Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling under his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for ten seasons on Fox from October 4, 1990, to May 17, 2000, and is the longest-running show produced by Spelling. It is the first of six television series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise and follows the lives of a group of friends living in the upscale and star-studded community of Beverly Hills, California, as they transition from high school to college and into the adult world. "90210" refers to one of the city's five ZIP codes.
The initial premise of the show was based on the adjustment and culture shock that twins Brandon and Brenda Walsh experienced when they and their parents, Jim and Cindy, moved from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Beverly Hills, California. In addition to chronicling the characters' friendships and romantic relationships, the show addressed topical issues such as sex, date rape, homophobia, animal rights, alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence, eating disorders, antisemitism, racism, teenage suicide, teenage pregnancy, and AIDS.
After poor ratings during its first season, the series gained popularity during the summer of 1991, when Fox aired a special "summer season" of the show while most other series were in reruns. Viewership increased dramatically, and 90210 became one of Fox's top shows when it returned that fall. The show became a global pop culture phenomenon with its cast members, particularly Jason Priestley and Luke Perry, who became teen idols; the series also made actresses Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth household names in the US. The show is credited with creating or popularizing the teen soap genre that many other successful television shows followed in the years to come.
The show had many cast changes; Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Brian Austin Green, and Ian Ziering were the only actors to appear during its entire run and appeared on the first episode of Melrose Place.
On February 27, 2019, it was announced that a six-episode reboot has been ordered by Fox and that the show would simply be titled BH90210. On May 8, 2019, it was announced that the reboot would premiere on August 7, 2019 at 9/8c on Fox.
Series overview
The series begins with the introduction of the Walsh family—Jim, Cindy, Brandon, and Brenda—who have recently moved from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Beverly Hills, California as a result of Jim's job promotion. In the first episode, Brandon and Brenda begin attending West Beverly Hills High School, where they befriend several classmates: the self-centered and promiscuous Kelly Taylor, carefree and spoiled Steve Sanders, smart and driven Andrea Zuckerman, ditzy and virtuous Donna Martin, brooding loner Dylan McKay, and younger and naive students David Silver and Scott Scanlon. The show follows the siblings as they bear witness and take part in the dramatic lives that their wealthy and privileged peers lead.Episodes
Cast and characters
- Jason Priestley leaves in "Brandon Leaves"
- Luke Perry leaves in "One Wedding and a Funeral"
- Perry, though a series regular from his return in "You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello", is credited as a "special guest star"
- Tiffani-Amber Thiessen leaves in "You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello"
- Jamie Walters leaves in "Courting" and returns for one episode as a guest: "Ray of Hope"
- Hilary Swank left the series in "The Elephant's Father"
- Vanessa Marcil first appears in "You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello" and departs from the series in "Doc Martin"
Casting
Tentative titles for the show included Class of Beverly Hills. The show's episodes were originally issue-based until the producers decided it should become a teen soap opera. In the first season, the teenage characters were said to be in the eleventh grade, but due to the success of the show, their ages were retconned to be one year younger in the second season, making them tenth graders in the first.
Jennie Garth had to audition five times for the role of Kelly Taylor and was the first to be cast on the show. Gabrielle Carteris felt that she was too old to play a high school student. She first auditioned for Brenda because she thought that being a real-life twin would help her chances, but the producers felt that she would be better for the part of Andrea.
When Tori Spelling auditioned for the show, she used the name Tori Mitchell and auditioned for the role of Kelly Taylor, but she was eventually recognized and was instead cast as Donna Martin. Tori Spelling brought Shannen Doherty to her father's attention after seeing Doherty's movie Heathers and being impressed with her performance.
Lyman Ward was originally cast as Jim Walsh in the pilot but was replaced by James Eckhouse, and Ward's scenes were cut and re-shot with Eckhouse. Kristin Dattilo was also up for the role of Brenda Walsh, but she turned it down. She later guest starred as Melissa Coolidge in an episode of the first season.
