REACTION: 9021OMG Episode 36

Monday’s “9021OMG” tackled “Leading from the Heart.”

This is the 11th episode of “Beverly Hills, 90210” season 2. The main plot revolves around Bobby (Gordon Currie), a cousin of Brenda (Shannen Doherty) and Brandon (Jason Priestley) who uses a wheelchair, coming to visit the Walshes in Beverly Hills and sharing an attraction with Kelly (Jennie Garth) — and all the assumptions and stereotypes that ensue. Brenda also tries to get her license again, Emily (Christine Elise) starts working with Brandon at the Blaze, and David (Brian Austin Green) asks Donna (Tori Spelling) out.

Series creator Darren Star wrote the episode and it was directed by Daniel Attias, whom, as I’ve mentioned, directed more hours of the show than anyone else. I was very curious what Jennie and Tori would say about this installment… and if they’d know Gordon returns to the series in season 6 as an entirely different character. There’s also another double-dip in this episode, with Phil Buckman as the surfer dude years before he plays an antisemitic musician in season 8. Did Jennie and Tori have any clue? Place your bets…

9021OMG Episode 36, “Bring Your Daughter to Work Day”

• Jennie said there was a special guest with her. It was her daughter, Luca, who said her mom has “separation anxiety.” Jennie called it “come to work with mommy day.” Tori: “The only one of her brood who was actually alive during the filming of ‘90210.’” Jennie recalled Jason would call her pregnant belly “Bob” as they tried to hide it in scenes. This would’ve been in the second half of season 7. Superfan Sisanie can’t wait to (re)watch those episodes to see how Jennie hid her bump.

• Jennie returned to work one month after having Luca, for the beginning of season 8. (This is why Jennie didn’t go to Hawaii for the season premiere and is hardly in the episode, though that wasn’t mentioned.) Apparently there was a separate trailer set up for Luca as a baby / toddler. Tori wrongly said Luca was the show’s first baby and Luca actually corrected her and pointed out Gabrielle had a baby first. Tori then tried to cover, saying it was “different” with Luca.

• Luca said she listens to the podcast and likes hearing her mom’s voice. Jennie wanted to know how many stars Luca would give them and what they could do “better.” Luca said she told her mom after the first few episodes to “try harder to remember juicy gossip” because that’s what people want. Sisanie: “I’m like pulling teeth sometimes.” Luca: “You do a good job, Sisanie, of getting it out of them.” 

  • So now Jennie is willing to take listener feedback… if it’s from someone related to her. Got it. 

  • I’m not looking for “juicy gossip” from a rewatch podcast necessarily.

• Since she never asked her mom questions about the show, Luca likes listening to the podcast. Luca watched the series in middle school, but hadn’t watched in a long time until this week’s episode. Jennie said Luca didn’t really want to speak on the podcast going into it today. Luca said she would sit in and maybe help Sisanie pull things out of them.

• At a little over seven minutes in, Jennie introduced the episode. Tori read the synopsis almost word for word from the episode’s wiki page. And for a change, Jennie was actually correct in saying Darren wrote the episode.

• Jennie: “We had a couple of really great co-stars in this episode.” Tori named Christine as one and they said she would be joining them today. Sisanie then pointed out Christine was already in the “waiting room,” so they decided to bring her on then.

• Christine said how she was in Toronto filming the “Chucky” TV show. She showed off where she was staying, not that the listeners could see. She confirmed she was wearing extensions, not that we could see that either (but you can see on her social media). Jennie thought there was one “Chucky” movie. Christine said there were seven. 

• Jennie said they wanted to have Christine back on the podcast (after she participated in the season 1 “wrap party”) because now Emily has debuted. Christine said her character is “as much maligned as she is loved.” Jennie wanted to know if Christine knew Emily was going to be a “provocateur.” Christine asked how much they’ve seen and Jennie noted they’ve only watched two episodes with Emily so far (clearly Christine didn’t even know the episode subject of today’s podcast). Christine said she was told the first episode she was in would determine if she came back and she might do up to 10. She liked the lesson of the first episode about not judging and stereotyping people, but she was “super upset” when the storyline did in fact turn into judging a book by its cover.

