S04.E03: The Little Fish

[Primetimer]

Brenda drops out of the University of Minnesota and into a lot of pretentious conversations with someone else who's very familiar with Balzac's house, if you know what we mean.

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[StatMom]

Brandon is awful for the myriad ways already discussed on this podcast. I add one more charge to the indictment: he pronounced it "soshiology". Shut UP, Brandon! You are the WORST.

[Earmuffs Mom]

Once again, Dylan is disgusting in wanting to cheat with the closest warm body.  I'm proud of Brenda for being the VOR and putting the brakes on any backsliding with him.  I do like their friendship throughout the season though and how Dylan stands by Brenda during the director scandal at the end of the season.

My hate for David starts in the college years and really doesn't abate for quite some time.  His moodiness, his clothes, his hair (which just gets worse and worse until he shaves his head and starts over), his ridiculous meth addiction, and the crappy way he treats pretty much everyone he dates (except Val who screwed him over) just grates on my very last nerve.

[Primetimer]

College starts for real and Rambo (or Rimbaw) twirls in his grave like a propeller in our Visual Aids for S04.E03!

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[Cekrypton1]

I've always wanted to believe the "Bart Simpson" line was an Ian Ziering ad-lib.

[Lisin]

I have to say, it may be because I'm a Brenda loyalest, but I totally respected her having the balls to say "I don't want to do this" and leaving Minnesota to go home. I mean I would have been afraid to say anything to my family and stuck it out for the semester until whatever break got me home the first (probably Thanksgiving?) then had a meltdown at home and it would have been a whole shit show. I like that she made a decision, did it in a timely manner that didn't screw her parents out of even more money, and did it all by herself. I'm obviously not saying her life plan should be to live at home and go to the Peach Pit every day, but something about the decision to go home but doing it in the least dramatic way possible really spoke to me for some reason. 

In other nitpickey news, I don't know about every college in the US, but I do know about the two I attended and the one my dad is a dean at and, for freshmen to live off campus you have to either 1) live at home with your parents or 2) have a special waiver allowing you to live in an apartment and there has to be extenuating circumstances not just "I wanna live at the beach" but I guess since CU had a lottery to even get into the dorms maybe my experience is the odd one.

The big thing that bugs here for me is the Greek stuff. Again, I don't know about every school in the country, but as far as I know first semester freshmen aren't allowed to rush frats/sororities. Flat out nope. Rush week is never in the fall, it's a spring thing. They might have mixers and stuff for incoming freshmen but they can't pledge/rush until after their first semester. 

[AndySmith]

The thing is, Brenda should have never gone there to begin with. She went there for the wrong reasons. It could have worked if that was how they had ended writing Brenda off the show, but since SD was back for another year, of course she would be back. 

Colleges in the early 90s still had rush in the fall semester. It wasn't until later that most pushed rush until the spring. I graduated from UVa in 2000, and rush wasn't moved till the spring until my third year. 

Edited April 28, 2016 by AndySmith
to fix grammar

[ShellSeeker]

In case anyone cares (and really, does anyone?), at many of the state universities in my state (Colorado), freshman are required to live on campus during freshman year, no matter where they're from. This allows the school to stick you for the room and board cost, which is usually way, way more than the tuition.

[MuuMuuChainsmoker]

Ha!  "Looking for Balzac's house" is the new "working Shadowcaster". 

[jenrising]

As insufferable as Brenda and Dylan were during that conversation, at least stupid show spent five minutes showing they have things in common. I do enjoy their friendship going forward. As opposed to Dylan and Kelly who share nothing but mutual disgust. 

[Lisin]

2 hours ago, AndySmith said:

The thing is, Brenda should have never gone there to begin with. She went there for the wrong reasons. It could have worked if that was how they had ended writing Brenda off the show, but since SD was back for another year, of course she would be back. 

Colleges in the early 90s still had rush in the fall semester. It wasn't until later that most pushed rush until the spring. I graduated from UVa in 2000, and rush wasn't moved till the spring until my third year. 

