REACTION: 9021OMG Episode 34

Monday’s “9021OMG” covered “Ashes to Ashes.”

This is the ninth episode of “Beverly Hills, 90210” season 2 and one of a handful in the series that explicitly deals with race. The Ashe family moves in near the Walshes in Beverly Hills, with son Robby (Eugene Byrd) joining the Blaze while his older sister, Sherice (Vivica A. Fox), continues going to high school in her old neighborhood.

Over the course of the episode, racial stereotypes and police brutality are addressed, and it’s fascinating that this installment aired in 1991 when its themes and plot points are, sadly, so reminiscent of things still taking place in our society today. I highlighted the episode in my look earlier this year at the lack of racial diversity in the teen dramas, noting that it was disappointingly a standalone, one-episode storyline, much like “One on One” in the first season.

This was another episode directed by Charles Braverman, with executive producer Charles Rosin and Judi Ann Mason as the writers. This is the late Mason’s only writing credit on the show. In April 2020, Rosin spoke about the episode on “Live at Night,” the podcast that eventually inspired the “Beverly Hills 90210 Show” podcast, revealing they thought while making it that there could be a spinoff centered around the Ashes, but this ended up being the lowest-rated hour of the season, consequently making such an idea a non-starter.

How much did Jennie Garth (Kelly) and Tori Spelling (Donna) know about this? Well…

9021OMG Episode 34, “Better Together”

• Jennie and Tori were recording together from the iHeartRadio office. Sisanie was on vacation in Hawaii.

  • They have not addressed whether Sisanie will be going on maternity leave.

• Jennie said we have no idea how hard they “hustle” and my jaw nearly dropped. She lamented how busy their lives are, but Tori rightly pointed out that they “wanted this.” Still, they complained about all they have to do as mothers and wives and working women, then mused about moving out of Los Angeles and sharing a property somewhere where a “cabana boy” could tend to their needs.

  • It struck me as SO tone deaf and out of touch. Do they not realize how absolutely privileged they are? No doubt they have problems and stressors like everyone else, but I have no interest in hearing how hard they, or any celebrities, work. Let’s trade lives, okay?

• Jennie did add that they love doing the podcast, which, like, I guess you love it? It doesn’t seem like you do, but it’s a pretty easy gig if you can get it! At least the way they do it.

• They noted how Sisanie wasn’t there to keep them “on the rails.”

  • I noticed no difference really. They were just as all over the place as they usually are. It wasn’t any more disorganized than normal.

• At a little over seven minutes in they transitioned to the episode, once more wrongly crediting Darren as one of the writers.

  • I keep wondering: What are they going to do as they get beyond early season 3? Darren no longer had creative involvement after that. Are they going to keep giving him credit for episodes in seasons 3-10? Are they going to keep saying they should text him to ask him about this or that?

• Thematically, they called the episode “heavy,” but thought it was done in an “insightful way.” They thought Vivica and the actors who played the rest of the Ashes were great additions to the cast and made the show more “well-rounded” since there was “no diversity” otherwise. They both wished Vivica and the other actors stayed on the show as series regulars, which Tori claimed her dad told her was the plan. Tori told Jennie to text Darren to find out why that didn’t happen.

  • Neither of them seemed to know what I mentioned above about a spinoff and why it was scuttled.

• There was a tangent about robberies and moving to Los Angeles. Yeah, that happened.

• Tori admitted she didn’t remember the episode well because her kids were around and she had to keep pausing as she watched.

  • How many non-celebrity jobs would accept that excuse?

• They were both confused about Brenda and Dylan being back together. One thing they liked was that, watching it now, they could see onscreen that the cast had “bonded” by this point.

• Jennie was perplexed by Brandon expecting the new Blaze photographer to be a white guy, saying, “I don’t know why that was in there.”

  • Um, it was in there to show the implicit biases and stereotypes we have and the way we judge books by their covers. Did she not get the point of the episode…?

• Jennie said she was “physically ill” watching the police brutality stuff with Devo. Tori called it “disgusting” and said it’s even worse now 30 years later.

• Tori said Jennie kept looking at a book (so I guess she wasn’t entirely focused while recording??) and Jennie said it was A Very Special 90210 Book, which a fan sent her. She called it “fun” to read, even though the authors “talk shit” about them and the show in it. They then said they should have the authors on the show.

