REACTION: 9021OMG Episode 3
The third episode of “9021OMG” on Monday focused on the second episode of “Beverly Hills, 90210.” Just go with it.
“The Green Room” originally aired on October 11, 1990. It is most memorable for the introduction of one Dylan McKay. While Luke Perry is rightfully associated with the overall show, he actually didn't appear in the pilot. There was no plan at this point to pair his character with Brenda’s (or Kelly’s, for that matter).
Brandon meets Dylan at West Beverly when the cool loner steps in to stop Scott from being bullied. Dylan introduces Brandon to his surfing world, pulling up to the beach and declaring, “Welcome to paradise, man.” This moment was featured at the end of the “BH90210” pilot last year as a tribute to Perry. The surf storyline involves Betty / Sarah, who isn’t seen again until season 2.
Meanwhile, Brenda’s blossoming friendships with Kelly and Donna hit some bumps as the Minnesota transplant struggles to adjust to their ritzy and style-conscious lifestyle. Speaking of the Walshes’ move to town, Andrea asks Brandon to write about the experience for the school paper. And, on behalf of his actress mom, Steve tries to suck up to David, wrongly believing his father is a famous producer.
So, what did Jennie Garth (Kelly, Beverly Hills, 90210) and Tori Spelling (Donna, Beverly Hills, 90210) think of the episode? And what’s my take on their take? Read on...
9021OMG Episode 3, “Nice to Meet You, Dylan McKay”
It’s understandable that, given this is Luke’s first episode, this podcast installment largely focuses on him. But the description made me feel icky: “This episode of ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ introduced the world to Dylan McKay. From the very moment we all met Dylan, we soon realized we were also falling in love with heartthrob Luke Perry. As Jennie and Tori share their wonderful stories and memories from this particular episode, their heartache is palpable as they must continue to face the loss of their beloved friend.”
I coincidentally shared my own reflection on Luke’s passing earlier today. But I don’t like the idea of a podcast seemingly capitalizing on or exploiting his death. Of course, it would be totally weird if Jennie and Tori didn’t discuss Luke at length here or at other times. I guess I have mixed feelings on it all. It’s a complicated situation.
Tori: “It’s gobble, gobble, gobble week!” Jennie: “Please don’t say or ever do that with your neck again.” Of course, without video, we don’t really know what Tori did… but we can imagine.
Tori, about the podcast: “How we doing, Sis?” Sisanie: “How are we doing? We’re doing great!” Tori: “You’re the expert at this! This is new for us! So we need to know — how do you think we’re doing? Are people having fun? Are they liking it?” I really don’t think Sisanie is the person to ask.
Since this episode of “Beverly Hills, 90210” was normal length compared to the pilot, Jennie admitted it went by fast and she wanted to “binge.” Tori gasped: “You wanted more of your own show!” Jennie confirmed she did, but held back.
Sisanie revealed her husband is watching along with her, marking his first time watching the series. Jennie was very pleased and called this “so cute” while Tori was perplexed, asking if he hadn’t watched before because he’s a “boy” or because he’s younger. Sisanie’s answer: both.
Jennie was distracted by Tori’s “fancy nails,” leading her to acknowledge that listeners can’t see them and to describe her BFF’s appearance. An uncomfortable comment followed as Tori explained why she never had long nails before: She always had to change “poopy diapers and I didn’t want to cut his balls off or anything.” Thanks for that visual, Tori.
In actuality, Tori shared, her long nails are for her role in an unnamed project where she plays a “MILF.” Jennie: “What’s that?” (She was kidding.) Tori gushed about how excited she is for the aesthetics of this role while Jennie said the nails “creep me out.” She quickly added, “We can move on.” And they didn’t. Sigh.
The next tangent was about Jennie sliding into Tori’s DMs (Tori’s words, not mine) and sending photos showing they’re starting to look alike.
Another tangent immediately followed about their trip to Israel last year to film a commercial (video of which I had at one point but can’t find now… grrr) and the pain-inducing beauty prep that they ended up loving. Jennie said it looked like they had face lifts, and sure enough, at the time she was accused of getting plastic surgery. But now they were in hysterics thinking how they looked like the Wayans’ brothers in White Chicks.