It must have be different for different schools. By 1995 my state school in Texas already was a "no rush til spring" school. You also had to have a 2.0 GPA to be allowed to stay in the Greek system.

I also (this is embarrassing) legit remember telling someone I was going to "be more involved in school" because "the gang" on 90210 did all sorts of school stuff and "they're always happy!" so yeah... I was beyond cool! 

[Panda Bear]

So, in season three, Brenda is the naggy girlfriend who wants Dylan to go to college while Kelly's the cool other woman who doesn't see the point of it. In season four, the writers just swap the roles. Kind of lazy, guys!

Brandon's hair: wow. Just wow.

[itainttippithebird]

So, in season three, Brenda is the naggy girlfriend who wants Dylan to go to college while Kelly's the cool other woman who doesn't see the point of it. In season four, the writers just swap the roles. Kind of lazy, guys!

Brandon's hair: wow. Just wow.

yes! was thinking just the same when I watched.

[KnittingFarley]

I went to the U of MN in the mid '90s, and can confirm that first year students were *strongly* encouraged to live on campus, and almost everyone did. It cuts down on freshmen dropping out. Love the show!

[MuuMuuChainsmoker]

1 hour ago, Lisin said:

I also (this is embarrassing) legit remember telling someone I was going to "be more involved in school" because "the gang" on 90210 did all sorts of school stuff and "they're always happy!" so yeah... I was beyond cool! 

Oh, @Lisin.  (Were we ever so *young*?)

[FozzyBear]

State schools in California (UCs, CSUs, CalPoly) don't have housing requirements. I think in UCs freshmen get first dibs on dorms, but nobody has to live there. I'd never heard of such a thing until some of my friends went to private schools. Growing up in a city where a lot of people went to the local CSU my first reaction was "Why does a college care where you live?". 

My my biggest pet peeve is the way people decide to go to CU the day before classes start. In what world are you allowed to decide I want to attend a prestigious university on a whim. And what is the deal with CU? I can buy it's a public Ivy like UCLA and buy Andrea going there and maybe Brenda and Brandon. I'll even fan-wink that Donna's learning disability got her a little leeway in her application, but there is no way Kelly, Steve, and Dylan get into UCLA. No way on earth. That school was impossible to get into even in the 1990s. that crew get into UC Merced if they're lucky (Hi, Merced! I'm a Fresno kid and I love you! And yes I know you didn't exist in the 1990s!). 

And why would Andrea go pre-med? She's never shown an interest in the hard sciences. Why not pre-law. And yes I know pre-med and pre-law are made up TV majors that don't actually exist.

And as always, why do I care?

[itainttippithebird]

7 hours ago, StatMom said:

Brandon is awful for the myriad ways already discussed on this podcast. I add one more charge to the indictment: he pronounced it "soshiology". Shut UP, Brandon! You are the WORST.

YESSSSS. I am a sociology professor and this drove me nuuuuuts (and will continue to for the whole upcoming season, where he finds a way to say that almost every episode).

Edited April 29, 2016 by itainttippithebird

[SoupThrower]

Now I got that stuck in my mind 'soshiology'

Brandon's hair while being mad is pretty modern. I've seen similar hairstyles around these days.

Can't really fault Brenda that much. Some people just don't want to do college. But yeah I lived at home during college, free rent and free food. I mean why not? 

Moody David. Like David but this is going to be a long season for him. Other than meth, it just basically Donna won't sleep with him story line. Just move on, David. Move on and move out. 

 

 And what is the deal with CU? I can buy it's a public Ivy like UCLA and buy Andrea going there and maybe Brenda and Brandon. I'll even fan-wink that Donna's learning disability got her a little leeway in her application, but there is no way Kelly, Steve, and Dylan get into UCLA. No way on earth. That school was impossible to get into even in the 1990s. that crew get into UC Merced if they're lucky (Hi, Merced! I'm a Fresno kid and I love you! And yes I know you didn't exist in the 1990s!). 

And as always, why do I care?

