BH90210


BH90210 is an American comedy drama series that aired on Fox from August 7 to September 11, 2019. As the sixth series in the franchise, original series stars Jason Priestley, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, Brian Austin Green, and Tori Spelling return, playing themselves in a heightened version of reality that's inspired by their real lives and bonds, in which the actors deal with launching a reboot of Beverly Hills, 90210. In November 2019, the series was canceled after one season.

Plot

The series focuses on the original cast members of Beverly Hills, 90210—Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, Brian Austin Green, Tori Spelling, and Shannen Doherty—playing heightened, fictionalized versions of themselves. Having parted ways 19 years after the original series ended, they reunite to get a reboot up and running, and must reconcile their new lives with the complications of their histories together.

Cast

Main

The main cast is composed of actors from the original series portraying fictionalized versions of themselves. Their fictional characters and storylines are inspired by the actors' real lives.
  • Gabrielle Carteris as herself: Carteris was Andrea Zuckerman in the original series. In the series, Carteris is president of the fictional Actors Guild of America, reflecting Carteris's real-life SAG-AFTRA presidency. In the series, Carteris's character explores her sexuality, decades into her heterosexual marriage. Carteris hoped the storyline would add authenticity to the series and promote representation, stating, "Women come to a time in their lives where they raise their kids, they've had their careers, their kids leave home, and they're deciding, 'Am I recommitting to my relationship? It's been a great ride. Do I want to stay here? Maybe there's something else.'"
  • Shannen Doherty as herself: Doherty was Brenda Walsh in the original series and the CW revival. Doherty did not want her fictional characterization to affirm "the prevailing public image that she's a trouble-making villain," though she is depicted as being estranged from the rest of the cast. While Doherty said "the scripted version of Shannen is extremely heightened" and "a little bit more of a hippie", the character incorporated her real-life dedication to animal activism.
  • Jennie Garth as herself: Garth was Kelly Taylor in the original series and several of its spin-offs. Developing a fictional version of herself required a lot of introspection, according to Garth, ultimately creating a character "in her ‘40s in a multiple-marriage situation, dealing with teenage girls, dealing with Hollywood, being in the limelight again and facing all those fears that were there when she was a young girl." Ziering reiterated that Garth's character would have a storied love life, reflecting Garth's real-life marriages.
  • Brian Austin Green as himself: Green was David Silver on the original series. His fictionalized character is a stay-at-home dad.
  • Jason Priestley as himself: Priestley was Brandon Walsh in the original series. According to Priestley, his fictionalized character "differs from in every way", aside from his career as a TV director. Ziering elaborated that Priestley's character only directs teen dramas, leaving him creatively dissatisfied. Priestley also described his character as "Christopher Nolan-obsessed," and wore a "WWCND" bracelet while filming.
  • Tori Spelling as herself: Spelling was Donna Martin in the original series and several spin-offs. Creating the fictional Tori character proved difficult for the writers, according to Spelling, due to the public fodder surrounding the actor's personal life. The fictional Tori has six children, whereas Spelling has five in real life. According to Ziering, Spelling's character is "broke," reflecting the actor's alleged financial issues, and is thus the catalyst for getting the reboot off the ground. Spelling's reality television career is also satirized in the series as her family's main source of income.
  • Ian Ziering as himself: Ziering was Steve Sanders in the original series. Ziering's character on the show is an entrepreneur. He describes the character as "much more motivating and inspiring" than Ziering is in real life, adding that he is "very well off, lives in a beautiful home, he's got everything he really needs — so we think."