Next tangent: Tori said she’s terrified of flying and that Jennie is one of the few people she’ll fly with. Jennie, sarcastically: “Yay me!” This discussion led Jennie to declare, “I’m a tough lover.”
Sisanie used this to ask if the pair traveled a lot for “Beverly Hills, 90210” and whether Tori actually went to Paris for the season 3 summer episodes. Sisanie seemed blown away when Tori said they were actually filmed on a backlot in Los Angeles.
Of course, had Sisanie played Teen Drama Trivia last Friday, she would’ve known “Gossip Girl” is the only one of the teen dramas to actually film in Paris.
This seems like a good time to remind everyone that Sisanie claims she’s a “superfan.”
Nearly 13 minutes in, Sisanie cut to their first commercial break. Mind you, they had yet to discuss the episode AT ALL except for Jennie’s earlier comment about how fast her viewing went.
After the break, Sisanie said Tori and Jennie were “hesitant” to discuss the episode because it was Luke’s first and “we can’t speak about him without addressing the obvious, and I can imagine that’s really hard for you guys.”
Jennie said they were trying to figure out how they wanted to talk about it. She said it was very exciting when he started on the show, but not just for them. “Dylan McKay was a big, big deal in the history of television.”
Tori commented that as hard as it is for them to figure out how to discuss Luke publicly, it’s also hard for them privately “because it still doesn’t feel real.”
Jennie said, “This is honestly the first time I’ve talked about it with a microphone,” apparently overlooking all the interviews in which she’s discussed Luke over the last year and a half.
Jennie: “It’s just really hard. I don’t accept it, in a weird way.” Tori: “You don’t have to.” These are obviously, and understandably, people still grieving. I really don’t want to witness it. It’s uncomfortable and sad and I think it should be private.
Jennie and Tori agreed that rewatching this episode furthered their refusal to accept Luke’s passing because they got to “experience” him again, and Jennie said watching Luke onscreen is part of why she didn’t want the episode to end… she wanted to keep watching him.
Tori: “None of us ever thought we’d get to that point where one of us would be gone. It’s not something you think about in life until it happens to you… Until you’re in that moment and hear about others, you just can’t relate until it happens to you.”
Tori then brought up their first promo shoot for “BH90210” and a “heartbreaking” moment when Ian said, “Where’s Luke?” He caught himself, Tori said, and started to cry. “It’s what we were all thinking, though. We didn’t feel complete and we still don’t.”
This reminds me of an exchange of dialogue in the first episode of “BH90210” — “I can’t believe we’re all here.” “I wish that were true.”
In telling that story, Tori said how there were always “eight” of them — presumably, herself, Luke, Jennie, Jason, Shannen, Ian, Brian, and Gabrielle. That not only leaves out Douglas, but that configuration changed a lot over the years and the number of people in the core cast fluctuated across the 10 seasons.
Sisanie said she understands them not wanting to accept Luke’s passing, because she as a fan didn’t want to either when she heard about it. And, if you read my tribute piece linked above, you saw that acceptance is something I struggle with too.
Jennie expressed sympathy for Luke’s “beautiful kids” and seemed to be about to say “and his wife” but stopped herself. Luke was engaged at the time of his death.
Tori said seeing the reaction among fans “felt good” because it showed Luke “had such an impact on the world.” She insisted Luke was “just as special as [fans] all thought he was or wanted him to be, even more so.” She then declared, “So let’s talk about Dylan McKay’s first episode.” This came just shy of 20 minutes in.
Sisanie asked if Luke was just supposed to be in the first few episodes versus a regular cast member, and Jennie guessed that it was intended to be a “one-off or maybe a few episodes.” Tori didn’t remember, but Jennie correctly went on to say that FOX wasn’t initially “sold” on the actor and character.
Tori said that from her “memory” and “from my dad’s perspective,” “they definitely felt there was a lack of the bad boy.” She went on to discuss how Aaron thought Luke was “it,” despite the network’s protests, and shared the true story of how the TV mogul said he’d pay Luke’s salary himself.
Sisanie said this episode gives you the “full 360 of emotions” with Dylan because he’s introduced as a bad boy but then you get a glimpse of the difficult relationship he has with his parents.