I can buy Brenda, Brandon, Andrea and David (obviously has to be smart enough to skip a grade, right?). I dunno, I don't know why I care.

Edited April 29, 2016 by SoupThrower

[Chicken Diablo]

My husband was a DJ at Clemson U mid-90s. His first shift was 3-6am. Also, I'm a season ahead and verbally abusive David has nothing on pre-stair-push Ray as far as being controlling from day 1.

[scarynikki12]

Quote

as far as I know first semester freshmen aren't allowed to rush frats/sororities

It depends on the school.  At Arizona, main sorority recruitment (not called Rush because they think changing the name somehow makes hazing cease to exist) and fraternity Rush (no such rules for them) occurs in the fall.  The only chapters eligible to recruit in the spring for sororities are those who didn't make quotas in the fall.  Frats can choose to recruit in the spring if they want but the big chapters usually don't bother.  At least, this is how it was before I graduated.  As for the GPA thing, incoming freshmen were allowed to use their scores from high school.  Any who join after their first semester have to use their college scores. 

Now, I'm personally a believer in chapters not being allowed to recruit until the potentials have completed at least one semester of college (to avoid early drop out/transfer situations like Brenda's) but my school was VERY resistant to the idea so I don't expect it to change.

Moving on, I hate that Brandon was so pissed at losing Brenda's room.  Did he think she was never coming back?  Was he under the impression that she was going to stay with friends or check into a hotel during school breaks?  He acts like he was living alone and Brenda broke in and refused to leave.  It's not his house and it's not his room!  If he really wants two rooms to himself then he can MOVE OUT.  Jim is so far up his ass he'd probably pay for him to live at the beach like Kelly, Donna and David.

This episode always makes me appreciate how (comparatively) easy it was to sign up for classes.  It was all online by the time I was a freshman and, while I too only got the crap frosh courses, I just sat at a computer for a few minutes instead of in lines that rival Comic Con.  Sucks for the Gang!

[WhosThatGirl]

I am also very glad for never having to stand in line to sign up for college- even when I did have to go to Campus registration my first year, everyone had to do that to get your password, it was quick and they were pretty much like, "sign up at home if you can"-and yes, I had to do all beginning 101 classes. 

Quote

Moving on, I hate that Brandon was so pissed at losing Brenda's room.  Did he think she was never coming back?  Was he under the impression that she was going to stay with friends or check into a hotel during school breaks? 

I totally agree. Also, I haven't seen this episode in a long time, so correct me if I am wrong but when Brenda came home, weren't Jim and Cindy like on Brandon's side as well, like, something along the lines of, "oh well Brandon already redid your room", I swear this happened or maybe I am just thinking it did because it would not surprise me if I remember it because they always did favor Brandon. 

[txhorns79]

Quote

I have to say, it may be because I'm a Brenda loyalist, but I totally respected her having the balls to say "I don't want to do this" and leaving Minnesota to go home. I mean I would have been afraid to say anything to my family and stuck it out for the semester until whatever break got me home the first (probably Thanksgiving?) then had a meltdown at home and it would have been a whole shit show. I like that she made a decision, did it in a timely manner that didn't screw her parents out of even more money, and did it all by herself.

I like Brenda too (and appreciate her drama), but I would have been extremely upset if my kid pulled a stunt like she did.  If she wasn't happy, the thing to do is speak to her parents and friends about the situation, give it the semester (unless there is some kind of extreme situation occuring) and, if she was still unhappy, make plans to transfer.  The one thing you don't do is take it upon yourself withdraw from school and dramatically show up at home announcing you have dropped out with no real plan going forward.  

That said, I totally wanted to smack Jim and Cindy for acting as though Brandon's potentially moving out was a reason Brenda should not have come home.  

[AndreaK1041]

More George Michael octopus songs, please.

[Lady Iris]

Quote

Hi again, Beth from Real World: L.A..

Loved TRW Season 2 and all those early seasons. Wish I still had them on tape since poopy MTV wont repeat them.

