Beverly Hills

When the show first premiered it, surprisingly, had a lot of depth. It dealt with the problems that most teenagers go through as they are going through high school (sex, drugs, racism, death and AIDS). The only thing that was different about it was the fact that it was set in upscale Beverly Hills. However, when the scene shifted to college, it became more of a soap opera along the lines of its distant cousin Melrose Place. I would rather look at the episodes from the first two seasons when the stories were all done in one episode than look at the garbage it eventually became.

While "Beverly Hills 90210" was making its ten year run, I never watched a single episode. The affairs of rich kids in Beverly Hills really didn't interest me; and, even though Jennie Garth and Tiffani Amber-Thiessan are real eye candy, that wasn't enough to tie me to watching a weekly continuing drama with what I thought would be such an uninteresting subject. However, when the Soap Opera Channel offered the show in sequence five days a week and my wife encouraged me to watch it with her, I reluctantly agreed. I'm glad I did, because "Beverly Hills 90210" is, in my opinion, the best written and produced continuing drama in TV history. Why do I say this? Because "Beverly Hills 90210" survived two radical format changes and remained consistently watchable for its entire 10 year run. Actually, "Beverly Hills 90210" is three different shows: an excellent "high school teenagers in love" show; a very good "college kids antics" show and a good "Yuppies in love" show. The creative talent managed to produce three above average shows with an amazing consistency of story lines and talent, using mostly the original cast. Nobody else has ever done this, at least to my knowledge. The producers are to be commended for keeping the cast remarkable intact, even down to the minor characters. To the best of my knowledge, only one character was played by two different actresses, that being Andrea Zuckerman's grandmother. Compare that to the more prestigious soaps, "Dynasty" and "Dallas." On "Dallas" alone, two actors played Gary Ewing, Digger Barnes, Miss Ellie and Kristen Shepherd (who shot J.R.), and three actors played Jenna Wade, and all of these characters were more important to the show's plotting than Andrea's grandmother.

While all three shows are above average, the "high school teenagers in love" episodes are the best. However, I believe they were also the easiest to plot, since teenagers have more restrictions on their behavior and their problems are generally more direct, easier with which to relate and generally easier to resolve. This is only slightly less true for college students, but it's a whole different ball game by the time one gets out of school and into the "real world;" and, by the time these episodes were written and produced, the characters were no longer fresh. The loss of Shannen Dougherty ("Brenda Walsh") was the series first major blow, and the series slipped badly her first season away (the fifth). However, after a weak start, Tiffani-Amber Thiessan ("Valerie Malone") became a very impressive cast member. However, Shannen brought an inventiveness to the series which was never regained.

The second major blow the series suffered was the loss of Kathleen Robertson ("Claire Arnold"), at the end of "the college years". While other original cast members had left, including Gabriella Carteris ("Andrea Zuckerman"), Carol Potter ("Cindy Walsh") and James Eckhouse ("Jim Walsh"), I felt the loss of Kathleen Robertson the most. Kathleen's "Claire Arnold" was a fascinating blend of three of the main characters; she exhibited Brenda's daring, Kelly's poise and Donna's madcap sensuality. The show lost a lot of it's warmth with Kathleen's departure, as well as the (unfortunately) correct decision to place less emphasis on the older adult cast members. This happens in life as well as young adults leave school and are out on there own. The show also lost it's innocence when Donna (Tori Spelling) lost hers to David (Brian Austin Green).

The final blow to the series happened over two seasons. The departures of Luke Perry, Jason Priestly and Tiffani-Amber Thiessan badly shook the show, but for very different reasons. Luke Perry (Dylan McKay) brought a lot of romance to the show; Jason Priestly ("Brandon Walsh") brought a brash, crusading spirit; and Tiffan-Amber Thiessan brought a wholesome, mature sexiness that was sometimes at odds with the character she played. Worse, for their first seasons at least, the replacement characters, Vincent Young ("Noah Hunter"), Lindsay Price ("Janet Sosna"), Daniel Cosgrove ("Matt ) and Vanessa Marcel ("Gina") while all fine actors, did not bring the missing ingredients to their characters. While Season 9 was clearly the worst of the season (due mostly to unconvincing plotting), Season 10 was a triumph, starting strong and getting better every week. Lindsay Price shed the somewhat dowdy image of his first season and a half and showed how beautiful and sexy she can really be (not to the mention, the best natural figure of the female stars). Daniel Cosgrove gained stature as "Matt"; and, while never acquiring the "Brandon brashness," certainly captured Jason Walsh's earnestness. Most importantly, warmth and romance returned to the series. I watched the last episode wanting more and that's a great testimony to any show.