Jennie: “That character, you saw a lot of what Luke Perry really was. They were very similar in their makeups. Because with Luke, you loved him the minute you met him. You were just engaged by his charisma, but it was not like over the top. It was just this really calm, easy vibe that he would give off to everyone, and I think that Dylan did that too, and that’s why the world fell in love with him.”
Sisanie shared that Luke was actually the only cast member she met prior to this podcast. He was promoting “Riverdale” at the time. “It was such an honor to meet him. And you’re right — he was just as lovely in person,” she said.
Jennie noted Luke was “so gracious and giving of his love and time to all the fans… He just cared so deeply about everyone.”
Tori argued that the only difference between Luke and Dylan is humor. She said Luke was “hysterical and never minded making himself the butt of a joke,” prompting Jennie to say he “certainly was a character.”
Tori insisted Luke had a nickname for Jennie despite not remembering what it was, and said he called her (Tori) “camel.” She initially gave the impression this was a bad thing, but Tori went on, “It was better than Brian. Brian used to call me lambchops and Chewbacca.” This prompted yet another tangent, one that involved declarations like, “Boys are so mean,” and Jennie struggling to remember another incident when either she was lactating or “boobs were sweating” and there was an “under-the-boob wetness situation.”
Tori then asked if they could discuss Luke’s nickname for her again and she shared how she was insulted by it until he supposedly her told that camels have the “longest, most beautiful eyes and eyelashes and that’s you.”
Somehow, this led to Sisanie to ask, “Is it Kelly and Brandon or is it Kelly and Dylan?” Mind you, we are still on season 1, episode 2. We are episodes away from Brandon and Kelly’s first kiss, which doesn’t even amount to anything, and seasons away from Kelly and Dylan getting together. Can we focus, people?!
Apparently not, but I did appreciate Tori and Jennie both admitting they “flip-flop” and “go back and forth” on this question. Because, yeah, they do, and have for years.
This is why I can’t stand when people use such-and-such comment from such-and-such interview as proof that this pairing or that was meant to be. The actors themselves have changed their minds a million times and, frankly, it doesn’t really matter what they believe. As far as I’m concerned, all that matters is what happened on screen in the actual episodes.
Jennie: “Can’t I have both? You know what, if I can’t just choose me, I’m just going to choose both.” Tori: “Well said, sister.”
Sisanie next brought up Luke’s overalls, which Jennie loved. “I was just riveted every time he was on camera,” she said. “I don’t know if that was because I was like a fangirl and excited for Dylan or because I was missing him… but I loved it. I loved watching every second of it.”
The next topic was Brian’s “little prepubescent voice,” which I guess they didn’t care to mention last week since they didn’t discuss David’s storyline in the pilot at all. Jennie also said he had a “hair situation,” and Tori felt “defensive” because, in case you hadn’t heard, she had a massive crush on him.
Sisanie thought there were a lot of “takeaways”… one being how people, namely Betty / Sarah, talk about the Valley. Hard-hitting stuff, I know.
Jennie purposely mispronounced “Andrea,” insisting that the character didn’t change the pronunciation until “a little later.” (Another character they didn’t bother to discuss in last week’s podcast about the pilot.) Tori tried challenging her, but Jennie insisted, “I’ve gotten that information from a very valuable source.”
Jennie then declared, “She was the cutest thing to me. I always thought, ‘I want to be Andrea.’ She’s cute and so smart and so spunky. I loved her whole thing.”
Sisanie, meanwhile, was incredulous that Andrea was running the school paper as a sophomore. Of course, they were actually juniors at this point, as their age / grade year isn’t retconned til season 2.
This led Sisanie to say how she wanted Brandon and Andrea to get together, which in turn prompted Jennie to wonder if Andrea was interested in him “right out the gate.” They all agreed it “felt like it” and Jennie declared, “She was jealous right away of Marianne Moore.”
Tori then asked: “What if things had gone a different way? What if Brandon and Andrea had ended up together?… Everyone wanted that, so why didn’t it happen?”
