S02.E02: The Party Fish

[Primetimer]

A pretty neat trick, considering we don't think he's wearing any in the visual aids for Beverly Hills, 90210 S02E02, 'The Party Fish'!

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[Primetimer]

Brandon and his integrity are put to the test when he can't stop himself getting into other people's affairs (literally).

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[MuuMuuChainsmoker]

Hee! Rattinger looks like Jeremy Renner as a lesser member of the Soprano family.

[JennB]

I just had a flashback to all the bandanas I had in the '90s. Sorry, nine-year-old me.

[dusang]

Is it weird that these screengrabs and gifs are making me kind of fall in love with Dylan McKay/Luke Perry all over again? ("Enjoying each other" dialogue fail aside.)

[MuuMuuChainsmoker]

Is it weird that these screengrabs and gifs are making me kind of fall in love with Dylan McKay/Luke Perry all over again? ("Enjoying each other" dialogue fail aside.)

I hear you. I'm realizing I have a bit of a stick insect fetish. I wonder if we have conventions or at least monthly mixers.

[kater]

I hear you. I'm realizing I have a bit of a stick insect fetish. I wonder if we have conventions or at least monthly mixers.

 

Me three. Stickinstecticon anyone? This podcast reminds me of what a freakish crush I had Dylan when I was 11 or 12.  I'm glad I'm not the only one. 

[dusang]

I hear you. I'm realizing I have a bit of a stick insect fetish. I wonder if we have conventions or at least monthly mixers.

 

Haha!  Well, I'm not sure if it's his stick-insect-like ways or if its that the selected visual aids generally choose moments where he's being kind of charming.  Not to mention the juxtaposition with Bray & Mullet -- he definitely shines by comparison!!  (Although, who would have guessed that little David Silver would turn into the Derek Reese of our dreams?)

[Jessie monster]

Is that a kid getting whacked in the head with a bag in the background of the oogling gif?

[EAG46]

I don't know how you brave ladies put up with this shit-heap of a show. I am *so glad* I didn't watch it when it was on.

And another thing: Andrea is too good for Brandon. A blind dog with no teeth is too good for Brandon.

[STOPSHOUTING]

OMG listening to all of your podcasts has made one thing terribly clear ... Brandon, our hero, IS THE WORST. Always. 100 percent of the time. Self-righteous, usually wrong, always obnoxious and frequently grammatically challenged.

As a teen watcher I hated whiny, drama whore Brenda and was so glad when she went to "France" and never returned. But now I see that Brandon was just dreadful and, thus the realization dawned, like a braying bell going off 17 feet above Jason Priestly's head (a.k.a. 19 feet above ground) ... THE WALSH TWINS ARE THE WORST THING ABOUT BEVERLY HILLS 90210.

Dum. Dum. Dum.

Our entry characters, around whom the entire show revolves, are the worst thing about it.

So ... There's that.

[fireice13]

For some reason, I always thought the grunion run was in the next episode with Kelly and Kyle and he was with the group. I was looking at the episode guide on IMDB and there are a lot less summer episodes than I remember. I'm apparently combining episodes and thinking there were more at the same time. 

 

I remember though when Sandy mentioned her age and at the time thinking she was so old and now I'm older than that. I also find myself agreeing with the Walsh parents and not the kids which also tells me I'm old. 

[FozzyBear]

Is Sandy supposed to be 29-30? And flirting with a 16 year old? Gross! And a felony.

[lottiedottie]

He really is obnoxious, isn't he? I don't remember feeling that way about him back when I originally watched the show.  I will say one thing though...he is really cute in the opening credits. I hate myself for thinking that.

 

I always hated whiny Brenda, too but there have been a couple of moments that I mentally fist pumped when she was bitchy (particularly the slumber party). She's a pro.

[StatMom]

Brandon and his bray-stalking. Looks like some serious chafing going on there. And the giant headbands: maybe they were trying to disguise the thin-ish hair of the actress. It looked like they were always just about to slip off the back of her head.