Here's my rating of the series pilot and 10 seasons

PILOT – ** ½ SEASON 1 - *** SEASON 2 - **** SEASON 3 - **** SEASON 4 - *** ½ SEASON 5 - ** ½ SEASON 6 - **** SEASON 7 - *** ½ SEASON 8 - **½ SEASON 9 - ** SEASON 10 ****

This is one of the best shows you will ever see !! I remember the first episode, all of the characters being sophomores in high school, just starting to gain some identity . To me, each character is a fantastic representation of the different situation a teenager faces in life. You've got the girls Kelly , Brenda, Donna (the good girl) , and Andrea (pronounced ON-dreea), and the guys Brandon (won my vote for best looking!) Steve, nerdy David, and soon to follow cool hand Luke - Dylan . The gang is as close as a bunch of high-schoolers are going to get, but let me tell you why to watch . This show crosses everything - drugs, sex , abuse, you name it . The characters bring the topics into their own hands and show how it affects their friends, family and lives. It has actually taught me a few lessons as well . One being that you never know your friends, and don't be surprised by their actions . This show proves that you never really know anyone . 90210 doesn't hold anything back, it shows emotion, and best of all rescues

My favorite episode, well let's just say I don't have just one, because I happened to enjoy all of them, but I will narrow it down if you're looking into checking it out . One episode that you must see is the episode where Dylan's dad dies, I myself was sympathetic to the character . The next best episode was of the 97-98 season, when the gang takes a trip to Hawaii, love is in the air, and everyone for that moment is just happy, but until the end where Kelly is shot .

If you are looking for a reason to quit doing drugs and drinking, check out the episode where David is addicted to speed , or when Kelly's co-dependency leads to her addiction with cocaine. Watch the chain of episodes where Dylan is over his head in drinking . If you are looking for abuse intervention, tune into the episode where Brandon mentors a physically abused boy, or when Donna overcomes her battering boyfriend (ray). If you are looking for some good-old fun episodes , check out the early college ones, when everybody is either pledging a fraternity or a sorority .

I strongly recommend this show to anyone who is interested in a reality based show, that is not focused on just the snobs of Beverly Hills, and is always teaching a different lesson .

I admit I haven't watched this show for years, so am going on memory here. I watched every episode of Seasons 1-5. When the quality took a nosedive after Season 4 (but Andrea was still around) I started watched it less and less. From what I gathered the plotlines just got more and more ridiculous. The new main actors were all plain like vanilla, like Vincent Young, Jamie Walters, Lindsay Price, Vanessa Marcil, etc. None of the new replacements excited me at all. (Daniel Cosgrove was not bad).

But, in terms of pure gold, the Brenda years, love or hate the actress, Seasons 1-4, were the best. Season 5 clocked in some golden moments too although I hated what happened to Andrea's character, going from brainy nerd to reluctant mother. After that I wouldn't watch anything as a repeat or catch up on what I missed.

I came to the BH 90210 universe pretty late. I didn't start watching until the third or forth season, but became immediately hooked. Luckily I was able to catch the prior seasons during reruns a year or two later. I've always felt that the Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) character was the heart, soul, and moral center of the series. He had his demons of course, but don't we all. The other majors characters were well cast, and really made you think about the years when we were in high school. But there's one thing that's bothering me, especially since I looked up the IMDb page when the show was finally being released on DVD. I've seen almost every episode of this series. I admit I didn't watch it as much after Jason Priestley left the show. But for the life of me I can't remember a character called Keith, who supposedly according to IMDb was in 291 episodes. Does anyone know who this guy is, or is this a typo by IMDb?