REACTION: 9021OMG Episode 16 - Live Podcast Virtual Event

Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling broadcast a live edition of the “9021OMG” podcast on Wednesday as part of a special virtual event.

Jennie (Kelly) and Tori (Donna), along with host Sisanie, typically record each podcast over Zoom at least a day before the audio drops every Monday. But last month they announced they would be doing a live installment that fans could buy tickets to watch online. $15 scored you access to the stream, while there was an optional $100 add-on for a virtual “meet & greet.”

The event was said to be in honor of Galentine’s Day, and they promised Ian Ziering (Steve) would take part... and then they stopped promoting Ian’s involvement and a few days ago started hyping Debbie Gibson, who had a cameo in the episode they’d be discussing. I was curious, to say the least, what this live podcast would be like, given that the recorded podcasts leave a lot to be desired — what, with the tangents, factual errors, general cluelessness, etc. So I wondered… how would a live version be? Entertaining? Disastrous? Somewhere in between?

And how much would they actually discuss “East Side Story,” the 14th episode of “Beverly Hills, 90210” that we were all told on Monday to watch? The “Beverly Hills 90210 Show” podcast covered this installment quite meaningfully last November, joined by two key guest stars — Luisa Leschin (Anna) and John Vargas (Richard). All Jennie and Tori promised was Debbie, who was in the episode for mere seconds. Would they even acknowledge the hour was written by Charles Rosin and directed by Dan Attias? Would they address the racial issues at play?

Well, here’s what happened…

9021OMG Episode 16 - Live Virtual Event

• It didn’t start on time, as few of these things ever do. The “Beverly Hills, 90210” theme song just played on repeat for the first few minutes.

• Jennie, Tori, and Sisanie were all wearing matching “9021OMG” merch, though Jennie and Tori hacked the necklines on theirs.

• Jennie called the event “so exciting and terrifying all at the same time.”

• Tori said this was a “dream of ours” — to “rewatch the show and do it with each other and now our third best friend, Sisanie.” She further called it “magical” and said they’re “learning so much” while “coming at it as fans.”

• Sisanie said how people comment on Instagram about how they want to be able to WATCH the podcast.

  • You don’t say?!

• Tori said in the future, they want to do this in person with fans and “this is the next best thing” for now.

  • Yeah, you tried that already… and then had to cancel several of the show dates due to poor ticket sales.

• Jennie pointed out the “donation jar,” through which anyone could donate during the stream with 100 percent of the donations going to Save Our Stages.

• Sisanie plugged the merch, which could be bought via a link beneath the stream.

• Jennie said they “met so many cool fans earlier” who were wearing the merch during the meet and greets.

• Tori wished a happy birthday to one fan named Amanda.

• They teased Debbie as the special guest and showed a still from her cameo.

• Jennie told fans to submit questions through the chat box.

• Tori said she hoped everyone did their homework and watched the episode.

• Jennie read the episode title, gave the airdate, and named both the writer AND director.

• Tori read the synopsis and Jennie was confused by it mentioning there being an “unwelcome visitor” who faced hostility.

  • I’ve been wondering where they get these synopses from.

• Jennie on Brandon and Karla: “Every girl he meets, he falls in love with.”

• Tori thinks Brandon had a “type” pre-Kelly, arguing Karla looked like Marianne.

• Jennie on Brandon hitting on Karla: “Give it a rest. He was very aggressive… I felt a little weird watching it.”

• Tori: “He’s a 16-year-old boy. They’ve got hormones raging.” Jennie: “You’re screwed with the boys at your house.”

• Sisanie: “I was on the edge of my couch, anxious about what she was hiding… They did a really great job building that suspense throughout the episode.”

• Jennie thought “everyone was up in Brandon’s business.”

• Tori was distracted by Brandon’s belt and how he was wearing it “so tight in this episode.”

• Jennie’s video kept freezing on and off for a second here and a second there, but no one acknowledged it. Maybe it was only happening on my end??

• Jennie: “I also appreciated the whole catalog-shopping thing for the clothes.”

• Jennie called the clothes “really ugly,” though she liked Donna’s “two-piece Spandex” outfit. Sisanie thought they were representative of the ‘90s and liked Donna and Kelly’s matching jackets.

• Tori: “I want to recreate those jackets and have us wear them.” Jennie: “I will never wear that.” Jennie further thought it made “no sense” that Kelly wore it.

