S01.E02: The Pitch

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Fox approves a 90210 reboot on the condition that seven of the original cast members get on board. Tori and Jennie confront each of their former cast mates and are met with more resistance than they had anticipated. Meanwhile, the gang deals with the repercussions of their actions ion Las Vegas, Shannen gets a call from a friend, and former "Beverly Hills, 90210" costar Christine Elise pops back into their lives.

Airing Wednesday, August 14, 2019.

[Steph J]

Not that it really matters, but why does Ian have to go so far out of his way to prove that his wife is cheating? 5 other people saw her doing it via accidental face time and could swear Affidavits about what they saw.

[TenaciousWarrior]

I liked it. I would like more Shannen Doherty though. She feels like an afterthought.

[Chaos Theory]

Ok this show is still very fun.

i think my favorite part was watching Tori get the rest of the group to agree to do the reboot,  I am glad the show isn’t dropping the “Gabby kissed a girl and liked it” plot.  Because yeah Andrea has that relationship with a black guy she barely touched while everyone else was jumping on top of each other.

Edited August 15, 2019 by Chaos Theory

[Surrealist]

1 minute ago, TenaciousWarrior said:

I liked it. I would like more Shannen Doherty though. She feels like an afterthought.

I was excited to see Christine Elise being put in charge. 

[Conotocarious]

It struck some more serious notes this time but the cast has so much chemistry together. I am really enjoying this.

[TenaciousWarrior]

I like the whole plotline of Brian having a stalker. Could be interesting.

[Guest]

I wonder how ling they are going to drag out bringing Shannen back.

[screamin]

Fun. I thought it was a little weird that Gabrielle flipped off the fans, seemed a bit out of character. If it was reporters, I could understand it.

[MeLikesTV]

Ok, this episode was really good, I almost felt like a teenager again.

also, that stalker has got to be Brian Austin Green’s son (his character, that is).

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, screamin said:

Fun. I thought it was a little weird that Gabrielle flipped off the fans, seemed a bit out of character. If it was reporters, I could understand it.

I thought she was flipping off Tori for getting them arrested.

[kazza]

18 minutes ago, Conotocarious said:

It struck some more serious notes this time but the cast has so much chemistry together. I am really enjoying this.

The familiarity between them (and us with them) makes it so much fun. I love that it's on Wednesday nights, and the only thing that could possibly be even better would be a Melrose Place show within a show on the same night. 

Am I the only one shipping Jennie and Jason? 

Others have said this already, but I'll echo. Ian looks fantastic.

Haha, the Fox executives mentioning they were in middle school when they watched the show. 

I'm imagining how they came up with the storyline about Jason and his fertility issues. "So, let's have him get decked in the nads by someone he punched earlier ... "

Were Brian and Shannen close?

Favorite lines (I may not have it entirely correct but I chuckled)

Ian: (about nepotism) Didn't you learn enough of a lesson being on your Dad's show?

Tori: Still here

[screamin]

Just now, ParadoxLost said:

I thought she was flipping off Tori for getting them arrested.

Good point. Gotta watch that again.

[mtlchick]

55 minutes ago, Steph J said:

Not that it really matters, but why does Ian have to go so far out of his way to prove that his wife is cheating? 5 other people saw her doing it via accidental face time and could swear Affidavits about what they saw.

My guess is her attorneys can play it that they were doing him a favour and claimed they saw it and he needed solid proof that she couldn't contest. 

3 minutes ago, screamin said:

Fun. I thought it was a little weird that Gabrielle flipped off the fans, seemed a bit out of character. If it was reporters, I could understand it.

I think she was more pissed off that this was happening at a court house because of something she and the others got dragged into thanks to Tori.

Really loving the reboot.  Totally said that it wasn't Jason's baby, but I thought Tori was giving her speech about doing the reboot to a photo of her dad and not her sleeping husband. I love that Christine Elise is going to be playing with their heads as their boss. 