Quote

From the back you can really "enjoy" the full old-time-ashtray-full-of-acrylic-pubes-perched-on-AWOL-Marine effect.

Literal Velcro. Well, except for the bit where it's overspiked SO HARD, you can see the outline of his tiny, hard skull.

I hated this version of Brandon's hair back then and it still irks now. These descriptions are so utterly perfect they hurt me in all the right ways. Bless you Tara and Sarah.

[queenbee9b]

My college, and I went in 1996, which is around the time of them being in school recruitment was in the fall.  My alma mater is first debating moving it now.  The change year is hard because it means the chapters will be smaller in the fall leading into the formal rush, but as someone who works at a college that has spring recruitment, I think it is much better for the students that way. When I pledged, and I was in a new colony with zero hazing my GPA had a nice little fall. I can only image what a full on sorority process would have done to my grades.

[Onfire444]

The podcast is now on the episodes I've never seen. (I stopped watching after Donna Martin graduated). And they are so entertaining! I'm like waiting for the next ep to see what happens in these plotlines. I wish all soapy shows on TV were recapped so well on a podcast. I'd love to know what's going on in GoT without having to actually watch it. (I'm a GoT hater, yet want to know what's happening with all the characters.)

[Tooch]

20 hours ago, jenrising said:

As insufferable as Brenda and Dylan were during that conversation, at least stupid show spent five minutes showing they have things in common. I do enjoy their friendship going forward. As opposed to Dylan and Kelly who share nothing but mutual disgust. 

This is a great point, and yet another of umpteen reasons why I hated Dylan and Kelly together. They literally had nothing in common and this was communicated in a million ways. She hated black and white movies, Brenda loved them. She didn't read books. She only wanted to go shopping while they were in Europe, Brenda went out of her way to find Balzac's house. There's nothing wrong with Kelly being this way (I loved season 1 and 2 "fun Kelly"), but it was one of the million reasons they never made sense as a couple. 

[jenrising]

At my school in 1997, we did still have to stand in line to register for classes. And freshmen weren't allowed to rush until spring semester. 

As for housing, the school guaranteed a room to every freshman, but you could live off campus if you wanted. 

[vendredi3]

I was a freshman in 1989 and we had to stand in lines just like these to register for classes. It wasn't outside in the sun, though, but inside the nearby convention center/concert venue. By my sophomore year, however, we could register by touch-tone phone. Maybe we were ahead of our time, I don't know!

[Rebecca]

Josh? (the newspaper editor) annoyed me back then and he annoys me now. 'Super much' pretension, even on a show with some of these as main characters.

Blah, I forgot about RA Dan. Whatta squeef. Are cwa-SANTS being brought over really worthy of a "how could you guys do this!?" like they just paid her tuition or something? I mean it was nice and je suis un grand fan de croissants but, c'mon. Also, isn't it a bit weird to give away the gift (of cwa-SANTS) you were just given? It's even weirder to ask for one (a specific) one though, so. This fucking show.

Nat gives you hella free food and you call his place a pit, Andrea? Andrea should know the word lukewarm, it's how everyone's feeling about her most of the time on this show.

Most of my friends have asked why I keep bringing BH 90210 up in conversations (I'm re-watching along with the podcast) and no one understands why I enjoy this podcast so much when I explain (no one wants to listen, they don't understand how this could be good..) and then I realized that I've been reading (and listening) to Tara and Sarah's humor for 16 years (half my life) and I'd probably watch a podcast about ant colonies if you all were narrating. And it would be fucking hilarious.

[Rebecca]

I've always wanted to believe the "Bart Simpson" line was an Ian Ziering ad-lib.

Haha, yes.

[Onfire444]

On 4/29/2016 at 9:42 PM, SoupThrower said:

Brandon's hair while being mad is pretty modern. I've seen similar hairstyles around these days.

 

[Halo]

4 hours ago, Onfire444 said:

What the actual fuck is that?