• Tori said her kids interrupted as she watched one part of the episode and she was “too lazy” to go back and see what she missed.

• Sisanie made Jennie and Tori “feel old” by saying she’s never bought clothes out of a catalog before.

• Tori said they “have questions already” from fans and said they should start answering them… and then realized it wasn’t time to.

• Sisanie said they did “so many run-throughs and we’re still messing up,” calling themselves “disorganized.”

  • Surprise, surprise.

• Sisanie said Karla using the Walshes’ address to go to West Beverly was “relatable” and something she knew kids did when she was growing up.

• Tori said she knows people who do it now. Jennie said she gets “really nervous” about it and worries the people will get caught.

• Tori called Jennie a “rules person,” but Jennie said she does like to break the rules sometimes. As proof, she said she left her quarantine room to let her dog go to the bathroom.

  • Jennie is quarantining in Toronto for a movie. It looked like she has a whole condo or something. Pretty sweet digs to quarantine in.

• Tori liked that it was a “family decision” for the Walshes as to whether Karla would use their address.

• Jennie didn’t agree, though, saying, “In what world do you ask your teenage kids permission to do anything?”

• Jennie called Richard “creepy” and “scary,” particularly since you didn’t know his intentions. Sisanie said they were “on edge” watching him and Tori said she wondered if he was Karla’s “pimp.”

• Jennie said she “worked with that guy before,” but didn’t actually give his name (John Vargas, as I noted above) and struggled to remember the movie: “It was something about a cowboy and he played a mean guy in the cowboy movie.”

  • She thought it was directed by James Brolin before saying she was wrong, but noted Bradley Cooper was in it “before he shot to stardom.”

    • I also met Bradley before he shot to stardom! It was at the premiere of the first “Sex and the City” movie at Radio City Music Hall in 2008. He was relatively un-famous at that time and was just hanging out in the lobby with no one really talking to him. I went up to him, though, and we snapped a pic.

  • The movie was called The Last Cowboy and it was directed by Joyce Chopra.

• Tori said they met Bradley at Jason’s wedding, since Bradley and Jason worked together, and now she finally understood why Jennie and Bradley knew each other already.

• Jennie pointed out that she actually worked with Bradley another time, too, on Darren Star’s show “The Street.”

• Superfan Sisanie: “When you guys go to each other’s weddings, is it just full of celebrities?”

• Tori said one of the “best memories” of her life was at Jennie’s second wedding to her “kids’ baby daddy” because she sat at a table with Kevin Spacey and danced with him. “That was such a great memory. I was like, ‘This is the coolest night ever.’”

  • Apparently she’s not aware of what Kevin has been accused of…

• Jennie said her dad was in the bathroom during the father-daughter dance so Kevin danced with her instead.

• Jennie: “Sorry, we went off on a tangent. We’re not supposed to do that.” Sisanie: “No, this is what the fans want. The backstories. Random AF.” Jennie: “Some of the fans. But you can’t please everybody.”

  • Once again I ask… are they reading my reaction posts?!?!

• Jennie brought up Brandon dancing and said it was “worse” than last time but she “loved it so much” and “loved how bad it was.”

• Tori reiterated her theory that Brandon’s refusals to dance later in the series must’ve come from Jason saying how much he disliked dancing for these season 1 scenes.

• Tori: “I don’t think he’s ever going to get a call from ‘Dancing with the Stars.’” Jennie: “Let’s hope not.” Sisanie, though, pointed out that sometimes the worst dancers end up being the best to watch on “DWTS” because they improve.

  • Jennie and Ian both competed on “DWTS,” but that wasn’t mentioned. Ian and his partner, Cheryl Burke, infamously didn’t get along at all.

  • Coincidentally, Brian Austin Green is now dating a “DWTS” pro, Sharna Burgess.

• Tori on Brandon being a bad dancer: “He can’t have everything.”

• Sisanie brought up Brandon taking Spanish in the beginning of the season but taking French now. 

• Tori: “Continuity is not their thing on ‘Beverly Hills, 90210,’ we’ve discovered so far, 14 episodes in.” Jennie said she loved that, though, calling them Easter eggs for the fans to keep track of.

• Tori was confused over Scott being in the same technology class if he was a year younger than them and Jennie was impressed by Tori’s observation.

  • But he was in the same tech class from the start of the season and sometimes classes have people from multiple grades. ::shrug emoji::

• Tori on Steve: “He took the blouses to another level.” Jennie warned her that Ian is “going to get so mad at you,” but Tori went on dissing his clothing and making fun of it anyway.