That said...dammit show, I have waited 25 years for Shannen to come back home.   STOP DELAYING IT! 

[Writing Wrongs]

"Holy Emily Valentine." LOL

6 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

That said...dammit show, I have waited 25 years for Shannen to come back home.   STOP DELAYING IT! 

The only thing that would top a 90210 reunion for me is if afterwards she did a real Charmed reboot.

Edited August 15, 2019 by Writing Wrongs

[sistersledge]

I am loving this. It's so campy and fun! Ian is getting all the hilarious one-liners, he's like the voice of the audience.

[Steph J]

45 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

My guess is her attorneys can play it that they were doing him a favour and claimed they saw it and he needed solid proof that she couldn't contest. 

I guess, but the whole point of an affidavit is that the court accepts (unless proven otherwise) that the person swearing it is being truthful.  Them being friends/colleagues doesn't in and of itself mean that they would be willing to perjure themselves for him.  Plus, I'm not sure that setting up cameras in the home to secretly record someone would be admissible evidence in any court, since a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy in their own home.  Again, it doesn't really matter, it just bothers me because I work in the legal field.

I really want to see more Shannen.

I was shocked, in the opening, at how much Gabrielle Carteris (in her Ohndrea wig) looks... pretty much exactly the same as she looked in the actual show.

[Sakura12]

I'm happy I read that Shannen had a minor part in the first two episodes. So I knew what to expect. I can't wait to see her more next week. I also think they are going with how Shannen wasn't involved with the show at first, she signed on later after Luke Perry's death. 

57 minutes ago, kazza said:

Were Brian and Shannen close?

Yes, Brian was the one that missed her the most when she left the show. 

I don't know if we need the stalker sending severed 90210 dolls plot and David's son plot, unless it's the same guy. I'm here for the rest of the drama though. 

[Angeleyes]

2 hours ago, MeLikesTV said:

Ok, this episode was really good, I almost felt like a teenager again.

also, that stalker has got to be Brian Austin Green’s son (his character, that is).

That’s my guess too. In real (not show) life he has an older son with Vanessa Marcil. There has allegedly been a strained relationship between them due to custody issues between Vanessa and Brian over the years. So the show may be setting up to show a son from a previous relationship with daddy issues. 

Edited August 15, 2019 by Angeleyes

[memememe76]

Ian seems to get all the zingers directed at Tori, and I am living for it. Loved the episode. But I can’t wait to see EVERYONE in one scene together. 

[methodwriter85]

Yay for the mention of Single White Tara! I fucking LOVED that plot. I'm choosing to see this whole stalker plot as a homage to when 90210 started doing plots that belonged on Melrose Place by freshman year of college.

I liked Jennie's real-life daughter and I loved that she isn't a size 0. One thing I love about this current generation of "Hollywood 17-year old" actresses is that they don't rock the emaciated look that the actresses on Buffy, Dawson's Creek, the OC, the CW 90210 etc etc did. It's really refreshing to watch a Hollywood "teen" who hasn't whittled herself down to 98 pounds like what was de rigeur not so long ago. I'll never forget the interview where Shenae Grimes said something along the lines of, "According to my height, I should weigh 120 pounds, but at 120 pounds, I'd look like a chunkey monkey." That's one thing I really love about Riverdale- the actresses there are portrayed as sexy and desirable and they also look like they actually eat.

Although I kind of wonder if the fact that Jennie's daughter isn't a size 0 WILL come up because I can easily see her getting pressured to lose weight. It could be an homage to the diet pill storyline.

Tahmoh Penikett isn't playing himself, but he starred in a movie with Tori Spelling where he was her husband and she was struggling to have a kid and some crazy stalker chick stole their embryo that they had been saving for IVF. I love that Tori's recalling bits of her Lifetime movie past. At this point, I NEED Kellie Martin to show up. She can be Stalker Boy's mother.

