Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

GazerRise Fantastic!

Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

sarahbbbyyy 90s was a time of cheesy, over romanticized television and Beverly Hills 90210 is no different. This show paved the way for teen drama shows today. However, that fact is not saying anything in any way pleasant.Every teen drama show borrows staples from this show and is basically the same but with different premises. However, they are ultimately not as impactful for the current generation of kids who would rather watch "reality" shows and HBO programs. Remember, 90210 was popular at a time where this show was the first of it's kind and it was also on a huge network channel, Fox. It was on when there were only a five channels to watch on TV and a limited number of shows that got the entire family together. It was the first time there was a show geared toward teenagers in a decade of hokey family sitcoms like The Cosby Show and kid shows like Saved By The Bell. However, with the diversity of shows today, that does not mean much considering the shows it paved the way for, ultimately have no place in today's TV except for maybe satisfying the preteen girl demographic who have no idea of what it is like to be a teenager or have ever step foot in a high school. They are very much like a Taylor Swift or Britney Spears(in her early years) song: no actual substance or grounds to reality but are very stylish and pretty, so people love it anyway.Beverly Hills 90210 is probably the third most sappy, over sentimental, and condescending teen drama show I have ever watched, behind Secret Life of the American Teenager and One Tree Hill. It is not the best written show in the universe.Every episode has a very self righteous character basically talking down to another for making whatever mistake they are making with their lives. This happens literally in every episode. These characters, no matter how old they get, seem to not learn a thing from their own mistakes but once another person does not fit the standards of their faux moral "ethics", they have the audacity to judge them. One of the characters, Donna, works for a production company that hires a young girl to shoot a commercial for them. She was a spoiled kid who is forced to work by her mother but is also babied and given in to whatever demands she presents. Donna, a young 20 something who is just out of college, has no job, not much life experience or any children for that matter, actually tells the mother how to be a parent and talks down to her about how much she spoils her daughter and over works for her. Guess what happens at the end of that episode? After getting fired for not giving into the demands of a child, Donna gets her job back and the mother actually took Donna's words into consideration. Happy Ending, shall I say? That is exactly how life works in real life, huh? Something like this happens in every episode.This show also glorifies white privilege and ultimately takes real life issues, putting an over the top, very unrealistic spin on it.One character Kelly has been a burn victim, a rape victim and a shot victim. She also went through a miscarriage. She was almost married to character Brandon and yet broke it off on her wedding night. She also had an affair with her best friend's(Brandon's sister might I add) boyfriend and yet is easily the most judgmental character in the entire series, despite her obviously mistake driven personality.This show is not very character driven, it is far more story driven, which is part of it's problem.Ultimately though, despite it's ridiculous amount of flaws, we can not rid of it's impact on culture of teenagers in general. It opened up doors to talk about issues relating to adolescence. It might have not been the most accurate portrayal but was the biggest show during it's time and finally gave teenagers something to watch that interests them. Without it, we might have never had anything better.