Could the terrible sound mixing be the (incompetent) result of re-doing the music? I don't know how these things work, but I know that sounded awful.

[MostlyC]

I don't know why, but this episode made me wonder if they were somehow trying to be like the The Flamingo Kid.  Kid works at a club, idolizes Man who wants to take kid under his wing; kid learns Man is a bad guy.  Even worse, I think Saved By the Bell imitated the whole "kids work at a hot beachside club for the summer."

 

Oh the C plot of Brenda and Donna and Andrea in drama class is just beyond unbearable.  

 

Looking forward to the next episode though.  The commentary alone makes up for all the music rights issue (what's up with that by the way? And why did they do the same thing with Dawson's Creek))?

[Edna Crandall]

Yay, Grunion! When I first moved to San Diego I was invited to a grunion run, and to my eternal shame I said "like in 90210?" And I was with Kelly in thinking grunion were made up by dudes who wanted to get girls down to the beach after dark until I finally saw them in my 3rd or 4th year going. They're super weird. 

 

I still can't believe Brandon gets away with talking to his parents like that. They'd still be finding pieces of me if I'd tried that crap. 

[kfree9]

Brandon is so, so terrible.

My moments of Dylan being mad, bad, and dangerous to know--The use of the famous, "Jones," at Brandon and I remember at the grunion run when he sings, "The party's over..." really lamely. But I remember thinking it was so cute back in the day.

[AndySmith]

The show still seems to be in the "New Kids from the Mid-west learn an important lesson about life" vein here, though I'm not sure what the message is.

[marceline]

I want Racist Music Supervisor back. At least his/her choices made sense. Racist sense, but still sense. This music made me expect to see Carol Lynley debarking the plane at Fantasy Island.

[txhorns79]

Looking forward to the next episode though.  The commentary alone makes up for all the music rights issue (what's up with that by the way? And why did they do the same thing with Dawson's Creek))?

 

I can't speak as to Dawson's Creek, but my guess with 90210 was that they didn't anticipate a market for the show on video (and later DVD), so they didn't clear the music rights for that particular media at the time they did it for the first run episodes, reruns and syndication.  By the time they realized that DVDs would be a great way to make more money, clearing the rights for certain songs was too expensive, so they had to use cheaper substitutes. 

[Petunia13]

This episode was terrible! I think even when I was a kid when Brandon did the sugar dad insult ans shaming I was confused. She's sleeping with a married man. That doesn't automatically mean he's paying her bills or she's a gold digger.

The performances were dreck.

[lottiedottie]

I've come to the realization that Dylan's nickname should be Bird Bones (TM Playing House) after listening to the podcast.

[sinnerforhire]

I'm listening to this one again and I just realized that Mrs. Ratinger sounds exactly like the mother in The Room. It's uncanny, the delivery is exactly the same, but the words are different. 

[oakville]

Why is Brandon Braying at his dad for not joining the Beverly Hills Beach Club? It was only a few weeks ago that his dad almost lost his job.

Now Brandon is "slut-shaming" Sandi for being with his former hero Mr. Ratinger.

I haven't seen these episodes in at least 20 years. How did Brandon become popular with his nasty attitude towards everyone.

He even brayed at Dylan for breaking up with his sister.

I am surprised he wasn't fired from the club.

 

Did Jason Priestly realize that he was coming across as a an annoying know it all in so many of the first& second season episodes?

[purist]

6 hours ago, oakville said:

Did Jason Priestly realize that he was coming across as a an annoying know it all in so many of the first& second season episodes?

I don't know if he was aware of it at the time, but I have seen a fairly recent interview in which he said Brandon was a self-absorbed brat (paraphrasing) and he wouldn't have been friends with him. There's a link to the interview somewhere in the media thread among all the posts that were made when Luke Perry died - the interview was with Priestley and Perry together.

Edited April 21, 2019 by purist