[Writing Wrongs]

I love how each episode has opened with a 90210 member nightmare flashback.

[methodwriter85]

4 minutes ago, Writing Wrongs said:

I love how each episode has opened with a 90210 member nightmare flashback.

I really hope that's a theme. I can't wait to see what Jason's nightmare would look like.

[Jillybean]

I never liked Emily Valentine. Repeatedly bringing her back as Brandon's possible great love made no sense.

My money's on Christine Elise being the one who sent the disembodied dolls. 

[Conotocarious]

It’s like the “real life” characters they are playing are close enough to the 90210 counterparts. Their plots (stalkers, etc.) could have been plots on the show. So it really is like watching the show. The scene between Jason and Gabrielle really brought it home to me. 

[CoolMom]

1 hour ago, Jillybean said:

I never liked Emily Valentine. Repeatedly bringing her back as Brandon's possible great love made no sense.

My money's on Christine Elise being the one who sent the disembodied dolls. 

I never really like Emily either because as a girlfriend she did so many things that if she were the guy the whole plot point would have been different but she was given a pass by fans.  I was very disappoint to see her character back but I am glad it's not as a romantic interest or not so far.

[SoTheresThat]

I don't understand the Christine Elise thing. 

She's an executive at Fox?  Why?

[Lsk02]

I think Jennie’s nightmare hit on almost all of Kelly’s crazy plots. So fun! My favorite was David in the DJ booth. Ha!  Also enjoyed Brian later talking about how no one wants to see a 40-something white rapper. 

The writing with them making fun of both their characters and their “real” selves is so clever. 

[alexa]

I feel like this episode felt more like the premiere should have been.  The actually premiere didn't really fit well, and seeing this episode is like a whole new show.  I personally think it would have made more sense to have this kind of episode as the first one, as it makes sense to have bits of all of the characters and the act of trying to get them to do a show.  The first episode had a lot of random things that didn't really serve the series, imo.

[seaELare]

4 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I liked Jennie's real-life daughter and I loved that she isn't a size 0.

They look close enough to be mistaken for each other I think, but that's not Luca Facinelli. The girl playing Kelly's daughter, Kyler, is Canadian actress Karis Cameron.  

[Moxie Cat]

21 minutes ago, seaELare said:

They look close enough to be mistaken for each other I think, but that's not Luca Facinelli. The girl playing Kelly's daughter, Kyler, is Canadian actress Karis Cameron.

The AV Club review said that Garth's daughter plays her show daughter (quoted from review): 

Other stunt casting is just as stellar, like Garth’s daughter Luca Bella playing her aspiring actress daughter (and promising said daughter a role on the reboot—sometimes it’s all meta enough to make your head spin) 

Source: https://tv.avclub.com/a-clever-90210-revival-is-in-on-the-joke-1837011446

Anyone know for sure? I thought that showJennie's daughter looked a lot like Jennie.

[ButIAm]

1 hour ago, SoTheresThat said:

I don't understand the Christine Elise thing. 

She's an executive at Fox?  Why?

Perhaps it’s an inside nod to the fact that Christine is the only 90210er to serve behind the scenes as a show writer. She’s also a producer in real life too.

Of, ironically, reality shows.

Edited August 15, 2019 by ButIAm

[seaELare]

6 minutes ago, Moxie Cat said:

The AV Club review said that Garth's daughter plays her show daughter (quoted from review): 

Other stunt casting is just as stellar, like Garth’s daughter Luca Bella playing her aspiring actress daughter (and promising said daughter a role on the reboot—sometimes it’s all meta enough to make your head spin) 

Source: https://tv.avclub.com/a-clever-90210-revival-is-in-on-the-joke-1837011446

Anyone know for sure? I thought that showJennie's daughter looked a lot like Jennie.

AV Club got it wrong.  Evidence: IMDB; Karis Cameron's Insta.  