• Sisanie brought up David’s storyline, in which he kept trying to get a hold of MC Hammer before accidentally connecting with Debbie Gibson.

• Before Debbie joined them, they played an audio clip of “Shake Your Love.”

• Jennie praised Debbie for “reinventing” herself and always looking “amazing.”

• Tori said she met Debbie “virtually” last summer when Debbie performed for a friend’s wedding.

• Debbie on Tori: “This is our second virtual hang and we’ve yet to hang in person.”

• Tori on Debbie: “We decided we’re soul sisters, and if I’m your soul sister, Jennie would be your soul sister [too].”

• There was a little chit-chat about raising kids, especially during the pandemic, though Debbie doesn’t have any kids.

• Jennie called Debbie “Tiffany,” and Debbie played it cool, saying “it’s happened before.”

• Jennie was embarrassed… and then added, “That’s a name I haven’t said in a long time too.”

  • TAT diss right there??

• Tori: “That’s payback because everyone calls you Kelly.”

• Jennie wanted to know about Debbie’s work on Broadway, which Debbie compared to being in the Olympics because of the demanding schedule. 

• Debbie continued to discuss her Broadway work and how she “did 17 musicals in 17 years,” but I didn’t take notes on it.

• Jennie on getting “older” roles: “We all get older and we become the moms.”

• Debbie: “I don’t do anything cosmetic... I might cross over into character-actor land if I don’t.” Jennie: “I was just thinking about this last night.”

• Jennie: “I don’t look the same that I used to… You have to make a choice: Am I going to let that get in the way of my art, my work, or am I going to go with it, embrace it?” Tori: “I’m going to let it get in my way.”

• Tori: “Do you remember being on ‘90210’?” Debbie: “Of course I do.”

  • Well, I would hope she does if she was invited on this. What would be the point otherwise?

  • And I will say this as many times as I need to: Debbie wasn’t on “90210.” She was on “Beverly Hills, 90210.” They are two different shows (unfortunately).

• Debbie thought it was “funny” that she was asked to be in the show in a way that didn’t have her “interacting with any of the stars.”

• Debbie held up the shirt she wore in the episode, saying she just found it today.

• Tori was “horrified” that Debbie wore her own clothes in the scene.

• Debbie also held up a photo of herself and Jennie at a cast party.

• Jennie: “I love a guest that brings props… I want everyone to bring props from now on.”

  • Even though we, the viewers, typically can’t see said props or even you guys talking??

• Debbie: “I was so excited to be on the show… but how on earth did [David] randomly reach me on the phone? I’m still perplexed.”

• Debbie said she filmed something for an upcoming episode of “Lucifer.”

• Debbie: “That whole episode was so good, but I was envious of the girl playing Karla. I wanted the meaty role in East L.A.”

• Debbie: “They wanted me to be me or that might’ve been code for ‘It’s not in the budget.’”

• Debbie: “I didn’t see anybody. I was literally like, ‘Wow, this is so isolating.’”

• A fan wanted to know if Debbie’s dog was always supposed to be in the episode. She said, “I just brought him along, and as we know, animals just steal the show.”

• Another fan wanted to know when Debbie’s new music is coming out. She said she’s been working on it in the very room she was in right now. I didn’t take notes as she went on about this.

• Tori said Debbie should release her album on Jennie’s birthday, April 3.

• Sisanie said they were “running out of time,” but she wanted to play “rapid-fire questions” with Debbie.

• Favorite character on “Beverly Hills, 90210”? Debbie: “I’ll go with David Silver since he called me.”

• Are you Team Dylan or Team Brandon? Debbie: “I was a Dylan, I was a Dylan girl.”

• Do you have a favorite ‘90s “90210” fashion item? Debbie: “I was cracking up over you guys talking about Ian’s blouses, so let’s go with the man-blouse.” Tori: “Don’t inflate his head and give him reason to bring it back because Debbie Gibson loved it.”

  • Debbie also said she used to cross paths with Ian at the gym.

• Who would you Kiss, Marry, or Kick to the Curb? Debbie: “Oh my god, that’s horrible!” Jennie: “Tori made this game up so I blame her.” Debbie: “I’m so not a kick-to-the-curb girl.” Jennie: “How about place them to the side?” Tori: “How about kiss, marry, or ‘sorry, not today’?” Debbie, after someone with her handed her the full cast list: “Kiss Brandon, marry Dylan, and oh, this is kind of a cop-out, guys, but I’m gonna do it — the girl who played Karla because she stole my role in lieu of the two-line thing.”