    Guest stars

  • Carol Potter as herself: Potter portrayed Cindy Walsh on the original series, who now works as a licensed therapist.
  • Christine Elise as herself: Elise recurred as Emily Valentine in the original series. According to Elise, the series takes "enormous liberties" with her characterization, including making her an executive at Fox and a lesbian, and she was adamant the story not heavily incorporate her real-life former romance with Priestley. Elise described her character as a villain with a vendetta against the main cast.
  • La La Anthony as Shay: Brian's fictional wife and a successful pop/hip-hop artist. She is the breadwinner for the family while Brian is a stay-at-home dad. She has grown accustomed to being the center of attention but remains down to earth.
  • Vanessa Lachey as Camille: Jason's fictional wife and a high-powered publicist who desires to start a family.
  • Jenna Rosenow as Stacy: Ian's fictional wife, a fitness guru who's having a secret affair behind his back.
  • Ivan Sergei as Nate: Tori's fictional husband and an ex-hockey player with aspirations of becoming a professional sports announcer. The Nate character was based on tabloid depictions of Spelling's real-life husband, Dean McDermott, as well as public perceptions of their marriage.
  • Ty Wood as Zach: A young fan who watches the original show with his mother, and who initially believes himself to be Brian's alleged illegitimate son, which was subsequently disproved by DNA testing secretly ordered by Shay. At the end of the season finale, it is implied that Jason may possibly be his biological father.
  • Karis Cameron as Kyler, Jennie's fictional teenage daughter who wants to become an actress like her mother. Jennie also hires Kyler to co-star with her in the reboot series after finding out that she wants to follow in her footsteps. Kyler, however, was laid off from the series by executives who ordered a number of changes for the show.
  • Evan Roderick as Chaz Bryant
  • Brad Bergeron as Matthew
  • Destiny Millns as Heather
  • Natalie Sharp as Anna: A writer who gets hired by the network to be the showrunner on the reboot series. Sharp said her character "owns her power so well... Anna will snap her fingers and tell you what you should be doing and what you shouldn't be doing. She really puts people in their place."
  • Brendan Penny as Wyatt Jackson, Jennie's bodyguard who she hires to keep her safe.
  • Jamie Walters as himself: Walters was Ray Pruit, Donna's abusive boyfriend, in the original series. Walters retired from acting after negative fan reaction to his character damaged his career. This trajectory is satirized within the series when Tori falsely accuses him of trying to sabotage their reboot in an act of revenge.
  • Denise Richards as herself: Richards guest starred on the original series as Robin, Kelly's cousin. She appears as a heightened version of herself in the final episode of BH90210, when it is revealed she's Anna's mother.
  • Davin Tong as Tori's reality show director.
Archive footage of the late Luke Perry as Dylan McKay was used in the first episode, with the episode itself dedicated to Perry's memory.

Episodes

Production

In November 2019, Fox canceled the series after one season.

Background and development

From 2008 to 2013, a sequel series entitled 90210 aired on The CW. Jennie Garth returned in a heavily recurring role, while Tori Spelling and Shannen Doherty also made appearances and Jason Priestley directed an episode. In December 2013, Ian Ziering stated on Oprah: Where Are They Now? that he had attempted to sell a "loosely scripted" reunion special in which the original cast members appeared as themselves at a dinner party at his house, with a target airdate of September 2, 2010 to commemorate the show's numerical title; however, he failed to find a network interested in buying the project. Ziering indicated that Hulu had expressed interest in a revival series with the original cast in August 2016.
In March 2018, it was reported that Garth and Spelling had partnered with CBS Television Studios to produce a 90210-related series in which they would play "exaggerated versions of themselves." The project came out of an initial meeting between Spelling and studio president David Stapf. That December, Garth and Spelling shopped project to several networks and streaming services, and Deadline Hollywood confirmed the return of Priestley, Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, and Brian Austin Green, as well as Mike Chessler and Chris Alberghini, who created Spelling's sitcom So Notorious and also wrote on the CW's 90210. That same day, CBS Television Studios confirmed the project was still in "early development" and called it "an untraditional take on a reboot with some of the original cast." In February 2019, Deadline reported that Fox, which aired the original series, was among the outlets bidding on the series, with ABC, CBS, and CBS All Access also reportedly interested. On February 27, Fox ordered the six-episode event series, then titled 90210. Its short order reflected a shift in the company's mandate away from a traditional 22-episode order following Disney's acquisition of 20th Television, which rendered Fox as a stand-alone network. According to Spelling, the creative team's intention was to do a continuing series, but the network opted for a limited episodic order so they could expedite production for a summer debut. Since then, both Garth and Spelling have stated they did not know about the shortened episode order until Fox formally announced the series. In April, the series was retitled BH90210.