Additionally, Luke Perry had auditioned for the role of Steve Sanders, but the role eventually went to Ian Ziering before Perry was cast as Dylan McKay. Perry's character was not an original cast member of the show, and he was first featured in the show's second episode. He was originally intended to only appear in one story arc, for one or two episodes. Fox was initially reluctant to have him included as a regular, but Aaron Spelling felt differently and gave Perry a bigger role during the first two years until the network was won over.
In the first season, when Donna tries out for school D.J., she is referred to as Donna Morgan. Throughout the rest of the show, her name is Donna Martin.
In addition, in the first season Donna's mother was named Nancy Martin and played by actress Jordana Capra. When she was reintroduced in season two, she was named Felice Martin and was played by actress Katherine Cannon.
In the pilot episode, the role of Jackie Taylor was first played by Pamela Galloway and then by Ann Gillespie for the rest of the series. Terence Ford and Arthur Brooks portrayed Dylan's father, Jack McKay, in two episodes before Josh Taylor assumed the role.
Departures
The departure of Shannen Doherty at the end of season 4 came after a period of strife between Doherty, the other cast members, and the show's producers. Executive producer Charles Rosin commented in 2000 that Doherty "had habitual lateness, her lateness was appalling, and she had a callous attitude and an indifference." Trouble between Doherty and her co-stars, Jennie Garth in particular, was also widely reported in the media. Doherty, who was struggling in her personal life with her father's illness, came to an agreement with the producers to phase her out of the show at the beginning of season 4, when Brenda returns to Minnesota for college. It was planned to reduce her appearances from that point, but Doherty had a change of heart and requested to remain as a main cast member. However, as the fourth season wore on Doherty's attitude deteriorated and her friction with the other cast members intensified. When she caused continuity problems by cutting her hair halfway through filming an episode, the producers and cast requested from Aaron Spelling that she be fired.In season 5, the production accommodated Gabrielle Carteris' pregnancy by reluctantly writing a pregnancy storyline for Andrea. The producers were unhappy with the more adult direction of the character, and Carteris was written off the show at the end of the season. Also in season 5, Jamie Walters was introduced as Donna's boyfriend Ray, who later begins abusing her. The writers intended to "rehabilitate" the character in season 6, and Walters signed a $1 million contract. However, the show received such a flood of negative mail from fans complaining about Donna being "stupid" for staying with her abuser, that an angry Aaron Spelling ordered that Walters should be fired. Producer Larry Mollin said of the incident that "he got to walk away with his money. But it was still devastating for him. We left him as being a beater, which stayed with him, unfortunately. People thought he was a beater. It was just terrible."
In Season 8 Jason Priestley was worried that Brandon and Kelly would end up together so he chose to leave the show.
Locations
The series was produced in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California. During the 10 years the series was in production it was filmed in a warehouse complex in Van Nuys, the interiors of the series as well as the exteriors of the Peach Pit parking lot and P.P.A.D. club entrance were all located off the 15000 block of Calvert Street. An unmarked gated studio entrance now stands at this address, but the exterior brick facing of the P.P.A.D. is still visible down the alley, on the side of the building.The studio building complex has since been the home to various projects including the 2006 CBS series Jericho, which guest starred James Eckhouse in one episode. Until February 2010, the CW series Melrose Place was also produced at the original 90210 Calvert studios. Post-production services for Beverly Hills, 90210 were provided by LaserPacific for all seasons.
Many changes were made after the pilot episode. The producers first used a location that was used only once during the pilot episode for the Walsh house, that was located in a gated community of Brentwood. After the pilot episode the Walsh house was moved to Altadena, California. The house used for Dylan's home in the show is located in the same Altadena neighborhood.
Three different locations were used for the frontage of The Peach Pit during the show's ten-year history. The original location, on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, was only used in first few episodes of season one then was changed to a different location for the rest of that season. When the Peach Pit was fictionally remodeled during season two, the producers used Rose City Diner in Pasadena, California to film the exterior of the gang's hangout, and it remained the same throughout the rest of the show's run.