Sisanie then tried to get things back on track (despite sometimes being the reason they get off track in the first place), asking Jennie and Tori what memories they have of filming the episode. “Absolutely nothing,” Tori deadpanned.
Jennie recalled filming at Torrance with all the real-life students going about their school day. She exclaimed, “It was so scary! I was terrified! Because it was people, my peers, people my age.”
Tori made a reference to her “real nose,” which confused me because last week she said her “real nose” was only in the pilot.
Both agreed the clothes were better here than in the pilot, which Jennie attributed to a change in costume designer.
Indeed, there were several different costume designers over the course of the series, though Molly Campbell was in charge for more than half of the episodes (but she didn’t come on board til season 4).
Jennie complained about how Steve was “so mean” and a “jerk” to Kelly, which prompted Tori to shoot back, “That’s because he was in love with her! Hello! That’s what boys do!”
Tori argued “they” — without specifying who “they” are — “couldn’t tell what they wanted to do” with Kelly and Steve as a couple. For her part, Jennie called her character “one-dimensional” (she was the “Beverly Hills bitch girl,” she said) and that “for most of the first season, they were trying to figure out what our characters really” were.
Jennie was particularly offended by Kelly leaving Brenda at the beach. “I don’t think Kelly was very nice,” she said.
Again not identifying who “they” are,” Tori said, “They definitely were super smart at picking up the actors playing the characters really right away and started veering the characters away from how they were originally one-dimensional and depicted and started branching out into being their own person, so Kelly became more Jennie — more vulnerable. And Steve became more Ian, like funny and charismatic.” Jennie agreed, though Tori added, “Jason was never Brandon.”
Sisanie took things a step further and tried to connect Kelly becoming a big sister in season 2 / 3 to Jennie herself. Um, okay…
After earlier praising the costume work, Jennie then dissed it, questioning why Kelly wore boots to the beach. Tori then credited Jennie with creating the “mom jean look.” Jennie: “That’s a pretty big statement. I don’t know if I want to be responsible for that.” Tori: “You’re an icon, Jennie Garth. Deal with it.”
Jennie likened the soundstages where they filmed to a “scary rape hotel,” saying, “I hated it there,” prompting Tori to exclaim, “Rape hotel?! What is wrong with you?!” For her part, Tori “loved when we were on set.”
An actual question from Sisanie: “I know the interior was on the set, but was the Walsh house like an actual house?” I can’t. Her next question: “Is it in Beverly Hills?” I really can’t.
Flashback: My 2009 visit to Casa Walsh in Altadena.
Superfan Sisanie. Sianie the superfan. I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.
Jennie found all the differences between the pilot and this episode noteworthy, saying, “It was interesting to see the way a show will shoot a pilot and will sell a show based on that pilot and then from the time they stop production on the pilot to the time they start production on the first episode, so much creatively happens with the studio and with the producers and with the writers and with the director. There’s so much that happens… so many things change is what I’m trying to say. And that’s interesting because they’re really getting a lot more input from the studio and from the network about where they want the show to go and how we get from here to there, so there are a lot more cooks in the kitchen after you sell a pilot.”
In this case, the most significant change was that Charles Rosin was brought on to executive produce… but neither Jennie nor Tori mention that.
Sisanie points out that this episode had “alcoholism and a drowning and saving a life and going to the hospital,” prompting Jennie to remark, “That’s a lot for one episode.”
Tori said she was shocked by Jason having his shirt off early in the episode, which led to a discussion about how he’s so “lookable, not to be mistaken with lickable.”
That prompted Sisanie to ask Jennie: “Did you ever go there with him?” She tried to dodge the question and then this exchange took place: “I don’t recall a time when I licked him without someone telling me to.” “You used to lick a lot!” “I only licked when I was told to lick.” “Oh my god. You used to be a licker! I forgot about that.” I can’t do it justice. I’d tell you to listen to it… but don’t.
Tori acknowledged that Jennie and Jason were “never anything” off-screen but pointed out, “Every time we’ve talked about him so far, she gets fidgety!” Jennie admitted she was “uncomfortable.” Me too.