• Christine recalled calling Tori’s dad, at Jason’s urging, to express her dissatisfaction. Jennie and Tori were shocked. Christine said Aaron was “super, super generous” and promised Emily would be redeemed — and get a spinoff. Christine: “Emily Valentine was the original spinoff character for ‘Melrose Place.’” This also shocked them. Christine said she had meetings with Darren, Aaron, and executive producer E. Duke Vincent about it and she was on board plot-wise, but the money they offered her was “crazy bad.” And since people already wrongly thought she got the job on “Beverly Hills, 90210” because of Jason — when they didn’t actually meet until the show — she knew if she took the spinoff, she’d be “forever tied to him in a way that would illegitimize [her] as an actress, as a self-supporting individual.” So she turned it down and Jake was created to launch “Melrose” instead.

• Tori speculated Emily inspired Jo on “Melrose” and Christine said those other characters already existed when she was in talks. She also admitted she felt like she was in a “power seat” because it was late in season 2 and she figured she was the only spinoff character they had and there wasn’t time to create a new character to spin off… and then they did it. Tori: “Hot damn, I have chills. Emily Valentine on ‘Melrose Place’ would’ve been iconic. Not to rub it in. You should’ve been paid well.” Christine said she doesn’t “regret” her decision and pointed out that Aaron kept hiring her anyway and “tolerated” her being “inappropriate” and having a “foul mouth.” She compared the relationship she had with him to the one she had with Carroll O’Connor, saying they were like “godfathers” to her.

  • I love how Tori always acts like she knows the genesis of everything and stuff behind the scenes because of her dad and yet she didn’t know any of this.

  • So “Melrose” would’ve revolved around someone high-school age (Emily) living on her own in an apartment complex…?

• Tori wanted to know why people thought Christine got the job because of Jason. Christine said the internet is “mean” and isn’t “imaginative or clever,” and since men are seen as the ones with power, people have made (wrong) assumptions about how she got on the show, which she rightly called “sexist.”

• Tori said Jason and Christine were great together, but that she and Jennie couldn’t see “chemistry” between Emily and Brandon in Emily’s first episode. Christine revealed she was living with another partner when she started on the show (and plugged the dude’s food truck), so there wasn’t anything between her and Jason at first. Tori asked if Jason was still with Robyn Lively at the time and Christine confirmed he wasn’t… which Tori should’ve remembered from when they had Robyn on the podcast.

• Jennie wanted to know when Christine and Jason’s on-screen relationship moved off-screen. “Way later,” she said. Tori: “This part we didn’t know.” (Shocker.) Christine said she didn’t have reservations about dating Jason because she was just a guest star and wasn’t going to be on the show for long. But she also pointed out, “What are you gonna do? You fall in love with who you fall in love with.” She doesn’t regret it and noted Jason is still a great friend and his wife is one of her best friends, although she has a “dagger in [her] heart” because they recently moved out of California. Christine: “They’re my family. They’re my holidays. They’re my Christmas and my Thanksgiving.” Tori told her to go to Nashville, where the Priestleys moved, while Jennie said they’ll “adopt” her and she can come to their Thanksgivings.

• There was another tangent about Christine’s hair as well as how she “claps back” at “haters” on social media. Jennie said she wanted to get back to the show and wanted to know what Christine’s first day on set was like and whether she felt like an “outsider” or “included.” Christine said she was a “professional guest star” at the time, so she was used to feeling like “the new kid in school” and “learning to navigate as best you can” and “keep[ing] your self-esteem in tact.” But the show was a “phenomenon,” so it was “super intimidating.”

• Christine wrongly called Paul Waigner the showrunner — it was Charles Rosin and neither Tori nor Jennie corrected her, for shame — and recalled how Paul sat her down and welcomed her and told her the guys would be “great” but he couldn’t “make any promises about the girls.” Jennie: “Jeez. So helpful… That makes it worse almost.” Tori: “Sad.” Christine thought her first scene was Emily’s actual intro scene and called Luke “the kindest person I ever met on the first day on set ever.” She noted how he had lunch with her and called him an “incredible gentleman” for how he took her under his “wing” and was so “kind and generous” while being “Elvis Presley-famous.” Jennie: “Yeah, we hear that all that time, across the board, from all the guest stars we talk to… I hope we were kind to you.”

• Christine said her answer to that, and on whether Shannen was a “bitch,” has “evolved.” Now her answer is that no one was a “bitch,” per se, but they were “distracted and had lives and I was invisible to you and that’s totally fair.” She said there were other jobs where she wasn’t “particularly gracious” to people and it was just “work.” Christine: “Nobody was overtly mean to me. Everybody was indifferent to me.” But because she was feeling insecure, “indifference feels like hostility.” Tori tried to claim she was scared of Christine and Jennie backed her up. Tori said they’re “good friends now” and she wishes she “had the voice back then” to get to know her.