tra1n_n_va1n Anyone who counts among their favorite shows Dawson's Creek, My So Called Life, One Tree Hill, or even Gilmore Girls must thank Beverly Hills 90210. Need I even mention Melrose Place, The Heights…?I was a junior in college when 90210 premiered and I began watching from episode one. I admit that now, in my middle age, I can't remember exactly what drew me to it immediately, though I must credit it with FOX's promotions at the time. FOX was still a "cutting edge" channel and I took my young, impressionable cues from such sources. Still, I was 6-7 years older than the characters (though actually the same age as the actors) when it premiered and so I hid my addiction to the show for a few months. I would hold off meeting my friends out in the bar to watch the latest episode. It wasn't until FOX made the genius decision to air new episodes over summer break did all of my equally "hip and cool" friends come clean to actually sitting in each Wednesday night to watch 90210 also. We made it a ritual to sit around and do our pre-party to 90210. So why were we, as college students, so drawn to this show about high school kids? Well for one thing, we really weren't THAT far removed from high school; we could still relate. Next, it was tragically "hip". It had the latest fashions (scary to even us now!) and music. It also had a really attractive cast (who again, were actually our age). Then, and most importantly, it was a really fun show to watch. It got "heavy" for a few minutes an episode, but then it always came back to being just plain "fun" to watch! The characters were likable, they were relatable… we all knew someone that fit each slot. They went through the same decisions, dramas, issues, worries we did- they just did it in better clothes and bigger houses! The show lasted an amazing 10 years. No matter what you think of the show now, something worked at the time or it never would have had such a long run. I watched faithfully through the high school years, the college years, and then my interest waned… I moved on in my life and the characters moved on (and some out of the show) and I quit watching it regularly in its last few seasons. I tried to hang on, but I just didn't enjoy the new characters and I didn't love the direction the original characters eventually took. I hated the direction that Kelly took- anyone recall she was a heinous, shallow bitch in the beginning?? I loved her! Then she was the girl everyone fell in love with (despite the little drug addiction and whore past?!). Then the parents left and I felt the "center" of the show did as well. Then no Brandon? It wavered horribly and I just couldn't follow faithfully anymore. By this point in my life I was in law school and the kids I came to love from undergrad and through grad school even were gone… Donna wasn't even a virgin anymore! Heavens! lol (that was always a joke to those of us at the time- Aaron Spelling's daughter was virgin for what? 8 years?? Yeah, OK…!) It actually made me sad as one night, I was cleaning the bar at my job in law school, that I looked on the bar TV and saw 90210 was on and I had NO idea what the heck was going on. Kelly from Saved By the Bell was talking about an AIDS test and Brandon might be marrying Kelly?! It was too much of a change for me, and again, I felt sad…So, what makes this show, that drifted from my radar, one for the books now? About a year ago I started noticing that the SOAP network was running its reruns. I always thought of this network as just a place to catch up on GH now that I worked full time and all that adult stuff… then *WHAM*! 90210 was on late night… and I remembered it didn't suck. And then I remembered it didn't suck for a LONG time…. Then I sought out all the seasons on DVD. And now, at 38, it still doesn't suck! I am watching the same high school'ers and their story lines I loved at 20, and I still love them and their terrible 80's/90's clothes and music and I am laughing and crying and loving it all over again! It hasn't lost one bit of its charm for me, and from reading the other reviews, it hasn't lost it for a new generation. The producers and actors created people that we like or even hate but definitely want to keep up with. This was the first show to try to show high school as it really was- and while they made it a lot "prettier" than some of us lived, they still wrote it for all of us, and all of us can still relate and still moon over Dylan and still root for underdog David and still hope Brandon NEVER falls for Andrea and still cry when Dylan sees his Dad blow up… it is all good. Then, and now. It wasn't the harshest, most "real" high school drama ever, but to me, it was the best, and to the world- it was the first. I have managed to watch the last couple seasons I missed for the first time, and while I still don't consider them as fab as the high school years, I can't turn it off. It is like rediscovering old friends, and catching up on their lives that I missed out on while I was much too busy in law school. It is great and sad and compelling…. I hope it never goes out of syndication!

streetsmarts101 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?

MarieGabrielle say what you will about earlier episodes, Tori Spelling, the "too GQ" looks of Dylan or Brandon, but really, can anyone name a series which has run for TEN years, and actually had interesting plots, some decent characters, some good music, Halloween specials and values as well??. I can't think of any. It seems this series was one of the last of any quality, before the death knell for taste and education sounded, reality and makeover TV kicked in, and American audiences were no longer given the right to see a well-written 1 hour TV drama that isn't set in a hospital or courtroom.There are many of us who now watch this on the Soap channel, and we don't even like soaps!. This show tapped into a niche of high school and college students who could relate to the themes, in one way or another; maybe everyone wasn't driving a Porsche through Beverly Hills, but we all knew people like Brenda, Kelly, Dylan, Brandon, Andrea, Valerie, David, Donna, Steve, Claire, and even the Walshes (James Eckhouse and Carol Potter). Some of the shows featuring guest stars such as Jaime Walters, Christine Elise and Nicholas Pryor (as Claire's father) were also very good. One storyline I thought particularly interesting was the series where Kelly joins a cult, and led by a campus guru, Patrick Finley, becomes lured into it, only to learn the true story behind it. There is also an episode where Brandon and Claire face-off regarding a dictator who is friends with Claires father Chancellor Arnold. Brandon struggles with whether to accuse the man of illegal acts as a dictator.While sometimes Brandon (Jason Priestley) and Dylan (Luke Perry) were so obviously opposite and pitted against each other, whether in moral issues or regarding Kelly, somehow the stories click; the episodes with David's (well portrayed by Brian Austin Green) and Dylan's substance abuse and how they eventually get help are also useful without being preachy.The later college years with Valerie (Tiffani Amber Thiessen) and Donna and Ray, sorority life, class differences, discrimination, were also good. The physical abuse issue was well-portrayed by Spelling and Jaime Walters, although he unfortunately left the show soon after this. Additionally, the issues with Donna's mother (well done by Catherine Cannon) and her elitism, were portrayed in a contemporary light. The earlier show seemed to deal with more racial and dis-equity, as in when Brandon is writer for the school paper- these issues may have been more developed, especially as they are living in L.A.Toward the end, the episodes with Vanesa Marcil and Vincent Young were not as good as the Valerie episodes, although eating disorders and career problems were addressed, as well as drug addiction. At times it may get a little soapy, but sometimes the show had a few good messages worth noting, and that is non-existent in today's TV- which I am sure most people do not watch unless their cable has gone out, in which case you should just rent a DVD or Tivo- I cannot think of one network show today that I would ever watch, or want my child to watch, unlike this show, which was well worth it. 9/10.