instead. Harry says he can keep the job as long as it doesn't interfere with school and lacrosse, but the hours spent at work take a toll on his schoolwork, and he gets an incomplete on a test in English class. Harry finds out about it and questions the number of hours that Dixon is working at his job, and Dixon finally admits why he needs the job. Harry says he'll take care of the money needed for the repair and Dixon can just pay him back gradually.
Naomi had previously pleaded with Silver not to mention her father's affair on Silver's video blog, but Silver said Naomi told everyone about her parents, so why shouldn't she do the same. Naomi apologized again for doing that, saying it was awful and that she understood now what Silver went through. In the end, Silver takes to heart Dixon's off-handed comment about boys not holding grudges because life was too short, and she tells Naomi that she won't mention her father's affair on the blog, for which Naomi thanks her. A cease fire to the war seems to have been declared.
Silver and Dixon seem headed for a relationship.
Monday, September 15, 2008
"90210" - September 9, 2008 episode
Debbie is unhappy that her family is so busy all the time and never see each other, so she and Harry decide to resurrect a Wichita tradition - family night on Friday night, when the entire family gets together, and this time, they're going bowling. However, this puts a crimp in the kids' plans, since Annie had accepted a date with Ty to see a new band on the pier, and Dixon had been invited with a group of friends to see the new Bond film (product placement) before its public premiere. Debbie and Harry (OK, I just got it - are their first names supposed to be some kind of tribute to late 70s/early 80s rock band Blondie?) have tickets to the Hollywood Bowl (product placement) - but they're not going so they can spend time with their kids.
In an effort to deflect their parents and maybe be able to get out early, Annie asks Ty to come to the bowling alley, and Dixon invites his friends and Silver along. In what becomes an hour-long product placement episode for Lucky Strike bowling (most notably, the one at Hollywood and Highland), they all meet there and end up having a great time bowling for a while. Debbie and Harry realize that family night isn't really working and so let their kids do what they had really wanted to do that night.
Initially, Annie and Dixon are not having any fun at all, but Silver is having the best time. She appreciates the family time, and it becomes clear why when it's revealed that she's been sleeping at a shelter. She had earlier suggested a sleepover night to Kelly at her house, but Kelly had a date that night with Ryan, so she declined and proposed a different night. At the end of the evening, Silver leaves the Wilsons ostensibly to go home, but when Dixon is later outside taking out the trash, he finds her sleeping in her car. She tells him that her mother is an alcoholic who rages and blames her for everything, and Silver just can't deal with it. Dixon is sympathetic and tries to comfort her and then says they need to tell his father, which angers Silver, who is about to leave. Dixon says that he wasn't always with families as nice as the Wilsons and he knows what it's like to be around someone who's addicted. He convinces her to let him tell his parents. Later, Harry and Debbie say that Silver is going to spend the night at their house and as many nights as necessary to sort everything out. It was funny when Annie volunteered to share her room with Silver, and then Dixon volunteered to share *his* room with her, but I laughed mostly because don't they live in a mansion? Are there not enough spare rooms that Silver could actually have her own room? It was also funny that even with living in a mansion, they had to do chores like dishes and taking out the trash.
After bowling, Ethan had spent a little time talking to Annie, and he told her that his parents were divorced, and that the worst part was that they competed with each other to be the best parent, but usually with regard to material things.
Meanwhile, Naomi has been dismissive of Ethan when he's tried to talk to her, and she said that her father was taking her to Las Vegas for this fabulous time. She is severely disappointed though when he has to cancel at the last minute because he has to work, but in return, he brings her the new car that he's bought for her. That's pretty indicative of the attitude they seem to have - I'm not available so here's something really expensive instead. Naomi and Adrianna are on their way to Lucky Strike, but Naomi wants to stop at her father's office to drop off some food while he's working hard. (OK, even *I* saw coming what came next.) As she pulled up outside his office, she saw him come out with another woman and kiss her passionately. Naomi is crushed, and when she pulls into Lucky Strike, Adrianna jumps out to find Ethan to tell him what happened, and Ethan runs to Naomi. Annie is there too, and she leaves Ty (who had arrived late and "caught" her with Ethan) to go to her friend instead. Ethan gets to Naomi first, and Naomi is so distraught that she welcomes his comfort and embrace. He also offers to take her home. Annie arrives to see all this, and Silver says that Ethan and Naomi are addicted to each other. Meanwhile, Ty has texted Annie to say he had to leave so he wouldn't be late for the concert, so Annie and Silver go with Dixon and his friends to see the movie. It looks like the triangle-plus-one of Naomi/Ethan/Annie/Ty is well on its way.