• Debbie gave a shoutout to her fans and Sisanie plugged Debbie’s American Greetings e-cards.

• After Debbie hopped off the call, Jennie exclaimed: “Oh my gosh, you guys, we just talked to Debbie Gibson.”

• Tori, whispering: “You just called Debbie Gibson ‘Tiffany.’” Jennie: “Why did I do that?!”

• Tori explained how Tiffany and Debbie were musical peers and said of the mix-up, “I loved it because it shows Jennie Garth is human and a fan like everyone else.”

• Jennie ribbed Tori and Sisanie for pointing out her flub and they ribbed her back.

• Debbie wrote in the chat apparently, “Tell Jennie it’s okay.”

  • Unclear if this was in their private stream chat or in the fan chat box.

• A fan wanted to know: “What was your favorite thing about your character throughout the series?”

• Jennie: “I would have to say… like on a deeper level, I love the journey or arc of her character. Because she started out as one thing… and then the writers started writing all these great parts of her, sort of peeling the onion of Kelly. For me, I’m proud and I love playing the journey of Kelly.”

• Tori: “What she said. No, I’m just kidding… The obvious one is I love her fashion sense. I love that she took chances and colors — just very out there, especially for a young girl… I had low self-esteem but outwardly I didn’t. I loved that she was a virgin. I feel like it was so relatable to so many women AND men… I felt she was a role model. I loved that she was pure and she said it like it was and it wasn’t always the right thing. She had ditzy moments but it was authentic to her.”

• Jennie: “I love Donna… I really, really do love Donna. I mean, I loved you then, but I love you more now.”

• Tori pointed out how Donna dissed David in this episode and how it was clearly before the writers decided to pair their characters.

• Another fan question: “Did you both know straight away [you were kindred spirits] or did you take a while to warm up to each other?”

• Tori: “I can’t remember that part… We were always friends. To me, it’s my entire life.” She then clarified, noting they’ve only known each other for 30 of her 47 years.

• Tori said she and Jennie bonded over crafting. Superfan Sisanie: “What kind of crafting?”

  • Uh, Sis, they talked about this WITH YOU in a prior podcast. But since she was clueless, Tori told the same story she already told about them going to Michael’s and hooking a rug.

• Jennie: “I feel like it’s more we’re stuck with each other and you just can’t rid of me.” Tori: “Do you want me to get rid of you?”

• Another fan question: “Did you keep any of the props for sentimental value?”

• Jennie said she was thinking about this when Debbie showed her props “and I was so envious that she had those things.” Jennie said she gets “rid of everything” and “regrets” that she doesn’t have anything except Kelly’s cowboy boots.

• Tori: “I think most importantly, I have the wedding glasses, from Donna and David’s wedding, the champagne glasses… I also have one of Donna’s famous dresses, her lip dress.” She shared how a fan bought it online and gave it to her — and it still had the chest padding in there “because it was before my boob job.”

• Tori also noted, as she did on a previous podcast, that she has Donna’s college diploma and doesn’t understand why it says “science” on there and thinks the prop guys were playing a joke on her.

• Another fan question: “Which season was your favorite?”

• Jennie: “We’re only on season 1!” “Tori: “We haven’t watched it all the way through yet.” Jennie: “Right now season 1 is my favorite. I think season 1 might always be my favorite because everyone looks so young.”  Tori: “I haven’t made up my mind yet… the college years were really fun.” She said she liked when Donna and Kelly lived together in the beach apartment.

• Sisanie: “Those episodes were very soap opera-y… it was like cliffhangers after every episode,” as opposed to the standalone storylines of season 1.

• Another fan question: “Was anyone grossed out by the older guy checking out Karla at the party?”

• Tori liked that the fan (seemingly) rewatched the episode and Jennie thought the fan was a good protector, but neither of them noticed what the fan was referencing.

• Sisanie: “It’s like the theme of the season — there’s always some older guy situation.”

• Another fan question: “What is the best life advice you have received from the other?” Jennie: “Good lord, that’s a loaded question.”

• Sisanie said to “keep it short because we’re running out of time.” Tori then quipped that the best advice is to “keep it short.”

• Tori said she’ll tell the story about them being yin and yang that fit together: “She makes me stronger and I make her kinder.”