[kfree9]

Dylan looks pretty hot while sniffing her hair. But the hair sniffing does kind of cancel it out. Man, you guys weren't kidding about the belly-button picking. What was that?!

[kfree9]

The day after I listened to this podcast, a friend posted on her Facebook about getting into an argument with a telemarketer and he threatened to DROP A COW ON HER! I wanted to ask her if he was trying to sell her subscriptions to a college newspaper...
I truly appreciate the ladies calling out the "I know who you are, Zuckerberg." What? How? Why? No way in hell. The only way he would have known her name was if she donated millions to build a new newspaper office and it was called Zuckerberg Hall.
My least favorite character trait the writers gave Brandon is how he supposedly could save/fix everything and anything wherever he may be. It really came out a lot in the college years starting with this newspaper idiot. Stop feeding his ego!

[Maharincess]

I've been hoping somebody else would ask this so I don't feel stupid but is that really Beth S. from LA Real World? 

I haven't listened to all of the podcasts so I apologize if this has been answered already. 

[WhosThatGirl]

Even though I agree with Tara and Sarah about how Jim and Cindy probably told Brandon and Brenda all through their lives that it was college or bust pretty much still I do wonder if Brenda had had some sort of plan about getting a job or something, instead of just coming back from Minnesota all "college is not for me" shrug if Jim and Cindy would have been receptive to her. It seems like she really thought she would sit around her parents house and say she was working on her barley heard about acting career. Like, I just wonder if she had worked on some sort of plan on her travels back, if they would have been more negotiable to her. Instead, she just assumed her parents would be cool with her doing..nothing.  But yeah, I'm sure, like Sarah and Tara said, Brenda knows her parents and she knew what she was walking into. 

On the Brenda/Dylan/Kelly triangle, I think the reason that Dylan despite having more in common with Brenda, chose Kelly at the end of the triangle storyline in season 3 has a lot to do with the fact that he and Brenda are kind of alike. They both have very dramatic personalities and I can imagine that when he started the thing with Kelly, it was more fun and relaxed. Although, yes that did change when they became officially a couple. But I think Dylan thought he was going into something easier than he had been in for the past two years. I don't know, I never thought Dylan was a prize (there is only one arc where I like Dylan and this arc doesn't happen for quite a while, you all can probably take a guess and know which arc I am talking about), so I never got why both girls cared so much and to be perfectly honest, he's kind of a crap boyfriend. He really is the saga of "the grass is always greener". 

[Jmallory]

Luke Perry ALWAYS lifted his shirt and rubbed his belly... Scratching and shit. During the infamous "I hate you both scene", Luke spit in the scene while they were walking in the park.

[heshy]

On 4/29/2016 at 9:22 PM, Chicken Diablo said:

My husband was a DJ at Clemson U mid-90s. His first shift was 3-6am. 

Yup. Went to a D3 school, and the student radio station runs Sept-June around the clock with one hour of syndicated programming per day.

[psychoticstate]

Gah, this show!  I mean, it's so frustrating and annoying and unrealistic and yet I love it in such an unhealthy way at times that I should probably consider medication. 

Regarding Brenda.  I can give her props that she realized going to the U (of Minn) wasn't for her but as Jim said in a later episode, she was there for FOUR DAYS.  Classes hadn't even started yet.  Did she even really give it a chance?  Yeah, I get that we're supposed to realize that Brenda has changed and she's "not from Minnesota" anymore (although technically, you are, Brenda) but she tucked tail and ran when things got a little bit tough.  She was probably homesick, she may have been aggravated that she couldn't get the classes she wanted (welcome to being a freshman!) and her roommate was being a total ass clown with that ridiculous bordello thing she put on the door to signal she was getting boned.  Every time I watch the episode, I wonder if Brenda had an open ended airline ticket. How else did she get home?  I think they still did those back in 1993.  Where was the rest of her luggage?  No way did she arrive with a carry-on and one other bag.  Her coat and boots would have taken up one bag alone. Did she remember to grab the "Bye Bye Brenda" poster Celeste made for her?