[Jillybean]

1 hour ago, SoTheresThat said:

I don't understand the Christine Elise thing. 

She's an executive at Fox?  Why?

For some reason they just won't let her go away. Kept bringing her back over & over in the OG series, and now here she is again.

Jennie's daughter is definitely played by Karis Cameron. AV Club got it wrong, I guess. 

[Sakura12]

12 minutes ago, Moxie Cat said:

The AV Club review said that Garth's daughter plays her show daughter (quoted from review): 

Other stunt casting is just as stellar, like Garth’s daughter Luca Bella playing her aspiring actress daughter (and promising said daughter a role on the reboot—sometimes it’s all meta enough to make your head spin) 

Source: https://tv.avclub.com/a-clever-90210-revival-is-in-on-the-joke-1837011446

Anyone know for sure? I thought that showJennie's daughter looked a lot like Jennie.

Karis Cameron is definitly the one playing Jennie's tv daughter. She does look similar to Jennie's real daughter Luca. That's probably why she was cast. 

[punkypower]

3 minutes ago, Jillybean said:

For some reason they just won't let her go away. Kept bringing her back over & over in the OG series, and now here she is back again.

She and JP dated for 4 years (and were engaged at some point). That's the only reason I can think of.

[Jillybean]

8 minutes ago, punkypower said:

She and JP dated for 4 years (and were engaged at some point). That's the only reason I can think of.

I always wondered if that was why they kept bringing her back...him getting her the job. Plot-wise, it made no sense that she returned to his life as some sort of possible OTP at least twice after the drugging and fire-starting shenanigans culminating in inpatient psychiatric treatment.

[Chaos Theory]

If the mandatory group therapy idea that Tori/Gabrielle floated actually happens that ought to be a hoot and a half.

[ButIAm]

It’s more odd to me that people who don’t like Emily Valentine were always baffled by her returns, back in the day, and apparently up to the present.

She’s arguably the most well known, impressionable guest star from the entire run. It speaks volumes that nearly 30 years later a girl who was on for a few months in season 2 and only made 2 short guest appearances later still stands out and, interestingly, still gets under folks skin.

Emily was one of Brandon’s great loves and Christine wrote shows up until season 7.

There’s nothing odd or off about her inclusion.

[dvr devotee]

1 hour ago, alexa said:

I feel like this episode felt more like the premiere should have been.  The actually premiere didn't really fit well, and seeing this episode is like a whole new show.  I personally think it would have made more sense to have this kind of episode as the first one, as it makes sense to have bits of all of the characters and the act of trying to get them to do a show.  The first episode had a lot of random things that didn't really serve the series, imo.

I agree that this episode sucked me in better than the premiere, and the pacing just seemed better. But that first episode was necessary to set up the rest of the (very short) series. It brought the cast members together 25+ years on for a plausible reason (fan conference; while it's believable that there are individual relationships within the group, it would not be plausible that they're often getting together socially as a group of seven, especially when Shannen is off on another continent) and set up a reason for them to get together again (court), giving Tori enough time to come up with the reboot idea and to pitch the rest of them.

I think if they had this as the pilot, it would feel very confusing. That first episode set up the major storylines for the entire rest of the run.

As it is, I have no idea how they're going to fit all these stories into six episodes and do enough with each storyline to leave the viewers with closure by the end of the run. To me it seems very likely that they are setting up potential future storylines, hoping to be picked up for another season. The first episode was fun, but when it was over I wasn't like "omg I NEED more than six episodes of this!" After last night's episode, I very much want more.

I totally missed the reference to SWF Tara. I get the feeling these episodes need a second watch to catch all the in-jokes. I loved Ian signing a Sharknado poster at court! I was a little bothered by the set of 90210 dolls--when the Fox executive originally mentioned it, I was thinking of the Mattel 90210 Barbie dolls (I had a Luke doll). Those definitely were not anything close to Barbies. Were there some other 90210 dolls (with Peach Pit play set!) back in the 90s that I was unaware of?

