911-4-90210

Let’s be honest, the old show isn’t actually very good. It is, in fact, a morally heavy handed-look at a few egomaniacal kids with a penchant for chinos and animal prints, which putters along on the strength of its main character’s perfect facial proportions, a few palm trees, and very little else. So what’s make the brand so powerful? (Nylon September 2008, Special TV ISSUES edition).

Don’t find this statement agreeable. It was Beverly Hills 90210 that started deliciously spicy dialogues on teen drama today. Gossip Girl may now be the champion of what Beverly Hills 90210 did first. Besides, unlike their spectator, from their first season they had putting many serious matters on their stories;
1. Under age gun issues. Remember when David Silver’s best friend Scott accidentally shot and killed himself? There was this really good scene when David expressing his grief to Brandon, not realized he was talking in front of the radio microphone and got whole school listened.
2. Teenagers with mental problem. Brandon Walsh’s girlfriend, Emily Valentine, was this bad girl that set fired in front the Walsh family homes and sending threatening letters to the school newspaper. She ended in mental institution and was visited by Brandon.
3. Drug’s problem. From David with Meth and Kelly with cocaine.
4. The complication of being the minority Jew. Andrea Zuckerman was Brendan Fraser of School Lies. The smartest student with scholarship for fancy West Beverly Hills High. Brandon’s best friend and fellow editor on school’s newspaper.
5. Parents turning gay. Steve Sanders’s mother, a TV presenter, turning lesbian.
6. Politics. In college, Brandon dated the Dean’s daughter. One day an African dictator came to visit the campus. I still remember what the politician said (even though I am strongly against fascism for any reason) when he was confronted, “I did what I must. You could only understand that if you were in my position.”
Now after eight years the most successful teen drama in history is back. In the best magazine issue on the best pop culture magazine in this planet, NYLON, it was written that Beverly Hills 90210 was the hit setting of numerous teen drama followed; Party of Five, Dawson's Creek, Friday Night Lights, and Gossip Girl, three amongst the best, were never been born without Aaron Spelling’s BH 90210. Even though several years before 90210, there was a good TV show based on school life, 21 Jump Street and Head of the Class, a twenty four minutes duration comedy aired every Thursday afternoon on RCTI.

With facts that rarely a show has ever make triumph comeback after disappear from screen in a long times, this one loyal viewer of Beverly Hills 90210 had highly expecting the remake of 90210 only to become disappointed. 90210 has various similarity with its senior; a good model family from small town moving into posh Beverly Hills neighborhood. Only in a Dickensian spirit for such transparent intention, the big brother is not one of the twins, he is black Afro-American. To make it even worst, none of the casts except maybe Beverly Hills alumnae, Shannon Doherty and Jennie Garth had acting convincingly. Sometimes they were just a bunch of good looking people walking around saying things they oh-trying-so-hard-to-feel. Funny though, in the very same magazine, the casts praised the show’s producers as quoted below;

“On a lot of shows nowadays it’s like, ‘All right you got eating disorder for a day and then mommy finds out and then go for family dinner and it’s ok.’ That’s not the way the world works, you don’t get bullied in high school and then all of a sudden it’s patched up the next day. With our show, we’re going to find that the characters all have their own definitive characteristics, but there are many-many layers to peel away throughout the season…,” said the overacting actress Shenae Grimes of Annie Wilson character.
“I was really excited when I heard Gabe and Jeff had signed on as executive producers. You know they were going to be layering these characters and making them real. Not just who plays writing salacious heightened teen-sex mega drama,” Dustin Milligan who plays Ethan Ward.

