Carstairs Considers....: TV Show Review: 90210

Thursday, May 9, 2013

TV Show Review: 90210 - Season 1

Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Addicting; last few episodes; appearances by original cast

Cons: Story so strong characters not given time to develop.

The Bottom Line:

Weak characters are

Put through their paces by plot

In average show

Not Your Parents' 90210

While I never watched the show, I was part of the Beverly Hills 90210 generation. As a result, I have always felt an attachment to those characters and followed reports of the show to see what they were up to. When the CW announced it would be updating the show as 90210, I knew I'd have to watch a couple of episodes. My interest was only peaked when I learned that a couple of the original cast members would appear as their old characters in some of the episodes. So I sat down to watch and see how the new cast developed in season one.

The Wilson family has moved from Kansas to Beverly Hills. Father Harry (Rob Estes) has taken the job of principal at West Beverly High. His wife Debbie (Lori Loughlin) is a photographer. And his kids are now students at his high school. Annie (Shenae Grimes) is thrilled about the transition since she wants to be an actress. Dixon (Tristan Wilds) is a little less excited, mainly because he doesn't want to deal with explaining the obvious adoption all over again.

The kids quickly make new friends. There's fellow actress Adrianna (Jessica Lowndes), popular girl Naomi (AnnaLynne McCord), jock Ethan (Dustin Milligan), quiet Navid (Michael Steger), and semi-Goth Silver (Jessica Stroup). Together these friends will face questions of sex, drugs, pregnancy, and interpersonal trials. Will they still be speaking tomorrow?

Let's start by getting the disclaimer out of the way. Like the original, this show is attempting to push the envelope as far as content goes. Sex is everywhere, some of it more explicit than I was comfortable with. Older teens and adults are the best audience for the show.

As I mentioned, the season featured quite a few appearances by Kelly (Jennie Garth) as a guidance counselor at the school. Brenda (Shannen Doherty) appeared in 8 episodes, and Tori Spelling came back as Donna in two. Maybe it's my age, but I found myself more excited by the adults and their storylines than I was the teens. Okay, so that probably is a reflection of my age. But they are the main reason I kept tuning in.

The show had problems from the start. Story is king. And that's not necessarily a good thing. While I am all in favor of fast moving stories, this time things progress so fast we often don't have time to fully understand the emotional impact on the characters before we've moved on to the next plot point. The emphasis on story becomes obvious when Donna shows up. It was known going in that she would only be in two episodes, yet they left her story totally hanging. Frankly, when you really look at everything that has happened in this year alone, I wonder where we have left to explore in upcoming seasons.

Meanwhile, the characters suffer at the hands of the plot. It wasn't until the second half of the season that I truly felt I got to know all of them. I spent much of the first half trying to keep all of them and their stories straight. I probably wouldn't have stuck with it had I not wanted to know what would happen with the adults.

The acting doesn't help matters. At times it can be quite good. Other times, it is a little weak. I think just about everyone falls victim to this at one point or another.

And yet, I can't stop watching. Every week, I think about it, but every week they leave the story with enough open threads that I need to know what happens next. I will admit, I get hooked easily, and that's obvious the case here.

There are signs of hope for next season. The final two episodes were outstanding. In fact the season finale was the best hour the show has produced to date. Yes, it introduced a plot point that might never get resolved, but that was my only complaint. And the cliffhanger has left me wondering what will happen next all summer.

This six disc set contains all 24 episodes of the first season in anamorphic widescreen and full surround sound. Bonus features are limited to one featurette and a few cast and crew commentaries.

90210 isn't great television. It's barely good television. And yet I can't stop watching. Hopefully things will improve as the second seasons gets underway and I'll feel less guilty than I did during season one as I sit down to watch each week.

Season 1 Episodes:

1. We're Not in Kansas Anymore

2. The Jet Set

3. Lucky Strike

4. The Bubble

5. Wide Awake and Dreaming

6. Model Behavior

7. Hollywood Forever

8. There's No Place Like Homcoming

9. Secrets and Lies

10. Games People Play

11. That Which We Destroy