I understand that she didn't want to call her parents to bitch about what was going on because they likely would have tried to talk her into staying.  But once you get to the airport in Minneapolis, why not give Jim and Cindy a call, or at least Brandon, so he could get his braying ready, so they can expect you?  And also not shoot or beat your ass for entering in the middle of the night/wee hours of the morning.  Nice that she pointed out that by leaving 15 minutes after arriving at the U, Jim and Cindy would get 90% of her tuition back.  No discussion on the other 10%?  I actually looked up how much tuition was in 1993 for a non-resident - - $8800.  Currently you add about another $14k on top of the tuition for housing, books, supplies, etc. so that would mean around $20-22k for Brenda in 1993.  So 10% of that would still be around $2k - - something she either should have paid back (you know, by getting a JOB) or helping out in some fashion.  

I also hated how Jim and Cindy made Brenda's coming back some huge inconvenience for fucking Brandon - - because he wouldn't get his party room or whatever.  Huh?  Please!   Brenda makes some pretty hasty, stupid decisions but she shouldn't have to stay somewhere because fucking Brandon might be put out.  Ugh, whatever.

I did like seeing the Gangsters register for school but Ohhhhhhndrea is not so stupid as to think she would waltz in as a freshman and be editor of the Condor, so stop playing her like that, show.    It would have been nice to see her starting from the ground up, again, as it were.  And, oh right - - out of all the freaking restaurants in LA, she happens to get the Peach Pit.  And it happens to be on a day when things are broken, people don't show up, etc.   Trope, trope, trope.  Ohhhhhhndrea would never quit journalism because she didn't like Josh or because she had an assignment she didn't like or didn't get a class she wanted.  Yeah, pre-med will be so much better!   God, this show.

Speaking of Ohhhhhndrea, this is where the show really began to write her off.  I think the writers should have had Kelly and Donna also in the dorms because Ohhhhhhndrea was pretty much separated from everyone else by being the only one of them living in the dorms (for all of like a month before she got knocked up - - spoiler.)  I guess the writers wanted to have more sexual tension between Donna and David (not necessary) and have a cool new set (the beach apartment!) but it was kinda silly.  At least have the girls in the dorm for the first semester or something and put David in the dorms, give him a roomie that can be a secondary character like Josh.  That way at least Ohhhhhndrea can be included a little bit more with what's going on.  

Back to the beach for a second - - I always hated how everyone on the show called it "the beach apartment."  Even Kelly and Donna called it that, never "my apartment" or "our apartment."  WE KNOW it's on the beach and it's an apartment.  Why wouldn't even of the other members of their little gang call it "Kelly and Donna's place"?   It's like their apartment is the only beach apartment in L.A., kind of like Cedars Sinai being the only hospital, the Bel Age being the only hotel and the Peach Pit being the only restaurant in all of L.A., respectively.  Except for the delicious cumin place. 

Agree with everyone else who has pointed out that you can't just decide to go to CU and show up there.  Dylan applied to Berkeley (denied!) and Brenda applied to and was accepted to the U of M.  It would have made sense to have CU be your Plan B but Brenda, at least, would have turned them down once she accepted the U.  So she wouldn't have been able to attend fall semester; she would have had to wait until winter.  Maybe there was a Bel Age community college or something?  Why do I care? 

Also funny how they managed to be in each other's classes.  I'm sure CU, if it existed, would have been like USC or UCLA.  TONS of students.  They wouldn't have run into each other in the student union, unless they planned it and they wouldn't have scored parking spaces right next to the buildings. 

Additionally, while it was perfectly realistic to see freshmen like Steve (with his briefcase, ha ha!) getting turned around trying to find his class, it's not so realistic when you figure in that all of the Hillsters had been hanging out at CU 24/7 for the last two episodes. 