The next morning, Naomi tearfully tells her mother what she saw the night before, but she is even more shocked when her mother says she knows about it, that she knows who the woman is, and that it's been going on for two years. Naomi is in disbelief that her mother puts up with it, but it's clear that her mother finds the lifestyle to be too comfortable to let something like an ongoing mistress disrupt that. No wonder she was hitting on Harry. Wonder what'll happen when Naomi finds out her mother has a son with Annie's dad.
There was a lot of stuff between Kelly and Ryan, but that story isn't doing much for me. They have a date, they kiss, they're going to be dating, ok, whatever. I laughed at Ryan's dialogue because it totally doesn't make sense because he's so flustered. I wonder what his dialogue looks like in the script. Harry calls Kelly the morning after Silver stays the night, and Kelly thanks him for taking her in. She says it's time for her to confront her mother. They apparently have a contentious relationship and haven't spoken for some time, after a particularly bad blowup. Kelly lays into her mother about Silver, and her mother says Silver is staying with friends somewhere, and Kelly angrily tells her Silver has been staying at a shelter. Her mother absolves herself of any blame because Silver didn't tell her, and Silver walks in on this, even though Kelly had told her to stay at the Wilson's. Their mother blames Silver for the trouble she's caused, and Silver says she can't take it any more. Kelly says she's leaving and taking Silver with her, and her mother says that she has a fatherless four-year-old, so how is she going to add a teenager to that, one who's hard to handle as it is. Silver is hurt by her words, moreso when their mother says she doesn't want anything to do with either of them anymore. Kelly and her son Sam and Silver are later shown munching on snacks in bed and having a good time. I was actually a bit disappointed because I thought the scene with Kelly's mother was going to be a bit more involved. Maybe she'll be back for more stuff.
Next episode - are they setting up a Kelly/Ryan/Brenda triangle?
In an effort to deflect their parents and maybe be able to get out early, Annie asks Ty to come to the bowling alley, and Dixon invites his friends and Silver along. In what becomes an hour-long product placement episode for Lucky Strike bowling (most notably, the one at Hollywood and Highland), they all meet there and end up having a great time bowling for a while. Debbie and Harry realize that family night isn't really working and so let their kids do what they had really wanted to do that night.
Initially, Annie and Dixon are not having any fun at all, but Silver is having the best time. She appreciates the family time, and it becomes clear why when it's revealed that she's been sleeping at a shelter. She had earlier suggested a sleepover night to Kelly at her house, but Kelly had a date that night with Ryan, so she declined and proposed a different night. At the end of the evening, Silver leaves the Wilsons ostensibly to go home, but when Dixon is later outside taking out the trash, he finds her sleeping in her car. She tells him that her mother is an alcoholic who rages and blames her for everything, and Silver just can't deal with it. Dixon is sympathetic and tries to comfort her and then says they need to tell his father, which angers Silver, who is about to leave. Dixon says that he wasn't always with families as nice as the Wilsons and he knows what it's like to be around someone who's addicted. He convinces her to let him tell his parents. Later, Harry and Debbie say that Silver is going to spend the night at their house and as many nights as necessary to sort everything out. It was funny when Annie volunteered to share her room with Silver, and then Dixon volunteered to share *his* room with her, but I laughed mostly because don't they live in a mansion? Are there not enough spare rooms that Silver could actually have her own room? It was also funny that even with living in a mansion, they had to do chores like dishes and taking out the trash.
After bowling, Ethan had spent a little time talking to Annie, and he told her that his parents were divorced, and that the worst part was that they competed with each other to be the best parent, but usually with regard to material things.
Meanwhile, Naomi has been dismissive of Ethan when he's tried to talk to her, and she said that her father was taking her to Las Vegas for this fabulous time. She is severely disappointed though when he has to cancel at the last minute because he has to work, but in return, he brings her the new car that he's bought for her. That's pretty indicative of the attitude they seem to have - I'm not available so here's something really expensive instead. Naomi and Adrianna are on their way to Lucky Strike, but Naomi wants to stop at her father's office to drop off some food while he's working hard. (OK, even *I* saw coming what came next.) As she pulled up outside his office, she saw him come out with another woman and kiss her passionately. Naomi is crushed, and when she pulls into Lucky Strike, Adrianna jumps out to find Ethan to tell him what happened, and Ethan runs to Naomi. Annie is there too, and she leaves Ty (who had arrived late and "caught" her with Ethan) to go to her friend instead. Ethan gets to Naomi first, and Naomi is so distraught that she welcomes his comfort and embrace. He also offers to take her home. Annie arrives to see all this, and Silver says that Ethan and Naomi are addicted to each other. Meanwhile, Ty has texted Annie to say he had to leave so he wouldn't be late for the concert, so Annie and Silver go with Dixon and his friends to see the movie. It looks like the triangle-plus-one of Naomi/Ethan/Annie/Ty is well on its way.
