REPORT FROM L. A.
Alan Pergament: Familiar ZIP code has changed a lot since ’90s
Alan Pergament
Updated: 07/22/08 8:17 AM
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- Producer Gabe Sachs, left, points at actress Shenae Grimes, as producer eff Judah speaks during the "90210" CW panel at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in in Beverly Hills.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Arguably the most famous ZIP code in the United States, 90210, is right here in Beverly Hills. And now the struggling CW network is hoping a spinoff of the ’90s Fox phenomenon, “Beverly Hills, 90210,” will put it on the Nielsen map.
Name recognition has helped the new “90210” get buzz, but as NBC’s “Bionic Woman” discovered last season, that only works for a few episodes.
Still, the CW expects the nostalgia crowd to check in when the spinoff introduces the hot new stars who are in the two-hour Sept. 2 premiere. The CW has announced that three female stars of the original series, Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling and Shannen Doherty, will reprise their old characters in multiple episodes at the minimum.
But the long-term success of the show will be in the hands — or should we say faces — of young stars Shenae Grimes, Tristan Wilds, AnnaLynne McCord, Dustin Milligan, Jessica Stoup, Michael Steger and Ryan Eggold. Staying in the spirit of the original, Grimes and Milligan are Canadians. You may remember Jason Priestley, one of the original stars, was Canadian, too.
The cast also includes veteran actors Lori Loughlin (“Full House”), Rob Estes (“Melrose Place”) and Jessica Walter (“Arrested Development”). However, the names that probably are the most important to the show’s success are Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah, the writer-producers who were raised in the Judd Apatow (“Knocked Up,” “The 40 Year Old Virgin”) School of Humor. They have worked on such smart TV failures as NBC’s “Freaks & Geeks” and ABC’s “Life As We Know It.”
They realize that “90210” has the additional problem of dealing with students at a fictional high school when the TV landscape has changed dramatically since the ’90s. Shows set in high school are seemingly everywhere now, especially on cable.
“It is difficult,” conceded Judah. “I think one of the reasons people loved the original so much was it was really one of the first ones to focus on teens, and young [viewers] could sort of see their lives.”
Loughlin, who was on the sappier “Full House” when “Beverly Hills, 90210” aired, remembers the impact the original show had even though she didn’t watch it.
“I actually knew who all those actors were,” said Loughlin. “I knew their characters. I basically knew their story lines, and I didn’t even watch the show. So I think it just goes to show you how far-reaching and how popular it really was.” Of course, teen life, parenting styles, the celebrity culture and FCC regulations have all changed since the original premiered almost two decades ago.
“Kids do seem to grow up a little faster these days, and I think as a parent that does worry you,” said Judah. “A lot of times kids are experiencing now in high school what we experienced in college. I think that’s one of the issues we’re looking at and are they emotionally ready for that? No, they’re not, and that’s where . . . the core values of this family and the parenting will come into play.”
As in the original, a family moves from Middle America (Kansas this time) back to Beverly Hills. This time, the show has some diversity, which the producers said more accurately reflects the ZIP code.
“Families have changed,” said Judah. “There’s a lot more adoption. There’s a lot more blended families, and that’s one of the things we’re starting with. You’ll see it also with the friends and the other characters coming into the show that we’re reflecting the new environment, the way Los Angeles actually is.”
Judah added he and Sachs plan to give “90210” a stronger adult point of view on parenting.
“We’re both fathers,” said Judah. “We feel like this central family, this core family, moves into Beverly Hills and it’s, how do they hold onto their, sort of, moral center? We think this generation of parenting is different than the ones we grew up with. . . . It’s a lot harder to lie to us. We know what they’re doing, and they can’t get away with stuff that they think they are [getting away with] because we did it 20 years ago. Nice try.
“We also want to have this point of view that there are these other families in Beverly Hills who we’ve seen in this generation of baby-booming parents who just think they’re parenting by giving their kids money and excess and clothing and no rules. We have a strong point of view that kids need boundaries, need rules.”
Judah also believes that interest in the rich will increase in these troubled times of $4-plus gas and house foreclosure problems.
“There’s something interesting in seeing these big worlds and also seeing these people in a different way and on an emotional level suffer the same way that every one of us do, struggling to sort of get through the day,” said Judah.
Isn’t that rich?