  • Tori has previously spoken on the podcast about them being yin and yang.

• Tori clarified that it’s not that Jennie isn’t kind, but she’s “guarded.” Jennie said she made progress and started hugging people… and then the pandemic happened.

• Tori also said Jennie helped her be more confident.

• Sisanie then brought in their sponsor, someone named Michelle from Prosperity Denim. I definitely wasn’t going to take notes on that. And it went on way too long for my liking.

• Sisanie: “Ladies, we did it! That is a wrap of our first virtual live—” Tori: “Wait, did I say my favorite line?”

  • They almost forgot that part, apparently. Good on Tori for remembering.

• Tori liked Kelly saying “trendoid” or something. Sisanie liked Brenda referring to the clothes as “rude” in a good way. Jennie liked Brenda saying “‘C’mon, baby, light my fire’ kind of look.”

• That last one reminded Tori of a promo shoot for “BH90210” and Jason saying they had to “smolder.” She and Jennie were greatly amused by that. Jennie: “I went into smolder mode immediately.”

  • You can seriously tell they’re trying to smolder in the promo too. 

• Jennie: “This is so fun, you guys. I love hanging out with you every week. Especially now in quarantine, you’re the only people I’ve seen this week.” 

• Jennie said at least one of her daughters, Fiona, was watching and she had to say hi.

• Tori: “Thank you for joining our first-ever live virtual podcast. We hope to do this more often. Let us know if you liked it if you were here and if we should keep doing them. Let’s all do our homework and next week will be episode 15.”

• The stream ended with “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now),” a song that executive producer Charles Rosin originally wanted in “East Side Story,” playing. Did they know that? Or was this a coincidental pick?

Okay, so let’s start with the pros: It wasn’t a disaster, though it seemed in the first few minutes like it could go off the rails. Their energy could be toned down a notch, but they did discuss the episode, even if it was on a mostly superficial level. There wasn’t as much random crap as some weeks. They had a plan and they mostly seemed to stick to it and were clearly very aware of the time on the clock, though that did make it seem like they were rushing at times.

My fears about whether I’d be able to keep up with my note-taking were all for naught. Once it started, I was typing fast and furiously, just like the old days when I would live-blog episodes of “One Tree Hill,” “Gossip Girl,” and “90210.” You’d think trying to go at their pace would be stressful, but it was actually a time-saver for me. Typically I am always pausing and rewinding and that’s part of why it takes me so long to do my notes. Now the hour just flew by — and I was thrilled they kept it to just about an hour and not longer — when it normally takes me like two hours to listen to the audio with my stopping and starting.

The cons: It felt even more manic than usual, especially in the first half, perhaps because they were all hyped up and energetic. Obviously they didn’t get deep into the storylines — not that this episode even had a lot going on. Some people in the chat were saying they were having issues with the stream, whether video problems or audio problems. I don’t know if it was their own fault (like user error, even though the platform’s instructions were very clear) or On Location Live’s fault. I also don’t know how many people were affected. Speaking of the chat, it wasn’t clear whether the fan questions really came from there or if they were pre-selected in advance.

At no point was Galentine’s mentioned, even though that was the supposed theme of the event, and at no point was it acknowledged that they had originally promised Ian would be taking part. I saw one fan write in the chat box after the broadcast ended, “I am really disappointed about Ian. I still thought he was coming, which is why I bought [the] ticket.” Another said, “I bought a ticket when I heard Ian (another cast member) was joing them disappointed [sic].” Wrote someone else, “This was way to[o] stressful and short to pay for again.” Still another: “Love being able to watch it and appreciate but a bit disappointed with little interaction and questions and cast members ie Ian.”

Parts of the Debbie Gibson chat and the entire sponsor chat went on way too long. I also think it was a missed opportunity not to play actual clips from the episode. They showed approximately three screengrabs, but it would’ve been really great to show three scenes instead and have Jennie and Tori comment on them.

Overall, though, I actually would prefer this format — on camera and live every week. Why was this a special event to pay for? Why can’t it always be this way? Would this somehow be more work than the usual audio podcast when they normally do that on Zoom anyway? Would it cost them more? Would iHeart not be down because they are a podcast platform and not really a video platform? At the very least, even if it’s not live every week, they should certainly be releasing full video versions. I hope this is something they’ll seriously consider.

But for now, it’s back to our originally scheduled programming on Monday.

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