Most of the filming during the second season of the summer season at the Beverly Hills Beach Club took place in Santa Monica, at the old Sand and Sea Beach Club. The beach club used in the show was the very same beach club that was used during one summer season of Saved by the Bell.
The filming location for West Beverly High School was in the middle class community of Torrance at Torrance High School, located in the 90501 zip code. Torrance High can also be seen in other shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
When the 90210 characters began attending the then-fictitious California University in the show's fourth season, the scenes around campus were actually filmed at Occidental College in Eagle Rock. Kelly and Donna's beach house used in the show is located in Hermosa Beach. The Golden Oak Ranch, outside Santa Clarita, was also used for filming.
Broadcast
Beverly Hills, 90210 originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox in the United States.The show aired Thursday at 9:00 pm for the first two seasons and Wednesday at 8:00 pm for the rest of its run.
Prior to the premiere of Beverly Hills, 90210, Glory Days was airing on Thursdays at 9:00 pm. After the show had moved to Wednesday, where Fox did not have regular programming, The Heights took over the timeslot. After Beverly Hills, 90210 left the air in 2000, it was replaced by Malcolm in the Middle and Normal, Ohio.
Seasons 2 and 3 featured all new summer episodes that aired during July and August before the regular fall episodes started in September. At the beginning of the third season, in July and August 1992, all new summer episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210 were playing during the series new time slot of Wednesdays at 8pm but viewers could see repeats from Beverly Hills, 90210 first season in the original time slot of Thursdays at 9pm. The Fox Network was heavily promoting the new time slot so viewers could find the show. The seventh season started earlier than usual because of the 1996 Olympics and the MLB Playoffs on Fox during the month of October.
Later SoapNet aired reruns of the show seven days a week until 2013. The syndicated episodes featured the show's original music, unlike the DVD and Hulu releases. In 2015, Pop aired reruns of the show with two back-to-back episodes until the show was removed from the network in 2017, but it still continues to air reruns on the network as of August 2018. The syndicated episodes that are featured on this network however, do not use the show's original music with the content mostly taken from the DVD releases.
Specials
A number of specials were produced during and after the show's run.| Number in series | Number in season | Title | Original air date |
Reception
U.S. ratings
After poor ratings in the first season, the episodes' average ratings per season increased, constantly maintained above 11% from season two until season five, despite Shannen Doherty's departure at the end of season four. From season six until the end of the series the average rating gradually decreased, and the final blow to the show was the early ninth season's departures of Jason Priestley and Tiffani Thiessen. Since then no episode reached 8% again in ratings until the series finale, despite Luke Perry's return, with average ratings falling to 6.9% in season nine and 5.9% in the last season. During the entire series, the episodes with the highest ratings peaked at 14.1%, and included the closing episodes of seasons two and three, and the opening episode of season five.| Season | Time slot | Season Premiere | Season Finale | TV Season | Rank | Viewers | Rating |
| 1 | Thursday 9:00 P.M. | October 4, 1990 | May 9, 1991 | 1990–1991 | #88 | 14.2 | 6.35 |
| 2 | Thursday 9:00 P.M. | July 11, 1991 | May 7, 1992 | 1991–1992 | #48 | 17.6 | 11.73 |
| 3 | Wednesday 8:00 P.M. | July 15, 1992 | May 19, 1993 | 1992–1993 | #42 | 18.3 | 11.14 |
| 4 | Wednesday 8:00 P.M. | September 8, 1993 | May 25, 1994 | 1993–1994 | #41 | 21.7 | 11.40 |
| 5 | Wednesday 8:00 P.M. | September 7, 1994 | May 24, 1995 | 1994–1995 | #46 | 14.7 | 11.21 |
