Series Description

The Beverly Hills 90210 TV show was a 60 minute teen drama series on the FOX Network about a bunch of teens who lived in the 90210 zip code otherwise known as Beverly Hills. It was attractive to teens because it not only allowed them to fantasize about the lives of rich kids, but also showed that those kids had the same problems as those of the viewers. When a wealthy teen got a new car for their birthday, it was exciting. When they got dumped by a boyfriend or girlfriend, they hurt just like anyone else. There was also the contrast between the close family life of the less rich Walsh family and the neglected kids with super wealthy parents to make the average viewer appreciate the fact that money doesn't buy happiness regardless of how nice it is to have the things that money can buy.

Beverly Hills 90210 Cast

Jason Priestley .... Brandon Walsh
Jennie Garth .... Kelly Taylor
Shannen Doherty .... Brenda Walsh
Luke Perry .... Dylan McKay
Tiffani-Amber Thiessen ... Valerie Malone
Brian Austin Green .... David Silver
Tori Spelling .... Donna Martin
Gabrielle Carteris .... Andrea Zuckerman

Beverly Hills 90210 Trivia:

Beverly Hills 90210 created a "spin-off" series titled, "Melrose Place" due to the fact that actor Grant Show appeared as Jake Hanson on episode #49 and 50 of Beverly Hills 90210 as Luke Perry's boyhood mentor and then as the same character on Melrose Place. Brandon Walsh named his first car "Mondale" after the former vice-president of the United States, "Walter Mondale".

Tiffani-Amber Thiessen was the 1987 "Miss Junior America". In 1987, just two years later, she landed the role as Kelly Kapowski on "Saved By The Bell". She got her role on Beverly Hills 90210 nearly immediately after Saved by the Bell ended. Now all male Bell fans know that Kelly was super cute but she was a small girl and so was her bra size, maybe too small for a super sexy role on 90210. Tiffani must have wondered that too because somewhere between her appearances on the two series, breast implants had obviously solved that problem. It also helped out with the nude photos she posed for in "Veronica" magazine and "New Look" magazine!

Shannen Doherty was fired from the 90210 cast after filming the fourth season because of consistently being late on the set and her constant conflicts with other Cast. A few years later, she would get fired from the series, "Charmed" for constantly fighting with Alyssa Milano ("Who's the Boss"). She also wrote $32,000 in bad checks, smashed in a car window, and plead guilty to drunken driving. That leaves little doubt that she is a capable actress as she was very believable as sweet, amicalbe Brenda Walsh!

The part of Valerie Malone on the Beverly Hills 90210 TV show was first offered to Alicia Silverstone but she declined the job to pursue her movie career. Tiffani-Amber Thiessen ("Saved by the Bell") then accepted the role.

Brian Austin Green may have been noticed by the producers of Beverly Hills 90210 from the Kellogs Corn Pops commercials he did the year before 90210 began filming.

The fall 1990 TV season was packed full of new series about the lives of high school aged kids. "Ferris Bueller", "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", "Hull High", and "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" all premiered in 1990 but Beverly Hills 90210 was the most watched by teenagers, probably because it best depicted the real-life challenges facing teenagers in the 1990s.

Luke Perry became enticed with acting as a young child while enjoying soap operas with his mom. A few years later he would make a few short appearances on the soap, "Another World".

The Beverly Hills school board was concerned about how their students would be characterized on the show so they refused permission for Brandon and Brenda's high school to be named after the real-life "Beverly Hills High School". Instead, the show used the name "West Beverly High" and 99% of the world's audience never knew the difference.

Aaron Spelling (Tori's Dad) produced this TV show and so many other ones that only a very few of his best known can be listed here. Here they are:
"Burke's Law (1963)", "Daniel Boone (1964)", "The Mod Squad (1968)", "Starsky and Hutch (1975)", "Charlie's Angels (1976)", "The Love Boat (1977)", "Fantasy Island (1978)", "Hart to Hart (1979)", "Dynasty (1981)", "Matt Houston (1982)", "Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990)", "Melrose Place (1992)", "7th Heaven (1996)", "Charmed (1998)".

It was really interesting to watch Tori Spelling for the first few seasons of Beverly Hills 90210! Her father obviously was giving her an opportunity to break into show business. At first she had almost no scenes and got almost no lines in the few scenes she got. As time went by, Tori slowly got more scenes with more lines. Eventually, she became an equal member of the cast and, in this author's humble opinion, did a pretty good job! It's rare to see that type of progress in a star's career packaged together like that in a relatively small amount of time and on one TV series!

The 2-episode series finale of Beverly Hills 90210 was highly anticipated. The fact that Donna would get married in the final half hour was something that fans were especially looking forward to but even so, the finale got a slightly smaller audience than a new hot game show titled, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire"!