The New Guilty Pleasure?
"90210" premiered and I have to say it didn't disappoint. Then again, I wasn't expecting much so that doesn't really say anything. The show was a bit clunky and had too many stories going on but it was what it needed to be, which was a nice escape and solid soap.
The worst part of the show is, not surprisingly, the tagged on adult stuff which was probably added to keep older viewers interested. The producers need to figure out if they want to keep the adults as key characters or not because the way they are handling it now is pretty poor. I mean, how do you not show the moment that a husband tells his wife that he has a child from another woman? That whole storyline, as well as the druggie actress, could have been delayed so that they could focus on the main characters in the first couple hours. As it was, nothing was really built out. For instance, Ethan (who seems like the #1 candidate for Steve Sanders receding hairline award) takes one scene to decide to kick Dixon off the team and then one quick, almost inexplicable scene later, to change his mind. Nevermind 90210, it was flimsy by "Saved By The Bell" standards.
If there's a breakout star in this bunch, my guess is it's either Shenae Grimes, Jessica Stroup, or Tristan Wilds (although I'm basing that more on his turn in "The Wire" than this). That's being generous though because there isn't really one character that really distinguished themselves from the typical teen fare. In terms of pilot episodes, "Gossip Girl" was far more effective in giving us characters and conflicts in one episode than "90210" did in two. Hopefully, "90210" will build to a stronger show as opposed to flaming out like "Gossip Girl". There's room to grow but it definitely needs to focus a bit and infuse some life/personality into the characters.