| Wednesday 8:00 P.M. | September 13, 1995 | May 22, 1996 | 1995–1996 | #53 | 14.5 | 9.83 | |
| Wednesday 8:00 P.M. | August 21, 1996 | May 21, 1997 | 1996–1997 | #61 | 13.2 | 8.35 | |
| 8 | Wednesday 8:00 P.M. | September 10, 1997 | May 20, 1998 | 1997–1998 | #59 | 11.4 | 8.35 |
| Wednesday 8:00 P.M. | September 16, 1998 | May 19, 1999 | 1998–1999 | #75 | 9.7 | 6.83 | |
| Wednesday 8:00 P.M. | September 8, 1999 | May 17, 2000 | 1999–2000 | #82 | 8.33 | 5.88 |
| Season | Season peak | Rating | Notes |
| 1 | Episode 22: "Home Again" Aired: May 9, 1991 | 9.2 | Season Finale |
| 2 | Episode 28: "Wedding Bell Blues" Aired: May 7, 1992 | 14.1 | Season Finale |
| 3 | Episodes 29 & 30: "Commencement " Aired: May 19, 1993 | 14.1 | Season Finale. |
| 4 | Episode 31 & 32: "Mr. Walsh Goes To Washington " Aired: May 25, 1994 | 13.9 | Season Finale.. Final episode of Shannen Doherty |
| 5 | Episode 1: "What I Did On My Summer Vacation & Other Stories" Aired: September 7, 1994 | 14.1 | Season Premiere. Debut of Tiffani Thiessen. |
| 6 | Episode 10: "One Wedding And A Funeral" Aired: November 8, 1995 | 12.9 | Final episode of Luke Perry until he returns in season 9. |
| 7 | Episode 21: "Straight Shooter" Aired: February 26, 1997 | 9.8 | |
| 8 | Episodes 31 & 32: "The Wedding Part 1 & Part 2" Aired: May 20, 1998 | 10.0 | Season finale. |
| 9 | Episode 5: "Brandon Leaves" Aired: November 4, 1998 | 8.1 | Departure of Jason Priestley. |
| 9 | Episode 7: "You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello" Aired: November 18, 1998 | 8.1 | Departure of Tiffani Thiessen and return of Luke Perry. |
| 10 | Episodes 26 & 27: "The Penultimate" and "Ode to Joy" Aired: May 17, 2000 | 9.6 | Series' finale. |
| Season | Season low | Rating | Notes |
| 1 | Episode 7: "Perfect Mom" Aired: November 22, 1990 | 4.1 | Lowest rated episode of the series |
| 2 | Episode 2: "The Party Fish" Aired: July 18, 1991 | 10.0 | Lowest rated episode of season 2 but this episode achieved higher ratings than every episode in seasons 1, 7, 9, and 10. |
| 3 | Episodes 3: "Too Little, Too Late/Paris 75001" Aired: July 29, 1992 | 8.8 | |
| 4 | Episode 4: "Greek To Me" Aired: September 29, 1993 | 9.8 | |
| 4 | Episode 15: "Somewhere In The World It's Christmas" Aired: December 22, 1993 | 9.8 | |
| 5 | Episode 29: "The Real McCoy" Aired: May 10, 1995 | 8.4 | |
| 6 | Episode 29: "Ticket To Ride" Aired: May 8, 1996 | 8.4 | |
| 7 | Episode 11: "If I Had A Hammer" Aired: November 27, 1996 | 6.0 | |
| 8 | Episodes 28: "Skin Deep" Aired: April 29, 1998 | 6.8 | |
| 9 | Episode 20: "Fortune Cookie" Aired: April 7, 1999 | 5.9 | |
| 9 | Episode 23: "The End Of The World As We Know It" Aired: April 28, 1999 | 5.9 | |
| 10 | Episode 18: "Eddie Waitkus" Aired: March 1, 2000 | 4.6 |
- Debut: Class of Beverly Hills/Pilot – 7.2 rating
- Series Finale: 16.8 million viewers; 9.6 rating
- Specials:
- *Behind the Scenes : 8.2 rating
- *Best Moments of 90210 : 8.4 rating
- *Our Favorite Moments of 90210 : 5.3 rating
- *Final Goodbye : 6.8 rating
- *10-Year High School Reunion
Series finale
Impact
Entertainment Weekly named the show #20 on its list of top 100 TV shows in the past 25 years. The magazine also named the theme song #15 on its list of top 25 TV theme songs in the past 25 years, and the "90210 Sideburns" #50 on its list of Pop Culture Moments that Rocked Fashion. The show was named one of the Best School Shows of All Time by AOL TV.The first-season episode "Spring Dance" caused outrage from many parents after the character of Brenda loses her virginity to Dylan. Parents were offended by the fact that Brenda suffers no consequences and shows no remorse for having had sex, something unusual for network television in 1991. After a slew of angry phone calls to the network, Fox decided to placate upset viewers by featuring a pregnancy scare for Brenda and Dylan in the second season, as a means of "punishing" the teenagers for their decision. Executive Producer Charles Rosin criticized this decision, saying "Someday I will write a long article about the censorship that occurred after Brenda lost her virginity at the Spring Dance to her boyfriend because she was happy and not full of remorse."
