MCMLXXVII

Saw on the news that Shando will be on the Riverdale season premiere to honor Luke. Fitting as Brenda and Kelly personified the Betty and Veronica of the 90s, though the brunette started out as the girl next door and the blonde was the spoiled princess. Heh.

Just saw “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood”, I forgot it was Luke Perry’s last role so it was a pleasant surprise to see him onscreen.

Also, I must say The O.C. and later Gossip Girl kind of annoyed me with having a BIG EVENT every week- Cotillion! The Killers are playing!(though I loved those shows’ music and discovered so many bands from there), Black Tie Fundraiser # 587! Trip to Vegas/Paris/whatever! Fashion Show! Like-settle down already, a show like My So-Called Life is legendary just by exploring the characters in a middle-class suburban high school/family.

And even The O.C. started out a bit social-issuesy with Ryan being the poor kid saved from juvie, and they brought in Teresa, his mom, and his brother at various times as opposed to completely leaving his past behind. I really enjoyed season one of All-American, though I care nothing about football. It’s got the romance/friends teen drama elements, the glamour of Beverly Hills, and realistic social issues for the setting. I posted on one of these threads last fall that it’s like they made a whole show about the interesting Black 90210 guest stars instead of just having Brandon or Donna pop into the ‘hood once a year wearing a white savior cape. That said, I don’t care enough about the characters to want to see it go past high school.

I was rewatching Entourage this past weekend, and was really happy to see Lindsay Sloane’s guest appearance since her character was a bit Marcy-ish.

I never watched it, but wasn’t “Felicity” about college, though it wasn’t an extension of a high school show?

The longer hair looks good on Kelly. It’s weird how the mid to late 90s was this great short hair era, and then it never really trended again for younger women.

“Episodes” is so good, especially if you like Hollywood behind the scenes stuff. One of my favorite shows no one has heard of.

See, I’ve always viewed the 90210 pilot as very John Hughes-influenced, or like a PG-13 “Less Than Zero”- it still has a very “80s” feel to me. By ‘92 you had movies like “Singles” (which I’ve still never seen), “Slacker”, first season of “The Real World”- all the Gen-X stuff, so I’m thinking maybe the writers thought attractive 20-something’s hanging out was interesting enough in the beginning and didn’t plan for full-on soap drama.

This show popped into my head today because Olivia Wilde was mentioned on the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, and I’m just now realizing that the Juno Temple character and Mick Jagger’s son character are probably loosely based on Sid and Nancy. Her curly blonde hair, his heroin addiction and band being written as one of the first punk bands...how did I not pick up on that?

One of the few season 1 things I distinctly remember is Sandy having to get topless for some low budget horror movie and having a Coco from “Fame”-type experience. Pretty sure she was in a jungle or surrounded by plants a la Poison Ivy. I always liked Amy Locane from Crybaby and School Ties, and wondered what happened to her, and then she popped up again 5-10 years ago for a drunk driving case.

https://www.bustle.com/p/the-steve-madden-x-urban-outfitters-capsule-collection-includes-your-90s-slinky-platform-sandals-with-a-twist-17034610

I know they’re all supposed to be good Catholics (hee!) but I’m surprised Felice didn’t try to make Bobbi abort or give up Gina for adoption. She doesn’t seem like the kind of woman to just leave that potential blackmail powderkeg lying around.

Now that I think about it, I think Emma was Brandon’s “Val substitute”-similar hair color and length, openly sexual attitude, etc. without the family friend/already dated all his friends/in the gang baggage. And he did meet Susan and Tracy through journalism, so the fact that she’s “hot”, also a writer, around a lot, and super interested in him is more than enough temptation.