90210: "We're Not in Kansas Anymore"
90210 is finally here and started with a two-hour season premiere. It is almost impossible to watch this show and not compare it to the original. The Walsh family has been replaced with the Wilsons. Harry Wilson brings his wife, Debbie, and two kids, Annie and Dixon, to live with his mother as he starts his position as principal at West Beverly. It becomes obvious rather quickly that the family is "not in Kansas anymore". The new cast of characters are definitely good-looking ones (even the parents are hot this time around), but we're not completely sold on the show itself. The potential is there, but the premiere tried to do too many things too soon.
Let's get reacquainted with the characters, shall we?
Annie Wilson: She's the new Brenda but with more of Donna's dorky qualities. Sure, she's hot, but not hot enough to escape the hazing of the students around her. She loves musical theater and gets good grades but seems to take an interest in the bad boy.
Dixon Wilson: Annie's adopted brother and all-star lacrosse player. His moves on the field incite jealousy in some of the other players, which leads to trouble. We're wondering how many times he'll get kicked off of the team this season. So far the tally is two.
Grandma Tabitha: Quite possibly our favorite of the Wilson clan. She tells it like it is, drinks long island iced teas and is generally a sweet trouble-maker with impeccable taste. One of our favorite lines was when asking about Dixon's fight with a fellow lacrosse player, "Did you kick his ass?" Perfect.
Harry Wilson: Father of Annie and Dixon and the principal of the high school. We come to find out he fathered another child at the age of 17 who was put up for adoption and is just learning about it. Oh, and his baby-momma is one of the student's mothers. We're sure that will come up more than a few times!
Naomi Clark: The popular rich girl. Much like Kelly Taylor's early days, Naomi is a bit of a bitch. We're sure she's a bitch with a heart of gold; she's just misunderstood. Her relationship with lacrosse stud, Ethan Ward, is falling apart right before her eyes. She falls in and out of friendship with Annie approximately three times in the premiere but we have a feeling they'll make up and break up a few more times before the end of the school year. Oh, and her mom is also Harry's baby-momma.
Ethan Ward: The hot star athlete and ladies man. Annie and Ethan shared a kiss two summers ago but make it seem like their connection is stronger than just that. Heck, he kept an ugly purple pentapus (five-legged octopus) that they won at a carnival together. He surfs, he cocks his eyebrow, he cheats on Naomi... we're guessing he's the new Dylan.
Silver (aka Erin Silver): Oh, snap! It's Kelly Taylor and David Silver's little sister! She is jaded from getting burned by her friendship with Naomi and has put that energy into a gossip blog a la Gossip Girl but without the anonymity. She latches on to Annie, gets angry when Naomi pulls Annie away, lashes out at Annie on her website, apologizes to Annie and somehow opens up the opportunity for her to get into the school musical.
Navid Shirazi: One part David Silver, one part Steve Sanders and one part porn mogul's son. Navid proves himself to be Dixon's new right hand man (regardless of him always calling Dixon his "bitch"). He's great at investigative reporting, so we're sure he'll find some juicy bits of info in the upcoming episodes.
Ryan Matthews: The snarky teacher (and also lacrosse coach) who looks about as old as his students. He seems to always say the wrong thing even when he's trying to be sweet. He's got the hots for the school guidance counselor, Kelly Taylor.
Overall, there is A LOT going on right out of the gates. Actually, too much, and with way too much exposition. We don't need to know the life stories of all of the characters right away; that's why it's a series and not a made-for-TV movie. While they put a great group of actors and actresses together, they were misused. We're hoping that with time, the show will turn into a well-oiled machine with maybe one story per week instead of dumping ten into one and then wash, rinse, repeating it. Still, there's enough there to keep us intrigued enough to see what happens to this bunch.
If nothing else, it did have a pretty sweet soundtrack. What did you think of the show? Do you have any predictions? Will you be making it back next week? Let us know in the comments!