In February 1992, at the height of the show's popularity, the three main stars, Jason Priestley, Shannen Doherty and Luke Perry, were featured on the cover of Rolling Stone. and .
Parodies
The rap duo Insane Clown Posse released an EP titled Beverly Kills 50187 which featured a song titled "Beverly Kills" describing member Violent J killing the series' characters for being rich and prejudiced toward the "lower class".The short-lived The Ben Stiller Show did a parody of this show, The Heights and Melrose Place called Melrose Heights 90210-2420 that portrayed the cast as superficial, self-absorbed, and self-pitying, as well as introducing each of the stereotypical cast along with "Akeem, the black guy". A typical episode's "issue" was a character getting a headache, which affected all the other characters. Each episode would end the same upbeat song performed by the whole cast with new lyrics for each episode.
A cutaway gag in an episode of Family Guy parodied the fact that a number of the show's cast members were in their mid-to-late 20s and not teenagers. In the gag, Andrea is portrayed as a senile elderly woman.
When Jason Priestley guest-hosted Saturday Night Live in 1992, one of that episode's sketches, which parodied Beverly Hills 90210 involved that town's zip code being changed to 90218 due to the 1990 Census redistricting. Several of the characters take offense to the fact that Beverly Hills will be absorbed into poorer communities and convene at the Peach Pit, where a Hispanic busboy expresses pride that his native community of Reseda now shares the same zip code as the 90210 cast. The gang lashes out in different ways, with Dylan getting drunk and Donna and Kelly going impulse shopping. Priestley, in his role of Brandon, confiscates all their keys and puts them in a lockbox and gives them a tag to reclaim them when they regain self-control. The sketch ends with the zip code "Beverly Hills, 90210" retained as their rich and powerful parents lobbied the US government not to redistrict.
The Fox sketch show The Edge did a parody of 90210 that mocked Tori Spelling. During the sketch, the character of Tori constantly says, "I can do whatever I want because this is my Daddy's show." Aaron Spelling took offense to this, and asked for an apology from the producers of the show. Saturday Night Live also did a Tori Spelling parody as well, where Melanie Hutsell spoofed Spelling, which was met with less protest.
The Mickey Mouse Club did a parody sketch called Beverly Hillbillies 90210, combining the characters of both 90210 and The Beverly Hillbillies. In 1999, Christina Aguilera from the Mickey Mouse Club made a cameo performance on Beverly Hills 90210 as herself performing at the PPAD for David Silver's surprise birthday party, season 10 episode 2: "Let's Eat Cake". Music from former MMC members Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez of 'N Sync also was originally used during several opening title sequences during the mid-to-late seasons of 90210.
MADtv made its own parodies of the show as Beverly Hills, 90210 B.C. set in prehistoric Beverly Hills. When Luke Perry made his high-profile return to the series, MADtv did a second parody entitled Beverly Hills 9021-H20 which had the characters being stalked and killed off by Luke Perry, who had rejoined the cast as a masked killer who was a parody of Michael Myers of the Halloween film series.
The Czech TV Nova parody show Tele Tele made parody of the show known as Heverly Debils. Three mini-episodes were filmed.
GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan released a song called "Killah Hills 10304", a reference to the show's title in a song about crime and a rough neighborhood.