The next morning, Naomi tearfully tells her mother what she saw the night before, but she is even more shocked when her mother says she knows about it, that she knows who the woman is, and that it's been going on for two years. Naomi is in disbelief that her mother puts up with it, but it's clear that her mother finds the lifestyle to be too comfortable to let something like an ongoing mistress disrupt that. No wonder she was hitting on Harry. Wonder what'll happen when Naomi finds out her mother has a son with Annie's dad.
There was a lot of stuff between Kelly and Ryan, but that story isn't doing much for me. They have a date, they kiss, they're going to be dating, ok, whatever. I laughed at Ryan's dialogue because it totally doesn't make sense because he's so flustered. I wonder what his dialogue looks like in the script. Harry calls Kelly the morning after Silver stays the night, and Kelly thanks him for taking her in. She says it's time for her to confront her mother. They apparently have a contentious relationship and haven't spoken for some time, after a particularly bad blowup. Kelly lays into her mother about Silver, and her mother says Silver is staying with friends somewhere, and Kelly angrily tells her Silver has been staying at a shelter. Her mother absolves herself of any blame because Silver didn't tell her, and Silver walks in on this, even though Kelly had told her to stay at the Wilson's. Their mother blames Silver for the trouble she's caused, and Silver says she can't take it any more. Kelly says she's leaving and taking Silver with her, and her mother says that she has a fatherless four-year-old, so how is she going to add a teenager to that, one who's hard to handle as it is. Silver is hurt by her words, moreso when their mother says she doesn't want anything to do with either of them anymore. Kelly and her son Sam and Silver are later shown munching on snacks in bed and having a good time. I was actually a bit disappointed because I thought the scene with Kelly's mother was going to be a bit more involved. Maybe she'll be back for more stuff.
Next episode - are they setting up a Kelly/Ryan/Brenda triangle?
Friday, September 5, 2008
"90210" - September 2, 2008 episode - series premiere
Welcome back to West Beverly Hills High.
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.
Naomi
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.
Ryan and Kelly
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.
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.
Monday, September 1, 2008
2008 fall television season
Since today is Labor Day, that means it's September, and September means that the start of the new fall TV season is imminently upon us. Here's a run-down of the shows that I plan to be watching this year, which means, unless I get another really bad case of writer's block when it comes to TV shows, these are the shows I will be blogging about.
America's Toughest Jobs - Monday, 9pm, NBC - I really don't need another reality show to watch, but the previews for this show intrigued me enough to watch the first episode. I like that this show isn't just about made-up challenges - the challenges are actual jobs that the contestants have to do, and these aren't run-of-the-mill desk jobs. The first episode involved going out on crabbing boats and being on the water for 24 hours with very few breaks and amazing swells and lots of heavy ropes and cages to lift and sorting through crabs and just a ton of work. It definitely made me appreciate all the work that crabbers have to go through, and it made me annoyed with the people who just wouldn't do the work. I did think it was funny that the person on each team who did the best was a woman, especially since some of the guys had been smack-talking about how it was hard work and it was no place for girls to be. Yeah, dude, shut up and just do the work. They've shown previews of the other jobs/challenges that will be coming up, so I'm looking forward to seeing more.
90210 - series premiere Tuesday, Sept. 2, 8pm, CW - I loved the old "Beverly Hills 90210" show, so I'm going to give this new show a shot. I'm not sure I'm still going to be interested in high school antics, but we'll see. If nothing else, I have to see what they do with Kelly's and Donna's characters.
Kitchen Nightmares - season premiere Thursday, Sept. 4, 8pm, Fox - I have to remember not to eat while watching this show, or at least not look at the screen too closely, but I like this alternate side of Gordon Ramsay. The first episode, showing this week, is supposed to revisit some of the restaurants featured on previous shows, to see what has happened to those restaurants since the shows aired. That should be interesting to see.