Comments
I really enjoyed the show, but I do agree that they put way too many story lines and issues into the first episode. They could have just made it a one hour episode with a couple of plot lines and it would have been good. I felt like they were trying to make the first episode like a movie or something. They would have all these things to keep you guessing (the adopted son, and the matching tattoos thing) and they totally resolved them by the time the show was over- they could have made us wait a few weeks or something. But besides that I actually really liked it. I like the actors and actresses that are in the show. I still like Gossip Girl more, but I feel like I could probably relate to 90210 better.
Posted by: Zoe | September 7, 2008 5:36 PM
90210 had a bunch of predictable plotlines and the cheating thing seemed really similar to the nate/blair/chuck thing in gossip girl. at least it was to me. i think it did not have a good pilot, but because of the reputation of the other 90210, it was probably allowed to air. deunno, but that is what it seems like to me. all the other shows oth, supernatural (definitely), smallville, gossip girl had pretty exceptional pilots.
i was hoping through the 2 hours that something new or cool would come up, but it didn't. so i'm not really going to watch next weeks unless the 90210 cast and crew step it up a notch.
Posted by: lindsay | September 7, 2008 2:11 PM
I'm not a 90210 fan. But if The CW Source brought back Melrose Place, I'd be SO all over that!
Posted by: dorothy parker | September 5, 2008 7:28 PM
i just hope they write a good character for tristan wilds. i loved him in the wire.
Posted by: Just Tina | September 5, 2008 7:05 PM
I agree. Too much, too soon. It was overwhelming on the history in these characters (especially with the adults) but what the odd thing is, is that nothing held on. I watched it but nothing stuck with me.
I got bored really quick yet still kept watching to see if it would get better... it didnt. It would have had so much potential but like you said from a podcast before (not sure if it was Mia or Sarah or Jackie) that there was a ton of promotion but no real exposure on what to expect from the show. No real clips or trailers in episodes and that was an automatic WARNING sign from the start. And now I see why. Nothing is really dominant that can be showcased to make the audience be like "Omg that looks hot" or "omg that looks like it could be a great show! I'll watch it." Yeah none of that happened. This one is too much of a build up waiting to happen when in the end, it falls short of expectations.
Not sure how long this show will last for because I doubt I'll tune in next week. Sorry. Just being honest.
Posted by: Zury | September 4, 2008 10:45 PM
HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: sha | September 4, 2008 8:20 PM
It was too much too soon. I wanna know who Kelly's baby daddy is (I'm hoping Brandon but I am thinking its Dylan unfortunately...though by his hair I would guess Steve tho I am sure they wouldnt have broken him and Janet up).
Brenda was not in it enough but the Brenda Kelly scenes were great.
And I am sad that Mel and Jackie are once again broken up.
I am confused about Andrea's daughter tho....she was born in 1994 when the 4th season ended so she should be 14 now....but already she is the newscaster for the high school as a freshman? They must have added years to her age.
Posted by: JeniLee | September 3, 2008 9:40 PM
I loved it. I am hooked. Yes a lot happened in one episode but it left me wanting more and wondering what was going to happened. As time goes by I think the show will just get better.
Posted by: September | September 3, 2008 7:02 PM
this how stinks.. i didnt watch it all becuase i could not stand the bad acting and stupid stuff going on, they sooo over promoted this show and they got ppl all excited for no reason..
Posted by: Melissa | September 3, 2008 6:45 PM
Don't know how you made it past two o'clock in the morning. Because I did not. oh, the cubs!
Posted by: Anonymous | September 3, 2008 5:51 PM
I hated it, but never watched the original.
I agree, way too much to fast- and not in a god way at all! They just threw all this stuff at you without making you care. Bad, bad premiere.
Posted by: Kim | September 3, 2008 5:19 PM
<33333333333333333333 Ethan
and I love Dixon and Navid too =)
acutally I think i love all of the characters...
Posted by: Isha | September 3, 2008 3:54 PM
So I'm really confused.... I thought their last name was Mills? I could have swore I read several articles that said Mills....
Posted by: Alyssa | September 3, 2008 3:35 PM
I totally agree with what you guys said!! Too much too fast!! The whole adopted son right out of the gate was like whoa, hold the phone. Harry's only been back for 2 weeks and this woman is like Aunt Becky said... from crazy town.
Posted by: katie | September 3, 2008 11:25 AM