S01.E12: One Man and a Baby

[Primetimer]

When Brandon dates a teen mom, at least one character is more immature than he is.

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[swimmyfish]

Wow, that episode was SUPER boring. I imagine the teen pregnancy subplot was on the writer's checklist for 'topics to be covered in Season 1,' because it really hits all of the predictable story beats, even if it does so very badly. And boringly. Oh, so boringly!

I did appreciate Brandon asking about the father's responsibility when Steve said 'most girls will take care of the problem;' - that's par for the course today, but I feel like that was maybe a fairly bold point to make in 1990?

[Picture It. Sicily]

You just know that the only reason they named the baby Joey was so they could use that song.

[sinkwriter]

Don't listen to your sister. It was two days of babysitting, Brandon. That's not a lot. I used to babysit for a couple every week (Wednesdays, I think?) because they were part of a bowling league. That's how I made my books, music, shopping/movies with friends cash.   :D

 

Now if she'd said "I have to wash my hair..."  ;)

I think you're right about the "boring" aspect, though. I vividly remember certain episodes (the pilot, Jackie's runway meltdown, the slumber party, Brenda and Dylan dating drama, Scott Scanlon's death, Emily Valentine, all that kind of stuff), but I totally forgot about this episode.

At least with this episode 90210 was able to check off "teen pregnancy" from their "hot teen drama topics" list.  ;)   Next up! Eating disorders, date rape and drug abuse! Oh so exciting!

[WhosThatGirl]

These podcasts.. love them. I didn't hate Brandon this week. But what a bore this episode was. Seriously, however this may be where Steve Sanders became awesome, his fear of the baby was hilarious.

[penguinnj]

Theses are wonderful!! Used to love the 90210 TWOP board and have missed it. These bring back some truly wonderful- and ghastly- memories!

[kimbrchick]

I vaguely remember this episode. I never realized how after school special season 1 is.

[Kristen]

I remember this episode, too, and I was probably in middle school when I saw it. I'm surprised Brandon wasn't more judgy, honestly.

[Petunia13]

Ill have more to say after I listen but... You guys have less screen caps and gigs than normal: (

Jennie Garth deserves a "bitch stole my look" smack from Synergy for wearing Jem's big star earrings.

And Steve has always been and always will forever be a delight. If anyone ever personified the word "scamp" or could make being a rakish, immature, jackass a lovable and innocent it's This Guy.

These podcasts are awesome I hope you do more shows and hell have movie editions (Just One of the Guys, Teen Witch, Airborn?)

[gpgurl50]

Yay. Another great podcast. My personal favorite moment of the episode was Steve's confidence about taking care of the baby due to watching 3 Men and a Baby. Steve actually hung in there for a long time of nonstop crying.

Also, Brandon's love interest pretty believably disappeared. Not many relationships can survive a secret reveal on the first date, an interrogation on the second and an emotional breakdown on the third. Best to cut ties.

This episode did have dated things, things that weren't supposed to be in the shot and things that only exist on TV. Has it ever happened in real life that someone has the phone numbers of everyone in the entire school?

I did notice about the awful mom that she asked Melissa to be home at night because that's when she and Melissa's father were headed to work. They didn't seem to work during Melissa's other night dates though. I wonder what their random job was? Yes, missing work without notice does suck but throwing your daughter and grandchild out of the house because of it seems a severe overreaction. I guess that's why they were back home at the end of the episode.

[savannah31401]

Is anyone else having trouble hearing the clips? They are so low for me that I think my phone has stopped playing because I hear silence. I hear the rest just fine. Sorry to be a complainer.

[sinnerforhire]

The second clip of Jim and Cindy in the B.Y.O.B. Podcast was really low for me. Some clips in other recent episodes have also been low but not enough for me to have to change the volume that much, and not consistently. But I had to turn my volume up pretty high to hear that second clip of Jim and Cindy, for some reason.

Edited July 24, 2015 by sinnerforhire

[TorrinPaige]

Ah, Sarah, I, too, would love to see Brandon struggling with a noose.

[Earmuffs Mom]

I read somewhere years ago that Kristin Datillo (the teen mom) was almost cast as Brenda. Could you imagine? Shudder!

[vendredi3]

Is anyone else having trouble hearing the clips? They are so low for me that I think my phone has stopped playing because I hear silence. I hear the rest just fine. Sorry to be a complainer.