Hole in the Wall - series premiere Sunday, Sept. 7, 8pm, Fox - This is the American version of the Japanese show Human Tetris. I've been looking forward to seeing this, though I'm not actually sure how long it's going to be able to retain my interest since the games will be fairly repetitive. But maybe watching people trying to contort themself without having to think too hard about the show might be a nice weekly break.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - season premiere Monday, Sept. 8, 8pm, Fox - I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the new season of this show. The end of last season was quite explosive, literally, so I want to see how they explain some of the new developments.
Fringe - series premiere Tuesday, Sept. 9, 8pm, Fox - I'm not entirely sure what the show is about, and I haven't even really seen a trailer for the show, but seeing the billboards has intrigued me. I'm not particularly in the J.J. Abrams fan club, but I'm curious enough to give this show a try.
The Big Bang Theory - season premiere Monday, Sept. 22, 8pm, CBS - I'm looking forward to seeing the show this season, to see where they take the Penny/Leonard thing, and to hopefully see them build on the great start from last year. This is my only sitcom this year, so I need it to provide me with lots of laughs.
Heroes - season premiere Monday, Sept. 22, 9pm, NBC - They've already told us what to expect this year by subtitling the show "Villains", and apparently, Nikki isn't so much dead. I didn't think last season was as good as the first season, but I'm still liking the show, and the previews look great.
Knight Rider - series premiere Wednesday, Sept. 24, 8pm, NBC - I enjoyed the movie earlier this year, so I'm glad the show got picked up. Go, Justin Bruening! Looking forward to seeing this show.
Survivor: Gabon - season premiere Thursday, Sept. 25, 8pm, CBS - I've been watching the show now since the end of the first season, but I actually haven't decided whether I'm going to be watching this season. I've gotten a little tired of it, so it will probably be a matter of whether the previews interest me and if the first couple of episodes make me invested enough to keep watching. Sometimes, the people are just too stupid and aggravating to me for me to enjoy the show.
Desperate Housewives - season premiere Sunday, Sept. 28, 9pm, ABC - Since the new season continues the five-years-ahead jump that ended the last season, I'm interested in seeing what all the new developments are, especially since Edie didn't leave like I thought she had.
There are two other shows that I'm looking forward to seeing, but they won't be on for a while.
24 - Yes, the stupid writers' strike meant that last season didn't happen at all, so I have to wait until January 2009 for the new season to start, though there's supposed to be a movie in November, I think. Need to see Jack Bauer again!
Dollhouse - The show isn't currently on Fox's schedule, but it's expected to start airing probably sometime in January. The premise sounds interesting, and I like both Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku, so I've definitely got to give the show a try.
These are the shows that I'll be watching, and here's an article that has the season/series premiere dates for all the returning and new fall TV shows so you can find the ones you're interested in.
America's Toughest Jobs - Monday, 9pm, NBC - I really don't need another reality show to watch, but the previews for this show intrigued me enough to watch the first episode. I like that this show isn't just about made-up challenges - the challenges are actual jobs that the contestants have to do, and these aren't run-of-the-mill desk jobs. The first episode involved going out on crabbing boats and being on the water for 24 hours with very few breaks and amazing swells and lots of heavy ropes and cages to lift and sorting through crabs and just a ton of work. It definitely made me appreciate all the work that crabbers have to go through, and it made me annoyed with the people who just wouldn't do the work. I did think it was funny that the person on each team who did the best was a woman, especially since some of the guys had been smack-talking about how it was hard work and it was no place for girls to be. Yeah, dude, shut up and just do the work. They've shown previews of the other jobs/challenges that will be coming up, so I'm looking forward to seeing more.
90210 - series premiere Tuesday, Sept. 2, 8pm, CW - I loved the old "Beverly Hills 90210" show, so I'm going to give this new show a shot. I'm not sure I'm still going to be interested in high school antics, but we'll see. If nothing else, I have to see what they do with Kelly's and Donna's characters.
Kitchen Nightmares - season premiere Thursday, Sept. 4, 8pm, Fox - I have to remember not to eat while watching this show, or at least not look at the screen too closely, but I like this alternate side of Gordon Ramsay. The first episode, showing this week, is supposed to revisit some of the restaurants featured on previous shows, to see what has happened to those restaurants since the shows aired. That should be interesting to see.