• Christine noted how she doesn’t sing and for Jennie this confirmed that it wasn’t Christine really singing “Breaking Up is Hard to Do.” But Christine pointed out it was really her singing the Janis Joplin song in the scene with Brenda, Kelly, and Donna — technically she prerecorded it and then lip-synced on set — and was so stressed by it that she cried in between takes. Tori and Jennie wanted to know why Christine’s voice wasn’t used for the big performance, especially since to them it sounded like her. Christine said parts of her are “looped” into it and she bad-talked her own vocal performance.

• Tori told Christine they had so many questions for her when they watched her debut and now they don’t remember them. (Way to prepare, guys.) But Jennie said they wanted to know about kissing Jason and Luke in the same spot. Christine called it an “assembly line” as the makeouts were filmed in one night. Tori: “You little bitch.” Christine: “Talk about an embarrassment of riches.” Christine said she finds kissing with tongue on camera “vulgar” unless it’s essential to the story and they were “both gentlemen.” But “later on,” when she and Jason were a couple, they really were full-on kissing and watching it back, she thinks it’s “vulgar” and “disgusting.” Jennie: “We didn’t know you were such a prude when it came to making out on TV.”

• Christine confirmed she was supposed to kiss Steve as well in her first episode, but she objected to director Dan Attias (he directed “Wildfire” too) thinking it was “contradictory” to the character and he had already been feeling the same way. Christine: “So I didn’t have to call your dad and complain about it.” Jennie: “I’m sure Ian was bummed out.” Tori: “Maybe you don’t like blonds then.” Christine then joked she was supposed to make out with Shannen too. Tori: “That would’ve been hot.”

• Jennie said they were told Christine only had 15 minutes to chat and they went way past it. Christine said they can “invite [her] back” if they think of the other questions. Tori said the internet is “blowing up” about the “Chucky” series. (Uh…) Tori: “Can we just have her on every episode and ask her memories?” Jennie: “She’s got good memories, right?”

• Sisanie, who had been quiet the entire time, spoke up once Christine was gone, saying what she said about vulgarness was “interesting.” Jennie said she agrees with Christine on not wanting to see tongue-kissing. Sisanie: “I felt like that was all you saw on ‘90210.’” Luca joked about Jennie making out with “the cousin” in this episode, which was the first time this specific episode had been mentioned since it was introduced more than 30 minutes earlier. Luca also made the argument that “teen shows” are worse today with their vulgarity. Luca: “I’m so sad for my sisters.” Jennie: “Young adult television is really pushing the envelope out there, people.”

  • To be fair, “Beverly Hills, 90210” was “pushing the envelope” when it aired. It only seems somewhat quaint now in hindsight. For its time, it was considered quite risque and sexy.

• Luca asked Jennie and Tori about when they found out Christine and Jason were dating. Tori wanted to know why she didn’t ask Christine about it, chiding her, “You’re our co-host today!” Jennie said it was a “slow roll into it” and they “saw it coming so it wasn’t shocking” and they “seemed great together.” Tori didn’t really have a memory of the beginning and wondered if they were “gossiping” about it at the time.

• After a break, Jennie said they needed to “definitely dive into” the episode. (Ya think?) Tori liked it but didn’t love it. She liked Gordon Currie, who played Bobby, and Kelly’s storyline with him because it showed a “vulnerable side” to her. Jennie said it was “out of left field.” Sisanie thought the episode had a “good lesson” to “not necessarily rule somebody out because they’re in a wheelchair or they can’t do something you can do.” Jennie said it’s a “hard” conversation and hoped the episode opened the door for it. Jennie: “It was sweet and I kind of feel like it was a glimpse into future ‘90210land’ where there’s a new guy every episode kind of. Like a new boy comes into town and one of us is dating him.”

  • Every episode? That’s quite the exaggeration.

• Tori: “Did he ever come back?” Jennie: “No. Never. Cousin Bobby left and never called. I gave him my number and everything.” 

  • So clearly they, including Superfan Sisanie, have no idea about the actor having two roles.

• Tori said she remembered Gordon being a “good friend of Jason’s” and that they already knew each other before the show. She wondered if Jason recommended him for the job. Jennie didn’t know, of course. Tori speculated that was the case, though, and said she thought it was going to be a recurring role.

• Jennie didn’t understand why Jim and Cindy were concerned about Bobby visiting and potentially moving to California. Sisanie said it was because they were worried about how he would navigate in the two-story house. Jennie said that after seeing Jim and Cindy talk about things in bed, Luca asked her if she and her husband do that. They all agreed that only happens on TV for the most part.

