Although it has been years since I watched an entire episode of Beverly Hills 90210, it seems important to say something about the significance of the series finale.
It all began 20 years ago when I was a junior in college and Brenda and Brandon Walsh moved from Minnesota to Beverly Hills. Of course, from the beginning, Beverly Hills 90210 was completely unrealistic, foreshadowing the farce it would eventually become. For instance, the provincial twins immediately became the centerpieces of the most popular clique at West Beverly High School, which included Kelly, Donna, Steve and Dylan. In real life that would never happen. It would take months, if not years, for two midwestern teenagers to infiltrate the cool California clique. But, with each early episode reminiscent of an ABC After School Special – 90210 dealt with “very special” issues like teen pregnancy, alcoholism and suicide – it was easy to overlook the show’s shortcomings and my friends and I religiously tuned in every Wednesday at 8 p.m. to see what happened next.
Unfortunately, because it was created by Aaron Spelling, the man behind Dynasty and The Love Boat, 90210 eventually degenerated into standard soap opera fare: Dylan dumped Brenda for Kelly, Donna began dating David the dork, Steve was suspended from school, and Dylan’s father exploded. (Literally.) But by that time we were hooked. So we continued to watch, long after the show stopped dealing with remotely realistic teen angst.
And then the 90210 gang graduated from high school, I graduated from college, my friends scattered across the country, and things fell apart. Off-screen bad girl Shannon Doherty was replaced by on-screen bad girl Tiffany Amber Theissen, Donna and David still hadn’t had sex, and the writers developed a slight case of amnesia. Did they really think that we would simply forget that Brandon was an alcoholic?
With no gaggle of college friends to watch with, suddenly I felt too sophisticated to care what happened in the country’s most famous zip code. I gave up on Fox Wednesday nights, and turned my attention to more refined dramas like Law & Order, Homicide and ER.
Nonetheless, I have mixed emotions about the show’s demise. Like watching a beloved pet die, I feel both sad and relieved to see something I once loved finally put out of its misery.
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