Hole in the Wall - series premiere Sunday, Sept. 7, 8pm, Fox - This is the American version of the Japanese show Human Tetris. I've been looking forward to seeing this, though I'm not actually sure how long it's going to be able to retain my interest since the games will be fairly repetitive. But maybe watching people trying to contort themself without having to think too hard about the show might be a nice weekly break.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - season premiere Monday, Sept. 8, 8pm, Fox - I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the new season of this show. The end of last season was quite explosive, literally, so I want to see how they explain some of the new developments.
Fringe - series premiere Tuesday, Sept. 9, 8pm, Fox - I'm not entirely sure what the show is about, and I haven't even really seen a trailer for the show, but seeing the billboards has intrigued me. I'm not particularly in the J.J. Abrams fan club, but I'm curious enough to give this show a try.
The Big Bang Theory - season premiere Monday, Sept. 22, 8pm, CBS - I'm looking forward to seeing the show this season, to see where they take the Penny/Leonard thing, and to hopefully see them build on the great start from last year. This is my only sitcom this year, so I need it to provide me with lots of laughs.
Heroes - season premiere Monday, Sept. 22, 9pm, NBC - They've already told us what to expect this year by subtitling the show "Villains", and apparently, Nikki isn't so much dead. I didn't think last season was as good as the first season, but I'm still liking the show, and the previews look great.
Knight Rider - series premiere Wednesday, Sept. 24, 8pm, NBC - I enjoyed the movie earlier this year, so I'm glad the show got picked up. Go, Justin Bruening! Looking forward to seeing this show.
Survivor: Gabon - season premiere Thursday, Sept. 25, 8pm, CBS - I've been watching the show now since the end of the first season, but I actually haven't decided whether I'm going to be watching this season. I've gotten a little tired of it, so it will probably be a matter of whether the previews interest me and if the first couple of episodes make me invested enough to keep watching. Sometimes, the people are just too stupid and aggravating to me for me to enjoy the show.
Desperate Housewives - season premiere Sunday, Sept. 28, 9pm, ABC - Since the new season continues the five-years-ahead jump that ended the last season, I'm interested in seeing what all the new developments are, especially since Edie didn't leave like I thought she had.
There are two other shows that I'm looking forward to seeing, but they won't be on for a while.
24 - Yes, the stupid writers' strike meant that last season didn't happen at all, so I have to wait until January 2009 for the new season to start, though there's supposed to be a movie in November, I think. Need to see Jack Bauer again!
Dollhouse - The show isn't currently on Fox's schedule, but it's expected to start airing probably sometime in January. The premise sounds interesting, and I like both Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku, so I've definitely got to give the show a try.
These are the shows that I'll be watching, and here's an article that has the season/series premiere dates for all the returning and new fall TV shows so you can find the ones you're interested in.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
going back to West Beverly Hills High
I used to love watching "Beverly Hills, 90210".
It was basically a prime-time soap opera set on a high school campus, so it was definitely my thing at the time. The Brenda/Dylan/Kelly triangle actually worked quite well and never seemed too rehashed. I also discovered a fantastic site that contained a weekly wrapup/summary by Daniel Drennan. I loved his writing style, especially since he would comment on so much more than just the show itself, throwing in references from left and right. Even if the show wasn't very good, Danny's writeups were hysterical. He used to have a "New York Diaries" section that was a blog of sorts, but that seems to have been taken down and changed. He was able to publish a lot of stories in a book entitled "The New York Diaries". I didn't think they were quite as good as the original stories because he had to edit and take into consideration publication standards as opposed to just writing whatever he wanted on his site, but it's still a great read, and I highly recommend it.
OK, so back to the show. I think I lost interest in later years after they got out of high school and such. And by then, I was moving on to "Melrose Place".
Well, classes are starting again at West Beverly when 90210 hits the television screens this fall.
The focus will again be on a family with two teenaged kids who move from some podunk town (ok, so it's Kansas City) to swanky Beverly Hills, where they'll have to try to fit in with all the "in" kids there. Lori Loughlin (who I'll always remember from "Full House") plays mom to the kids - and it looks like she's not going to be playing the midwestern mom like in the original show, at least based on the publicity picture. And speaking of "Melrose Place", Rob Estes will be playing the dad on the show. Jessica Walter is also on the show as the dad's mother who is the reason for the family's move. I love her, so it'll be fun to see her again.
