‘90210′ recap: ‘Hollywood Forever’
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- October
- 8
The new kids got to run West Beverly by themselves last night: It was the first 9-0 episode without any of the high school alumni.
And what did those little rascals do without the previous generation there to supervise?
Well, Annie and Ethan were assigned a fake baby for health class! (Yawn. Could this storyline be more hackneyed? I think it might be a prerequisite in Teen-Soap-Opera-Writing 101.)
Dixon missed his curfew because he fell asleep watching horror movies with Silver! (Snore.)
New girl Kim got super-feisty and flirty with Ryan! But don’t worry, it’s not an inappropriate student-teacher relationship, she’s really a narc hired by Harry to investigate the school’s drug problem. (Slight eyebrow raise, since that was a bit of a surprise.)
Naomi takes the rap for Adrianna! After they rekindle their friendship in some weirdo necklace swapping ritual, of course. N. tries to flush Ade’s drugs—in the most obvious manner possible—and gets arrested. (Serious head shake, especially since Naomi’s outfit makes it more plausible for her to be busted for solicitation.)
Ade finally O.Ds! (Did anyone not see that coming? And does anyone actually think she’ll actually die? Please.)
For me, the most entertaining thing about last night’s episode was a too brief appearance by Jessica Walter, who got called on the carpet by Mr. and Mrs. Saintly Wilson for swimming naked in front of the gardener.
I laughed out loud at her explanation of liking the way it feels when “water glides off my ass.” And I’m glad Tabitha is going to let her “freak flag fly,” but when Grandma is one of the most interesting characters on a teen-based show, you’ve got some serious problems.
Look, I still think this show has potential—even if I stand by my original argument that the series would fare much better by focusing on the old characters and putting the new kids in the background. I mean, even viewers who never saw the original had to miss the spark of Kelly and Brenda last night.
But if the show really is going to try to stand independent of its predecessor, it has to get its act together.
The main kids—namely Annie, Dixon and Ethan—have to develop more of a personality. And give more screen time to those who actually HAVE one: Navid, for example, is a total scene stealer even though he hasn’t had much to do beyond screening the new James Bond flick for his friends.
Something drastic also needs to be done about the dialogue ASAP. Go kidnap someone from the “Gossip Girl” writers’ room or something, because half of the kids wander through scenes saying little more than, “Hey, what’s up?”
Even when the writers make an attempt at wit, it mostly falls flatter than a pancake. Anyone else cringe at that “Nobody puts baby in the corner” line that Mrs. Wilson tossed out? The old folks get it, but the kids don’t: It’s from Dirty Dancing, a movie way before their time! HA! Ugh. I swear I saw Rob Estes and Lori Loughlin rolling their eyes when they thought no one was looking.
And please, in the name of Valentino, put these kids in some designer wear! Did the CW give all the wardrobe money to “Gossip Girl?” Even the girls on “Privileged” look swankier. We are in BEVERLY HILLS, people! ZIP code of the uber-rich! There is no reason why Naomi, especially, should look as if she’s been rummaging through the sale racks at H&M.
So what did you think? Will you keep watching if the old 9ers stay out of the picture? You’ll get a reminder of how much better the show is with them over the next two weeks, because “90210” will be replaying its first few episodes.
(Photos courtesy of the CW)
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 at 9:26 am by Heather Salerno.
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