But to follow 90210 after several episodes were to find exactly what they had critic about American teen dramas nowadays. Let’s be honest, a truly realistic and wonderfully written teen drama ever in television history never even belong to rich teens living adult scandal series, The OC was one of the worst, an empty-written series no better than 90210. Gossip Girl was the one offering strong characters, spicy dialogue and could be somewhat touching, giving an interesting scene when the-haves and the-common-world residents bumping head or befriend each other. Goody entertaining but somehow must be admitted were far from reality ground (c’mon, becoming a CEO of billion dollar industry in the age of seventeen, too Christina Onassis; a waitress from Brooklyn dating an Upper East Sider from old money family is too Austensian). For a good realistic teen drama with serious every day issue on, it was the one and only Friday Night Lights.
90210 have many layers to peel, expose, and cook for some delicious meal. Somehow they want the entire main character to be likeable, whole bunch of boring protagonists without depth and complexity. Hello, is this drama or what? They should learn few things from Gossip Girl. Chuck and Blair might be the villain who says a lot awful things to the less rich, but their saucy characters are the one that draws Gossip Girl many audience.
These are potential storyline they should explore from the beginning:
1. Adrianna with her Dina Lohan wannabe mother could have spice up the story line. She should be the school overachiever queen bee instead of Naomi Clark, an ambitious actress that busy maintaining her acting career, struggling social life, keeping up with good grades, while trying so hard pleasing her mother and becoming family breadwinner. Oh she better be a diet obsessed anorexic than drugs user. Fewer things we need to show on television is cool kids doing drugs, no wonder drugs user never been reduced but always increased. Not only it’s bad example, but also so cliché. To make the story spicier, Adrianna has a sister; mean, clingy, manipulative, and always jealous. She will be the bad girl turn good like Blair Waldorf. There, enough good layers for the next three seasons.
2. Ethan Ward has this mentally troubled brother. More storylines on that would give Ethan Ward more complex sympathetic character, make him look sexier than the Ethan we temporarily seeing.
3. More older casts involve on stories but not Harry Wilson and Tracy Clark or Granny Wilson , but more Donna, and Kelly and Brenda, and who between them two that finally get Dylan. But this could be tricky though. Instead of school play director, I prefer Brenda becoming TV series actress and playing Adrianna’s mother on screen. Oh, and Donna Martin’s boutique has this joint café with Pitch Pit, so while Dixon working his shift, more scene opportunity can be written for the ‘old generation 90210’ and ‘new generation 90210’. Then Donna will hire Silver for her internet skill, in a more useful way.
4. Instead only playing lacrosse, how many conflicts can be written in lacrosse field anyway, Dixon and Navid work closely together in the school newspaper and television. They have different vision and constant argument but will always eventually make up.
5. The quirky Silver prefer more ambitious character; Navid. While Dixon will eventually end up dating another twisted Emily Valentine (remember Brandon’s crazy girlfriend) whose having abused problems when she was small child.
6. This one is not about stories; sharper dialogues like the 90210 older versions were. Taken from en.wikiquote.com:

Brenda: So, who else is in his class anyway?
Brandon: I don't know, uh, Andrea, Donna, Steve Sanders...
Brenda: Dylan McKay?
Brandon: No, he's too smart to take this class.
Brenda: Or too busy chasing blondes?
Brandon: What are you talking about?
Brenda: I just don't understand why every guy's dream girl has to have hair like Daryl Hannah and a body like Kim Basinger.
Brandon: Bren, I'm trying to study here.
Brenda: Well excuse me for living.

Steve: Yo, Sam. Sam!
Scott: Me?
Steve: Come here.
Scott: I'm Scott.
Steve: Whatever. What's going on with him and MC Hammer?
Scott: David wants him to play at the prom.
Steve: MC Hammer's not gonna play at any school dance.
Scott: You know that, and I know that, and MC Hammer knows that. But unfortunately, somebody forgot to tell David.

Brandon: Hey. You're gonna be just fine.
Brenda: How do you know that, Brandon?
Brandon: Cause I'm older. And wiser.
Brenda: And just how much wisdom did you accumulate in those momentous four minutes?
Brandon: A small lifetime.
Brenda: Very small.