 

I noticed the same thing, starting in Tuesday's podcast. The volume for the episode clips is noticeably lower, and I have to adjust my phone volume back and forth. First world problems and all, I know, but you aren't crazy. 

[swimmyfish]

This episode did have dated things, things that weren't supposed to be in the shot and things that only exist on TV. Has it ever happened in real life that someone has the phone numbers of everyone in the entire school?

 

That was actually very common - schools printed directories of student phone numbers and every family in the school would get one. I mean, I suppose other schools may have done things differently, but that was how it worked in my school district in the 80s to 90s.

[gpgurl50]

That was actually very common - schools printed directories of student phone numbers and every family in the school would get one. I mean, I suppose other schools may have done things differently, but that was how it worked in my school district in the 80s to 90s.

 

Wow.  I never heard of that before.  Good to know.  Thanks.  My friends and I have always wondered why that was a thing in TV shows and movies.  

 

Thinking about it, there were several high schools in my city but for some reason our high school had 1300 students so maybe it wasn't practical to do that.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

My K-12 school had one, but the whole student body was 500 people, so there you go.

[STOPSHOUTING]

Oh my God, I do not remember 90210 being this insufferably preachy-teachy. I recall it as a flat-out soap; all big hair, prom sex and exploding yachts, though I don't think I was actually watching during season one. (Given some of the podcast comments, I'm guessing that I'm roughly the same age as Sarah and Tara, so this is in my zietgest wheelhouse, regardless.)

Gawd. Brandon is the absolute worst in this episode. The "if I never see that kid again" line made me want to invent a time machine solely jet back to 1990 and smack him around a little. Ugh. Gross. That's the line you give our hero, writers?

In the immortal words of Cuba Gooding in Jerry Maguire you "don't shoplift the pootie." Put your latin homework back in your pants, Brandon! You can't feed a freaking baby ice cream, either, which you'd think someone on the show we had seen a human child before might realize.

Not that bland teen mom is any better. Her parents are "out of town" for her Harvard interview -- also who the hell was watching the kid during their first date, because the baby appeared to be home alone asleep in that clip -- so she dumps the baby with some guy she's met TWICE now? Mom of the year, right there. Also, she had no sitter for her big interview, but that night she's got it covered forever? I mean, I didn't see the ep, just listened to the podcast, so I'm assuming the baby wasn't just asleep in the backseat while she was trying to mack on Brandon.

Even then. Brandon? The worst. Full stop.

PS: I was hoping that once she showed Brandon her baby, he'd tell her he was arrested last week for drunk driving and she'd be all, 'Get out, loser, I have a future!' The end.

[STOPSHOUTING]

OK, going back and looking at those pictures, Brandon's girl-of-the-week is totally a nun, right? That's the look they were styling Miss Harvard Teen Mom 1990 as?

The headband girl in the hair pic is smirking as she casts shade over her shoulder, like, 'Hey, at least I'm not that girl!'

And if the costumers don't get a handle on Brenda's raging case of camel toe it might prove terminal. Poor thing.

[Halo]

Ugh, don't hate me, but even though Brandon is The Worst, Priestley looks hot in that last screen grab. 

[FozzyBear]

My K-12 school had one, but the whole student body was 500 people, so there you go.

Wait, what? So there was like 40 people in each class? I have no words.

Anyway, I went to a large inner city school in CA in the 1990s. There was no student directory. We barley had desks and we defiantly did not have enough text books all the time. CA public schools were crap at the time, even in wealthy areas. Steve, Donna, and David would have absolutely been in private school. Kelly too if her mom sobered up long enough to enroll her.

[carrier76]

Fun fact: Teen Mom Melissa was played by the sister of Bryan Datillo, Days of Our Lives' Lucas Horton.

[Stephsco]

Brandon is totally the worst. Worse than Brenda's strangler jeans. I remember when this show first came on some friend of mine said it was so cool I should watch. I had to be like 10 or 11 and I thought 90210 was SO DUMB. I did end up watching it a few years later, though I'm fairly sure it was an early instance of hate-watch. These podcasts are hiliarious.!

[Jezebel97]

I know I am late but I want to know how on earth is Brandon driving again?

He totalled his car & someone else's truck & arrested for DUI

 

[oakville]

On 2/22/2016 at 8:38 AM, Jezebel97 said:

I know I am late but I want to know how on earth is Brandon driving again?

He totalled his car & someone else's truck & arrested for DUI

Agreed. This makes no sense. The continuity in Season 1 was off.