Toward the end, after the third commercial break, Jennie said, “Apparently Brandon’s car had a name and we were mistaken” last week. You don’t say? I spoke about this on “9-OH! News” on Friday, but Jennie didn’t mention that. Instead she said, “We’ve had some emails. We’ve had some communications and apparently it’s named Mondale for a very good reason.”
Jennie then threw to Tori, who copped, “We totally had to look this up.” Her explanation: “It is named after Walter Mondale, who is from Minnesota and they’re the Minnesota twins.” She then said, “It’s odd they would bring politics into it, though. I’m surprised.” Jennie pointed out that Brandon was “very political,” but admitted she personally didn’t know anything about politics or American history. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I am not book-smart. I am street-smart.”
And somehow, we get back to this topic: “Ann-drea or Ahn-drea: When did the name change?” Sisanie asked. “Well, according to Gab, it was Ahn-drea from the get-go,” Jennie said. Tori attributed that “quirk” to Gabrielle herself, though they again brought up a difference in pronunciation between the pilot and the second episode.
Sisanie then tried to bring up the pronunciation of Ian’s name, which Jennie and Tori quite gravely warned her against. It’s a HUGE pet peeve of Ian’s and has been for years and years.
In fact, Maxwell Caulfield apparently mispronounced “Ian” on last week’s podcast installment, and Jennie tried to correct him, which Tori appreciated. “We’re programmed for 30 years,” Tori cracked. They acknowledged Ian’s right to have his name pronounced correctly, but said how uncomfortable it makes them “to this day” when the issue comes up.
Another one of Sisanie’s takeaways: the length of the telephone cord in the Walsh home and how “that was just so how life was back in the early ‘90s.” Like I said, hard-hitting. And of course this started another tangent.
Tori and Jennie also noted that Jason and Shannen had different hairstyles in this episode compared to the pilot. Sisanie used that as a jumping-off point to say how “pure” their brother-sister relationship seemed (Sisanie is a mom of twins herself), but Tori had to ruin the moment by asking, “Do you think Brenda and Brandon ever played doctor?”
Jennie wanted to know what she was getting at, and Tori explained that they had that scene in “BH90210” because “for years it was all over the internet that the fans always thought there was a little bit of sexual chemistry between Brenda and Brandon.” Sisanie called Tori “insane” and Tori shot back, “Look it up!”
When this scene aired, I wrote in my reaction, “Wow. Never, ever actually wanted to see Jason and Shannen kiss. But I was wondering if they were going to fit in a ‘fantasy’ for her. Definitely could've done without.” Now I know Jennie was in agreement. She admitted, “I couldn’t watch those dailies.”
Oh, and “superfan” Sisanie didn’t remember this happening just last year.
The episode ended with Jennie calling fans who saw something between Jason and Shannen “pervy.” Yes, I’m sure that’s exactly what fans want to be called.
The changes in tone throughout this edition, which ran just over 60 minutes, were jarring. It started out with pure silliness, became very depressing, and then the goofiness came back. Obviously Luke’s life and death deserve to be spoken about with utmost seriousness. (The “Beverly Hills 90210 Show” podcast did a terrific job with this in a special podcast episode recorded last month in honor of Luke’s birthday.) But it was a weird, and even unsettling, combination with what came before and what came after.
Jennie and Tori, and their dynamic, seem much more suited for a “girl talk” podcast. It’s clearly their natural state to joke around and be silly and talk about guys and that’s fine. A “Friday Night In with Jennie and Tori” could’ve worked. Of course, it would’ve been a lot harder to capitalize on the “Beverly Hills, 90210” brand with that podcast theme.
This was also the third podcast episode, out of three, to feature an ad related to a supposedly game-changing beauty product, in this case the “Ziip” device. (A natural tie-in with the show’s name, I guess.) I just feel like in this day and age, do we really need to be promoting such superficial things? Aren’t we supposed to encourage girls and women to embrace their beauty within? Aren’t we supposed to teach them that there’s more important things than how they look? Of course, grown adults can buy whatever device and undergo whatever procedure they want. But I also think it’s more admirable to be above that and not contribute to Hollywood’s unrealistic beauty standards and the pressure such standards put on the rest of the society.
Also, I had to sit through the “everyone goes to the bathroom” commercial TWICE. You’re welcome.
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