  • First of all, fans, STOP SENDING RICH PEOPLE FREE THINGS! They do not need you to buy them merchandise related to their own show or anything else! There are far, far better uses of your money. If you want to give away some dough, please donate to a worthy charity. Jennie and Tori ain’t it.

  • Second, the authors of that book mock “9021OMG” (and rightly so!) quite a bit. Clearly Jennie and Tori were unaware of that…

• Jennie also revealed that the same fan who bought her the DVD set a few weeks back sent in “intel” about Susan Brown, who played one of the neighbors (Mrs. Cooper) in this episode, and how she died a few years ago.

  • Why do you need to rely on fans to give you intel? Why aren’t you researching each episode’s guest cast yourselves?

• Tori was very jealous that fans have sent Jennie things twice now (that we know of) while she’s received nothing, but she tried to play it off as a joke.

• They briefly went over their favorite fashion and lines, as usual, and then said while it was a “fun” episode to talk about, they wanted to take listener questions.

  • “Fun” is not the word I would use to describe this episode.

• The fan question they read was about whether they were upset when any of the cast members left the show and whether they tried to convince anyone to stay.

• Tori said it was “difficult” when Jason left because the show was built around the Walshes. Jennie pointed out they were already without Shannen at that point, and then wrongly said Jason was the next to leave. Tori said she thought Luke left before Jason and then came back and Jennie had no idea and called themselves “idiots” and said that “somebody out there knows” the order.

  • Well, I know. And they should too. After Shannen, Gabrielle and Mark were the next to leave, followed by James and Carol, then Luke, then Jamie, then Kathleen, then Hilary. And then you get to Jason. Maybe I should send them that “intel.”

• They then spoke about how Jason’s exit made Jennie first on the call sheet and gave her the best parking spot. And they expressed shock that Jason could leave and acted like they were being held prisoner and didn’t know people could leave the show. Uh huh.

• Jennie said they had more fan questions, but they would have to wait until next week because they were almost out of time. They said “Necessity is a Mother” would be the next episode and that their fingers were crossed that Stephanie Beacham would join them.

  • Jennie’s Instagram seems to confirm they are, in fact, interviewing Stephanie — and possibly getting ahead on future installments too… sans Sisanie, I guess? But note the first part of Jennie’s caption: “Hard at work (or hardly working?)”

If you’re disappointed I don’t have more to say about today’s podcast, well, I’m disappointed Jennie and Tori didn’t have more to say themselves. I could not believe, and still can’t, that today’s edition was only about 30 minutes — less than that if you cut out the commercials. I wish I was paid to talk about something for 30 minutes once a week. And what stopped them from going longer than 30 minutes? Most of the installments to date have been about twice that in length (although often stuffed with filler), so why were they suddenly out of time today?

And once again, just so no one thinks I’m an outlier, here are some comments from today’s “9021OMG” Instagram post (which has a typo in the caption).

“Why was this episode so short? There was nothing really significant said about the episode. There was so much more to discuss.”

“ I usually love the Podcast. I felt they didnt watch the episode and barely discussed it!!! Bummer! It was like 12 minutes of discussion.”

“Please focus more on the episode and do a lil bit more homework”

“Love you both and this podcast, but please do discuss the episode more, especially now that we are nearing significant episodes such as Necessity is a Mother (2x10), U4EA, etc. Maybe you could benefit from a format of discussing each particular storyline at a time and not by chronological events which you seem to be trying to do. Hope it all works out! Still listening religiously every week.”

“Why was this episode so short compared to the other ones?! Such an abrupt ending.”

“Sorry ladies, tapping out! Not sure what I just listened to, but I’m done. Barely discussed the episode, and I honestly don’t think you watch the episodes properly, you seem to miss so much and forget characters names. Wishing you all the best.”

“I love these ladies and all things 90210, but I feel like they kind of wish their podcast wasn’t about the show. I think they’d rather just talk about other stuff...so why not do a podcast about being moms or women in LA or whatever they’d most like to talk about? People would still listen, maybe different people, but they're celebs, so someone would. Just a thought.”

Is today’s output something iHeart is proud of? Is it really something Jennie and Tori are proud of? I assume they are. But I find it embarrassing. I guess “9021OMG” being so short today makes up for today’s “Drama Queens” being 80 minutes. I can only hope when I listen that it’s better than this.

Reminder: TeenDramaWhore premium subscriptions include perks like exclusive content, fan interviews, trivia parties, and Zoom chats with the genre’s key players. Subscribe here!