• Superfan Sisanie wanted to know if it was “Jason’s first crying scene.” Jennie thought it was and said, “He got me. I teared up.” She read aloud the notes she wrote, which said her emotional reaction was due to either “good acting” or “the muscle relaxer I took earlier.” Sisanie wasn’t moved: “I didn’t believe it. I didn’t believe him. I thought it was not great. Maybe he’ll get better in another scene.”

  • Ouch. I always thought Jason was moving in that scene.

• Jennie pointed out how her nostrils flare when Kelly gets upset. This was a tangent.

  • There’s a funny bit in “The Final Goodbye” special with Lindsay talking about how her mom would tell her to stop flaring her nostrils because they look the size of tennis balls on TV.

• Jennie liked the horseback riding scene and said she could tell Luke was happy doing it, but thought Jason “wasn’t convincing as a bad rider.” She said it was “cuteness overload” when David asked Donna out. Tori: “Oh my god. I thought we were going to skip that part. We almost made it.” Jennie called that first move “the little seed in the soil of [their] storyline.” Tori said she “personally” won’t forget this episode because there was a scene she had to be written out of because she got her first UTI and was “crying so hard,” she had to go to urgent care. Tori: “Aligns with my first time a little bit.”

  • TMI…

• Jennie saw the boom twice in the episode. Luca: “What was happening with the boom, guys?” Sisanie, who works in the entertainment industry, wanted to know if “that job still exists.” Tori proposed a drinking game whenever they see the boom.

• Luca asked Tori if she ever made storyline requests to her dad or suggested putting Donna with David. Tori insisted they “never talked again” about the series once she was cast on it because she didn’t want anyone to think she was getting “better treatment.” The exception, she said, was when she told him it was time for Donna to lose her virginity. Luca then asked Jennie the same question. Jennie: “I can only remember requesting to not work with somebody.” Storyline-wise, she said she didn’t have “reason to add any more” to the “twists and turns” already going on with Kelly. Tori said they also didn’t feel they had the “right” to challenge storylines at first, but then acknowledged some felt they could, which was seemingly subtle shade at Shannen, IMO.

  • Jennie was referring to Dalton James, as discussed in my 2010 interview with executive producer Larry Mollin.

• Superfan Sisanie: “You guys never directed an episode — or did you once?” Jennie said they both did. Sisanie: “Earlier? Later on?” She wanted to know if they had “full say” on the episode or if it was already written. They confirmed it was written already and they didn’t get to pick which episode they got.

  • To be clear, Sisanie is a supposed superfan of the show and has spent all these months working with Jennie and Tori — nearly a year now — and still had no idea they had directed episodes.

• They discussed whether it was “rude” of Kelly to dance with the other guy at the party. Jennie thought it was over the top when she asked Bobby to hold her bag. She didn’t find it believable that there wasn’t alcohol at the party. And she thought the guy she danced with, played by Gabriel Macht, looked like her first husband, which Tori did too. Jennie thought he “acted like” her ex too and called it “weird.” They discussed how different Gabriel looks today. Tori said he was “clearly” Jennie’s type and wondered if she thought he was good-looking at the time. Jennie said she probably did. There were then awkward jokes about Jennie’s first husband secretly being Luca’s father and Stella bringing up Tori’s first husband.

  • Does Stella know how her mommy and daddy got together…? 

• After another break, they discussed “‘90s fashion dos and don’ts.” Sisanie was into all the blazers. Tori thought it was “too heavy.” Superfan Sisanie: “Was stuff ever borrowed and then it had to be returned so they made you wear it more?”

• Tori: “No one wears jewel tones like Kelly Taylor, aka Jennie Garth… She looks so good in color and it’s always a fight.” Jennie doesn’t like wearing color (me either). Tori speculated Jennie has “PTSD” from wearing so much color as Kelly.

  • There we go with them flippantly throwing “PTSD” around again…

• They also discussed Kelly’s updo, which she compared to a “butt hole” when looking at it from the top. Tori said makeup and hair then were “old school” and not “cutting edge.” Jennie said they later got “young people in the department who shook things up a lot.” Jennie pointed out that “kids these days” are wearing ‘90s styles and asked for Luca’s opinion. She said the show inspired her to get bangs and complimented Shannen’s hair. 

