Important moments in any ‘90s teen’s life: When Brenda lost
her virginity to Dylan during the spring dance; when Donna Martin did indeed graduate;
when Dylan had to tell Brenda that he and Kelly were messing around while she
and Donna were in Paris. So when it was announced back in February that “Beverly Hills, 90210” was getting a very trendy reboot, we were over the moon
with excitement.
Not so fast! “BH90210" is a
fictionalized behind-the-scenes look at “prepping” a reboot series. What
does that even mean? Conceived by Jenny Garth and Tori Spelling, the actors
will play “exaggerated versions of themselves.” Viewers will have to guess where Jason Priestly (the actor) and Jason Priestly
(the character) end, begin and overlap. Currently, the entire original
cast is signed up for the limited series, excluding Luke Perry, who died in
March.
Why are they doing this? Spelling told E! News that reboots are already old news and this concept is something new.
“[N]o one wants to see like old versions of ourselves,
but they do want to see us playing our characters, so what we're doing is the
entire cast is playing heightened versions of themselves,” she explained.
But here’s the thing -- we do want to see old versions
of our favorite characters. Though we did get a few updates in the 2008 CW version, the new series will
ignore all that (thank GOD). We want to hear about Brenda’s acting career, Donna and David’s kids and whether Andrea Zuckerman is a practicing doctor or returned to journalism. Please Fox, don’t leave us
hanging.
Judging from the promos for the show -- which seems to be
channeling a “Curb Your Enthusiasm” style of humor -- the real drama is putting
this fake reboot together. But I don’t want to see Spelling (who's married to a
professional hockey player in the show), mocking her real-life headline-grabbing issues. I
want to see Donna or bust. Give me adult, messy versions of these beloved
characters.
Alas, this is not the plan.
One thing’s for certain: "BH90210" will have to be very funny in order to make me forget about what I’m missing. Who knows? Maybe this will tank so badly that they’ll see the light and give us the reboot we deserve? The fact that the showrunner and a couple of writers already left is not a good sign...just saying.
I hope meta reboots don’t become the new trend. Not every show even needs to be rebooted; a reunion special and a little trip down memory lane now and then is nice. If the cast of "Friends" ever goes this route, I will fling them into space.