There will also be a couple of familiar faces, at least to begin with. Jennie Garth is returning to play Kelly Taylor who is ... wait for it ... a guidance counselor at West Beverly. OK, wow, I sure hope they come up with one doozy of a backstory to explain that miraculous transformation. Another BH90210 alum who will be returning is Tori Spelling as Donna, who is now running a trendy boutique. She's also apparently still married to David as her name is credited as "Donna Martin Silver", or at least if they got divorced, she kept his last name. But there's also a character credited as "Daphne Silver", who I'm going to presume is David and Donna's daughter. The IMDB listing for the show doesn't indicate if Jennie and Tori are only going to be in the first show or if they'll be making regular appearances. No clue if David himself is ever going to turn up. He's a little busy these days, though. I mean, he's gotta tear himself away from bonding with his newly-discovered nephew, fighting metal-alloy foes and basically helping to save mankind as we know it. He's swamped!
While the focus of the show will be about the new kids fitting in, the new kids are going to have a lot more to deal with than Brenda and Brandon. Unlike their predecessors, they're not twins - the brother was adopted. Oh, and did I mention, he's also black? Ooooo, West Beverly High is getting a black student! However will they cope? Actually, I have no idea whether that's going to be part of the storyline, but one would presume that with the backstory, there's going to be a lot more going on here than just dates and clothes and hair.
Here's a video that includes information about the phenomenon of the original series as well as the new cast and characters.
I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with the show, which is apparently going to be airing on Tuesdays at 8pm on the CW network, which would be channel 5 in Los Angeles, though I haven't been able to find an official first air date.
It was basically a prime-time soap opera set on a high school campus, so it was definitely my thing at the time. The Brenda/Dylan/Kelly triangle actually worked quite well and never seemed too rehashed. I also discovered a fantastic site that contained a weekly wrapup/summary by Daniel Drennan. I loved his writing style, especially since he would comment on so much more than just the show itself, throwing in references from left and right. Even if the show wasn't very good, Danny's writeups were hysterical. He used to have a "New York Diaries" section that was a blog of sorts, but that seems to have been taken down and changed. He was able to publish a lot of stories in a book entitled "The New York Diaries". I didn't think they were quite as good as the original stories because he had to edit and take into consideration publication standards as opposed to just writing whatever he wanted on his site, but it's still a great read, and I highly recommend it.
OK, so back to the show. I think I lost interest in later years after they got out of high school and such. And by then, I was moving on to "Melrose Place".
Well, classes are starting again at West Beverly when 90210 hits the television screens this fall.
The focus will again be on a family with two teenaged kids who move from some podunk town (ok, so it's Kansas City) to swanky Beverly Hills, where they'll have to try to fit in with all the "in" kids there. Lori Loughlin (who I'll always remember from "Full House") plays mom to the kids - and it looks like she's not going to be playing the midwestern mom like in the original show, at least based on the publicity picture. And speaking of "Melrose Place", Rob Estes will be playing the dad on the show. Jessica Walter is also on the show as the dad's mother who is the reason for the family's move. I love her, so it'll be fun to see her again.
There will also be a couple of familiar faces, at least to begin with. Jennie Garth is returning to play Kelly Taylor who is ... wait for it ... a guidance counselor at West Beverly. OK, wow, I sure hope they come up with one doozy of a backstory to explain that miraculous transformation. Another BH90210 alum who will be returning is Tori Spelling as Donna, who is now running a trendy boutique. She's also apparently still married to David as her name is credited as "Donna Martin Silver", or at least if they got divorced, she kept his last name. But there's also a character credited as "Daphne Silver", who I'm going to presume is David and Donna's daughter. The IMDB listing for the show doesn't indicate if Jennie and Tori are only going to be in the first show or if they'll be making regular appearances. No clue if David himself is ever going to turn up. He's a little busy these days, though. I mean, he's gotta tear himself away from bonding with his newly-discovered nephew, fighting metal-alloy foes and basically helping to save mankind as we know it. He's swamped!
While the focus of the show will be about the new kids fitting in, the new kids are going to have a lot more to deal with than Brenda and Brandon. Unlike their predecessors, they're not twins - the brother was adopted. Oh, and did I mention, he's also black? Ooooo, West Beverly High is getting a black student! However will they cope? Actually, I have no idea whether that's going to be part of the storyline, but one would presume that with the backstory, there's going to be a lot more going on here than just dates and clothes and hair.
Here's a video that includes information about the phenomenon of the original series as well as the new cast and characters.
I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with the show, which is apparently going to be airing on Tuesdays at 8pm on the CW network, which would be channel 5 in Los Angeles, though I haven't been able to find an official first air date.
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