BAG really grew on me during the original run, and I've watched a lot of what he's done since. I was really disappointed when "Wedding Band" was cancelled in 2013, I thought the show had real potential, and I loved BAG in it. I'm happy to have him back on my screen.

[molotovcupcake]

6 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I really hope that's a theme. I can't wait to see what Jason's nightmare would look like.

Dancing. 😂

[OhSarah69]

I am surprised (is it weird to say delighted?) at the quality of acting by all the leads.  Gabrielle Carteris is a revelation - so believable and compelling - that scene with her husband was beautiful and moving.  Tori and Jennie crack me up - they are so natural and present during their scenes.  Jason is very good and shows a welcome vulnerable layer to his character.  Brian is really good - he is way underrated, I think, and has come a long way from the squirmy little creep he used to play.  Sensitive and sexy, yum.  I don't care much for the actress playing Brian's wife Shay - she didn't seem to have a connection with him in their scenes and I felt she was talking at him, not to him.  Maybe she's  just a bit green.  Plus would the character have her backup dancers rehearsing at her home??? 

I've loved the glimpses of Shannen we've gotten so far and can't wait to see her in more scenes starting next week - looking forward to see what she'll bring to the table and what her interaction will be like with the other actors.  Ian - I can take or leave; always found him smarmy and offputting...but hen the show wouldn't be complete without him.  And I must say - he looks fabulous for 55!  LOL.    Never been a fan of the Emily character (and perhaps unfairly, of the actress who played her - I guess I associated her too closely).  But all in all - I am geeking out over this show and love seeing people closer to my age still rocking it (um...rocking it....does that make me sound old??).  Can't wait till next Wednesday!

[Earmuffs Mom]

Just now, OhSarah69 said:

Ian - I can take or leave; always found him smarmy and offputting...but hen the show wouldn't be complete without him.  And I must say - he looks fabulous for 55!  LOL.

Ian doesn't have any of the playfulness and charm he brought as Steve in the original series, but they are writing him as this cutthroat brand-obsessed jerk.  I get that he's pissed about his wife's infidelity, but he's been written as very cold toward his friends/castmates.

[Sakura12]

I liked BAG when he played Derek Reese in the Sarah Conner Chronicles. 

I don't this episode would work better as the pilot. It would've been confusing as to why they were all together. The first episode while a little disjointed did set up a reason for them to all come together and hang out for the day. The dress stealing was a little strange but I suppose they couldn't think of another set up as to why they would continue to need to be together. Court dates and community service would keep them together. Minus Shannen who was always the wild card anyway. I do love that she's a world traveling, zen, animal rescuer. I would love instead of annoying people with her attitude issues, she's now annoying them with her zen platitudes. 

The pilot like every pilot is the set up and most often is the least liked episode of any series. It's there for the story, the second episode is when we can really get to know the characters more. 

[seaELare]

1 hour ago, Chaos Theory said:

If the mandatory group therapy idea that Tori/Gabrielle floated actually happens that ought to be a hoot and a half.

If you've seen any of the previews then you know 

Spoiler

they DO go to group therapy and Carol Potter (Cindy Walsh) is the therapist! 

[Sarahsmile416]

5 hours ago, Conotocarious said:

It’s like the “real life” characters they are playing are close enough to the 90210 counterparts. Their plots (stalkers, etc.) could have been plots on the show. So it really is like watching the show. The scene between Jason and Gabrielle really brought it home to me. 

I agree. They really have good chemistry and work well off of each other.  It was one of the most natural scenes of this episode 

[desertflower]

I’m guessing Christine Elise sent the mangled dolls, since they were left as a gift in the Fox office. But the question is, is she crazy like Emily Valentine or just having a little fun with the cast? Either way I think it’s pretty funny. 