[CeeBeeGee]

On 4/28/2016 at 3:42 PM, Lisin said:

I have to say, it may be because I'm a Brenda loyalest, but I totally respected her having the balls to say "I don't want to do this" and leaving Minnesota to go home. I mean I would have been afraid to say anything to my family and stuck it out for the semester until whatever break got me home the first (probably Thanksgiving?) then had a meltdown at home and it would have been a whole shit show. I like that she made a decision, did it in a timely manner that didn't screw her parents out of even more money, and did it all by herself. I'm obviously not saying her life plan should be to live at home and go to the Peach Pit every day, but something about the decision to go home but doing it in the least dramatic way possible really spoke to me for some reason. 

I agree, as much as I hate the whole wasted storyline. Seriously, she's there a few days and then walks out? WHY SEND HER THERE THEN, WRITERS. But in-universe, I can respect Brenda for making the decision and acting on it.

On 4/28/2016 at 7:00 PM, jenrising said:

As insufferable as Brenda and Dylan were during that conversation, at least stupid show spent five minutes showing they have things in common. I do enjoy their friendship going forward. As opposed to Dylan and Kelly who share nothing but mutual disgust. 

They have things in common and they also complement each other. Brenda had some ambition, this episode notwithstanding (her actions in this are largely a response to her perceived failure in Minnesota)--she genuinely does value education (she graduated with honors). Brenda's values and background were a nice counterweight to Dylan's, they fit together much better than Kelly and Dylan ever did. And I can't stand Kelly's annoyed response when she hears he spent the day with Brenda. Again, Kelly, you have no right to resent that.

Shallow note, Luke Perry's hair is seriously cute. I hate the shelf look, but floppy loose hair looks much better.

On 4/28/2016 at 8:37 PM, FozzyBear said:

My my biggest pet peeve is the way people decide to go to CU the day before classes start. In what world are you allowed to decide I want to attend a prestigious university on a whim. And what is the deal with CU? I can buy it's a public Ivy like UCLA and buy Andrea going there and maybe Brenda and Brandon. I'll even fan-wink that Donna's learning disability got her a little leeway in her application, but there is no way Kelly, Steve, and Dylan get into UCLA. No way on earth. That school was impossible to get into even in the 1990s. that crew get into UC Merced if they're lucky (Hi, Merced! I'm a Fresno kid and I love you! And yes I know you didn't exist in the 1990s!). 

YES. I haaaaaaate it when TV shows have HS kids all going to the same local school while also trying to sell the audience on how "prestigious" said school is--The Facts of Life did that ("Langley College"), Family Ties did it ("Leland University") and it doesn't work. You can't have it both ways, show--you can't tell us over and over again how "CU is a good school" and then have ALL your main cast, including openly acknowledged bad students like Kelly and Steve, get in, unless you want to subtly indicate they bought their way in.

On 4/28/2016 at 10:33 PM, scarynikki12 said:

Moving on, I hate that Brandon was so pissed at losing Brenda's room.  Did he think she was never coming back?  Was he under the impression that she was going to stay with friends or check into a hotel during school breaks?  He acts like he was living alone and Brenda broke in and refused to leave.  It's not his house and it's not his room!  If he really wants two rooms to himself then he can MOVE OUT.  Jim is so far up his ass he'd probably pay for him to live at the beach like Kelly, Donna and David.

This episode always makes me appreciate how (comparatively) easy it was to sign up for classes.  It was all online by the time I was a freshman and, while I too only got the crap frosh courses, I just sat at a computer for a few minutes instead of in lines that rival Comic Con.  Sucks for the Gang!

FUCK YOU BRANDON. That whole reaction made no sense. My parents maintained my bedroom during and well after college.

And oh God, yes, I was horrified at those lines. I went to a small private women's college (two actually, I transferred after my freshman year) and registration was easy, easy, easy. I was never, ever locked out of a class. I can understand Dylan's frustration.

On 4/29/2016 at 1:28 PM, Lady Iris said:

Loved TRW Season 2 and all those early seasons. Wish I still had them on tape since poopy MTV wont repeat them.

Man, I miss the early seasons of TRW. Does anyone know if they're streaming anywhere? Would love to watch Chicago and Hawaii again.