Hot fun in the California sun, 90210 is back.
It’s glamorous, it’s trendy, it’s the perfect west coast counterpoint to “Gossip Girl’s” east coast chic. It’s also one of the most brilliant moves in CW scheduling history. It’s an old classic with an edgy new spin, it’s “90210” and it’s bound to capture not only the teen audience but their moms as well.
The original “Beverly Hills, 90210” was a breeding ground for teen idols. It ran on Fox through the 90’s and was one of the first nighttime soaps aimed at a young, hip audience. The focus was ‘the good life,’ pool parties, fancy cars, designer dresses and teenage power trips. Of course all that ‘good life’ comes with a few not-so-nice side effects — drug and alcohol abuse, unprotected sex, and blatant disrespect for authority of any kind.
Funny, almost twenty years later and those same plot lines still pack a punch.
The original series gave us Ian Ziering and Jennie Garth (“Dancing with the Stars”), Brian Austin Greene (“Sarah Connor Chronicles”) Luke Perry, Jason Priestly, Shannen Doherty, and Tori Spelling, whose dad, Aaron Spelling, was one of the geniuses behind the project.
This time around the focus is on Annie Mills (Shenae Grimes) and her brother Dixon (Tristan Wilds), Midwestern transplants to the city of a million face-lifts. To get the grown-ups watching, the Mills’ parents are played by Lori Loughlin and Rob Estes (“Melrose Place”) with Jessica Walker as grandma Tabitha.
Here’s how The CW explains the rest:
For Annie and Dixon, the awkwardness of being the new kids is made worse by the fact that their dad has taken a job as the high school principal. The school is one big culture shock for Annie, a sweet and friendly girl with a passion for the theater, and Dixon, a star athlete and scholar who was adopted by the Mills family after they took him in as a foster child. Annie and Dixon have a close sibling relationship, which they’ll need to help them cope with all the new cliques and classmates, including Naomi (AnnaLynne McCord, “Nip/Tuck”), a hot, spoiled, rich girl; Ethan (Dustin Milligan, “Runaway”), a popular jock whose abilities rival Dixon’s; Navid (Michael Steger, “The Winner”), an aspiring reporter who heads up the school’s daily newscast; and Silver (Jessica Stroup, “Prom Night”), a rebel who produces and stars in a YouTube-type video series. Even the faculty seems hip and sophisticated at WBHHS, such as smart and funny teacher Ryan Matthews (Ryan Eggold, “Dirt”) and beautiful guidance counselor Kelly Taylor (guest star Jennie Garth, the original “Beverly Hills, 90210”). The Mills family has just begun to realize how much their lives are about to change.
Not only is Jennie Garth returning to her old stomping ground, but so is Tori Spelling! Spelling, who recently returned to LA after closing up her reality-series run as an innkeeper, will again play Donna Martin. She’ll be the owner of a store in town that is frequented by the teens on the show.
Surely the producers of the new spin-off are wooing other “90210” alums for at least guest starring roles, so who would you want to see back in action?
See if your favorites turn up when the new “90210” premieres this fall on The CW.
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