I love Brian talking to Shannen and saying she’s his secret best friend. He was one of the few who used to say nice things about her when she left and she is always saying great things about him on Instagram so they seem to have a nice friendship IRL. 

I’m really enjoying the show!

[Ohmo]

Unpopular opinion to follow:

I wish that Tori would zip it with the references to her needing the reboot to work.  Too much art imitating life, and not life that I particularly want to laugh about.  We saw her practically cajole and bribe everyone into doing the reboot, which made me wonder if that's what she had to do IRL with this show.  It feels to me that everyone (including myself as a viewer) is an enabler for her to bail her out because she really does have a deadbeat husband and she can't seem to get her act together,

If the premise had been that Tori (as Aaron Spelling's daughter) had been the one to naturally get the gang back together because her father did indeed head the mothership,  then maybe I could laugh at this more.  However, with her constantly reminding us that she's needy and desperate, the underlying reason that this show exists seems more pathetic than amusing, and Tori's reminders seem to point toward that more than away from it.  I don't know, but it's an icky feeling.

[Bastet]

I watched this show during their high school years and I think one year of college.  So, I guess the Brenda years, but I didn't quit because she left, just because I didn't like the show anymore.  I'd always had a love-hate relationship with those early seasons, and when I tried watching them in syndication as an adult, I barely liked anything anymore.  But a friend of mine from back in the day has remained into it, albeit in a "love to hate" way, and suggested we watch this together.  So I went to her house last night and we watched the first two episodes.

Not having watched the show all the way through, or having seen even the seasons I did watch in quite some time, and not knowing much of anything about the actors' real lives, I definitely missed some references that made her laugh.  But it was an enjoyable enough way to put away a few glasses of wine.  My biggest takeaway is I find these actors much more adept at playing these versions of themselves than they were at playing their characters.  Even Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling aren't terrible.  And Garth was even good at points, so color me shocked; maybe how much I hated Kelly made her "meh" acting seem actively bad.  (Tori, though - Tori was just bad as Donna.)

I doubt I'll like the revival parts once they get to shooting those, unless they avoid the tired trope of having a bunch of high school characters all still in the same small circle of relationships 30 years later.  (And if Garth brings back that stupid baby voice for Kelly, I'm going to wind up owing my friend a new TV after I throw my drink at it.)  But the process of the cast reuniting to pitch and develop the revival has had some good stuff.  I liked this episode more than the first one, while my friend was the opposite.

Whether or not I liked the character she was playing, I've always liked Christine Elise in the several things I've seen her in - there's something about her that always draws my attention - so I'm excited to have her playing herself as the network exec who'll be in charge of the day-to-day, and "Holy Emily Valentine" when she walked in was great.

I like Gabby's storyline the best so far, and like that her demand for participating was both self-serving and altruistic.  Brian's storyline is pretty good, too.  Tori, I'm not sure; she - the one I do know something about, since her eagerness to exploit her family for attention makes the basics hard to avoid - is just so pathetic, it can be hard to laugh at the overlaps between this version of her and reality.  I'm looking forward to Shannen being incorporated more.  I'm not into any of the others yet, but I'm not put off by any of them.

The stalker storyline does absolutely nothing for me so far, but my friend is amused by its ridiculousness because to her it's a nod to the era of the show that was, in fact, a ridiculous soap opera.  So that might be an instance where not properly knowing the show puts me at a disadvantage, but I think on the whole my exposure is enough to "get it".

So, for only six episodes, and as a way to reminisce with and tease a long-time friend, I'm in for something I'd otherwise ignore.

Oh, and I need to find that white top Jennie was wearing when Jason came to talk to her.  Any fashionistas recognize it?

Edited August 16, 2019 by Bastet

[GHScorpiosRule]

10 minutes ago, Bastet said:

(And if Garth brings back that stupid baby voice for Kelly, I'm going to wind up owing my friend a new TV after I throw my drink at it.) 

This, here? Made me 😆😆