A VH1 promo for I Love the 90s featured Hal Sparks and Michael Ian Black sitting in the Peach Pit, with Beverly Hills, 90210's theme music playing. Joe E. Tata also appears in the promo as Nat.
In 2009, The Simpsons aired an episode called "Waverly Hills, 9-0-2-1-D'oh", which features Lisa wanting to go to a better school and finding it in the very posh town of Waverly Hills.
On the 9th season of RuPaul's Drag Race, the contestants acted in a parody of the show, called "Beverly Hills, 9021-HO". The episode was guest judged by Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling.
Soundtracks releases
Home media
Spin-offs and other media
''Melrose Place''
The series Melrose Place was a spin-off from the show, as actor Grant Show appeared for a multi-episode run at the end of the series second season as Kelly's love interest, and a friend of Dylan's. Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Brian Austin Green and Ian Ziering made appearances as their Beverly Hills, 90210 characters in the first few episodes of Melrose Place.''Models Inc''
Models Inc., a series about the personal and professional struggles of several young models, spin-off from Melrose Place. The series was introduced via the characters Hillary Michaels, the mother of Melrose Place's Amanda Woodward, and model Sarah Owens—both of whom had appeared in a multi-episode run on MP. In addition to his role in Melrose Place, Jake Hanson was the only character to appear in both Beverly Hills, 90210 and Models Inc.''90210''
A third spin-off premiered in on The CW Network on September 2, 2008, focusing on a family from Kansas who move to Beverly Hills when the children's grandmother suffers from alcohol addiction.In guest appearances, Jennie Garth, Shannen Doherty and Tori Spelling reprised their roles as Kelly Taylor, Brenda Walsh and Donna Martin, respectively. Joe E. Tata also reprised his role as Nat, owner of the Peach Pit, diner turned coffee house, for a couple of episodes at the beginning of the show's first season.
The series was canceled by The CW on February 28, 2013 after five seasons.
''Melrose Place'' (2009)
A fifth series was officially picked up by The CW on May 21, 2009. The show is an updated version of Melrose Place, featuring a group of young adults living in a West Hollywood apartment complex. Smallville producers Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer wrote the pilot script and became the executive producers on the series. The series was canceled on May 20, 2010.Novelizations
Several books based on the scripts were written by Mel Gilden.''Unauthorized Story''
On October 3, 2015 a television movie called The Unauthorized Beverly Hills, 90210 Story was first released. It told the behind the scenes making of story of the show.Reboot
In December 2018 it was reported on Deadline Hollywood that a reboot of Beverly Hills, 90210 was being shopped around to different networks. The project was initially developed by Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth in conjunction with CBS Television Studios, and was first hinted at by Spelling on her Instagram page the previous March. The bulk of the original cast is attached, including Garth, Spelling, Shannen Doherty, Jason Priestley, Ian Ziering, Brian Austin Green and Gabrielle Carteris. CBS confirmed on December 18 that the project was in "early development", adding "We aren't confirming much detail except that it is an untraditional take on a reboot with some of the original cast".On February 1, 2019, Spelling confirmed that a reboot of the show was underway, stating,
It is the OG crew back together, and we’re playing heightened versions of ourselves. The fans will be pleasantly surprised, though, because we will intercut that with scenes from the show. So it'll be a whole ensemble cast.
She added that "almost everybody" from the original cast was set to return, with Luke Perry's participation initially presumed to be limited because of his work on Riverdale until his death on March 4.
Following Perry's death, CBS Television executive David Stapf said the new series would honor him in some way. Stapf also confirmed Spelling pitched the idea of a new TV show reuniting the original cast.
On February 27, 2019, it was announced that a six-episode reboot had been ordered by Fox. According to a press release on April 26, 2019, the revival — retitled as BH90210 — will feature the cast playing "heightened versions of themselves" in an irreverent drama "inspired by their real lives and relationships with each other." On May 8, 2019, it was announced that the reboot will premiere on August 7, 2019, at 9/8c on Fox. It was announced on November 7, 2019 that there would not be a season 2 of the reboot.