• They mocked Steve’s turtleneck and vest, which Jennie compared to her “grandma’s slip cover.” Luca made an amusing and smart comment asking what the temperature was at the party because Steve was all covered up in layers and long sleeves while Kelly and Donna were in sleeveless dresses. Tori was surprised Ian didn’t object to the wardrobe.

• Jennie liked Kelly’s line about Bobby being a “hunky stud” in his bathing suit in the photo over the mantle, but also questioned it. Tori didn’t have a favorite line, which Jennie didn’t think was “fair,” but Tori argued, “Some episodes I feel like nothing sticks out.”

• The first fan question was about whether craft services provided any special food or treat that they miss now. Sisanie said they could probably just get it themselves today and Jennie said they could, but it wouldn’t be pre-cut and plated for them. 

  • The privilege rears its head once again…

• Jennie then thought people wouldn’t know what craft services is and explained it. This was a tangent.

• The second fan question was about whether they still get residual checks when the show airs. They confirmed they do, but it amounts to cents, which shocked Sisanie. Jennie explained how the payment decreases the more the show is aired. Jennie: “But you can add up the two cents and come up with, like, $6.99.”

• The same fan wanted to know if their salaries were equal. Jennie said they knew it was different among them but not something they discussed or “held against” anyone because it was based on their experience, quote, episode count, negotiations, etc. Tori claimed she “didn’t really care” that she got paid “way less” than everyone else early on, but it became uncomfortable and she didn’t want to go to her dad about it, but her agent eventually brought it up. Jennie thought Ian once “spearheaded a movement to get everyone to make the same salary at one point, later, later in the series.” Tori said they “tried but it didn’t happen.” And then, she said, the “Friends” cast did it.

  • It’s possible the “Friends” cast did it first. This article is from 1996. I get the sense Ian’s push would’ve been after ‘96, but what do I know?

• Superfan Sisanie asked if there were new contracts for each season. Jennie thought they negotiated every season, but then kind of took it back and said there was a yearly rate with bumps if the show was renewed. Jennie: “Listen, money’s not either of our strong suits.”

  • Yeah, we know from last week.

• Jennie: “We were just happy to be getting a paycheck.” Sisanie: “And now you still get that paycheck. Two cents.” Sisanie then dissed Denny’s and Tori said she loves Denny’s. With five kids, Jennie cracked that Tori should take the establishment up on their “kids eat free” birthday offer.

  • Let’s be real: They’re making far more than two cents off the show right now, this podcast being the prime example.

• Luca thanked them for letting her sit in. Tori said they’re now going to get listener questions for her. Sisanie said she’d have to come back. Luca said she herself would send in questions.

• Tori asked what the episode is for next week. Jennie could be heard flipping through her “notes” to find it. Sisanie ultimately gave it: “Down and Out of District in Beverly Hills.” Jennie: “Everybody watch it and do your homework. We will do ours.”

What a dumb episode to have Christine on for. There are several pivotal “Emily” episodes (including one with that title) and this is not one of them. I find it kind of embarrassing. Of all the episodes Christine is in, you ask her to come on during this one? It’s just further evidence of their incompetence. Maybe if it was one of Emily’s key episodes, they would’ve actually discussed it with her. Instead, the episode wasn’t even mentioned at all in their conversation. Anyway, here is my own interview with Christine from 2009. (Peep Christine and Charles talking to each other in the comments!)

Presumably, because the conversation with Christine went on for a while and didn’t actually cover the episode, this installment was roughly 80 minutes long. They didn’t get into the actual episode until nearly 45 minutes in. At that point, the episode discussion was pretty typical for them (read: surface-level) and they didn’t discuss the Brenda driving storyline OR Emily joining the Blaze — and that’s even with Christine literally being on the call with them earlier.

Having Luca with them was fine, nothing particularly special or particularly distracting. If they were going to have a relative join them, though, I would’ve liked to hear from Randy. On the “Beverly Hills 90210 Show” podcast, we’ve only heard from him and Tori separately. I think a joint interview with them is long overdue… perhaps if they make it to season 3, when Randy starts appearing in his first (of two) roles.

So, I think, after this week, I’m going to make a concerted effort to take less notes. I know I’ve said that before and then not really stuck with it. But for my own sanity and my limited time (three podcasts and a TV show each week now!!!), I really need to make these truly reaction posts with less “recap” in them. To give some context, all the notes above (not including this summary section) took up more than seven pages on Google Docs. It is much more reasonable for me when I’m able to keep it to four pages or less, which means focusing on my reaction more than every single thing that’s said. It just isn’t easy with my “must be a perfectionist and write everything down!” personality. We’ll see how it goes…

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