REACTION: 9021OMG Episode 8

After a special interview with Gabrielle Carteris last week, the “9021OMG” podcast was back to its usual “rewatch” format on Monday.

The focus was “Higher Education,” the sixth episode of “Beverly Hills, 90210.” Directed by Artie Mandelberg, who also helmed the preceding episode, this hour features Brandon facing another moral dilemma: to cheat or not to cheat in history class. The seemingly unfair teacher, Mr. Danzel, is played by Bill Morey, and while researching him recently, I uncovered a fun fact: Before his one-episode stint on “Beverly Hills, 90210,” he appeared in “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” and “Beverly Hills Buntz.” I sense a theme!

Meanwhile, some fans might consider this episode a (very) early start to the Brenda-Dylan-Kelly love triangle. Both women show interest in him, with Brenda going far as attempting to dye her hair after Dylan expresses a preference for blonds. The storyline includes one of the series’ iconic lines: “I like your butt… I mean, your bike.” Also worth pointing out is that the episode’s writer, Jordan Budde, went on to write for The CW’s “90210.”

So, how did this all shake out with Jennie Garth (Kelly, Beverly Hills, 90210) and Tori Spelling (Donna, Beverly Hills, 90210) on the podcast? Well…

9021OMG Episode 8, “9021 Oh Big Bangs”

• They were joined by one of Tori’s dogs, who is named Musso. (Uh, like Mussolini??) Of course we couldn’t see him, though.

• Tori said Musso is best friends with Jennie’s dog Buddy and when they get together, they “sniff butts and lick wieners. It’s super cute, because I never do that to Jen when I see her.”

• Tori wondered whether she should “motorboat” Jennie when she sees her. Jennie didn’t know what that is, so Tori helpfully demonstrated. Sisanie was shocked Jennie didn’t know about this act.

  • Again I wonder if any young-ish teens are listening to this. Of course, I started watching “Beverly Hills, 90210” before I was even a tween, so I guess I’m not one to talk. But still.

• Jennie introduced the episode, giving its air date and synopsis.

• Then Tori and Sisanie didn’t know what “chagrin” means after Jennie said it in the description.

• Tori liked seeing The Peach Pit a lot in this episode, but said it was “crazy” they didn’t have uniforms yet.

• Jennie pointed out that early in the episode, Brandon calls Andrea “Ann-drea” and then later calls her “Ahn-drea,” “so I don’t know who he’s talking about.” Tori: “That’s a continuity issue if there ever was one!”

• Superfan Sisanie: “When did you guys film?” Tori: “Every day of every month of every year.”

  • That’s a bit of an exaggeration, for the record.

• Superfan Sisanie was confused about how they shot at an “active” school. Jennie said it felt like being in a “zoo” as they filmed while classes were in session.

• Tori: “I wonder if they got cool because of it. If people were like, ‘Woah, that show’s a hit and it’s filmed at your high school.’”

• Superfan Sisanie asked if all the kids seen in the background were actual students or extras. Extras, duh.

• Jennie said they had a lot of extras and they were “so rad” and had a “hard job.” She insisted, “Shows, movies couldn’t do what they do without these super-talented background actors because they bring the life to the whole scene and so many times they get overlooked. I think there should be a category of best background actor.”

• Tori: “And the boys loved the beautiful extras. It was the ‘90s.” Sisanie: “It doesn’t matter if it’s the ‘90s or 2020.” Tori: “Okay, fine, I was being nice.” Jennie: “It’s like six or seven episodes and they were sick of us.” Tori: “Yeah, it was fresh meat. I feel like we would get jealous a little bit. It was like they were our territory. If we could’ve peed on all the boys, we would’ve marked them. They were ours.” Jennie: “I would not pee on any of them.”

• Jennie: “This is the first episode that we see the whole Brenda-Dylan start to happen.” Sisanie: “Well, it starts with the spark between Dylan and Kelly. You see that.” Tori: “It was so telling of the future! ‘I like blonds.’” Damn straight.

• Jennie admonished Tori not to “give it away” in case people are watching for the first time. Tori: “Is that a spoiler alert of a 30-year-old episode? What do you mean?!” Sisanie said they’ve gotten DMed by listeners who say they’re spoiling things.

  • I can’t imagine anyone thinking this podcast is for first-time viewers. I would be so unsatisfied and confused if I was watching the show for the first time and had to make sense of what Tori and Jennie spew each week.

• Jennie said she was “triggered” by Dylan saying he was a “blond guy right to Brenda’s face.” Sisanie: “That was painful.” Jennie: “He was just fucking with her right out of the gate.” Tori: “Well, I was triggered for you, because I was like you are his.”

• Jennie said that by the end of the episode, it was clear the direction the show was going in was “to get Brenda and Dylan together.”

• Sisanie thought it was “so relatable” that a girl would want to change her hair for a guy. They agreed that it’s a “grass is always greener” thing with wanting an appearance you can’t have. Tori said she still has those moments in her 40s.

• Jennie: “This is a life lesson, people. Never ask your friend to dye your hair. Just don’t do it. It will always end badly... That was a big mistake.”

• There was a tangent about Jennie taking out Tori’s extensions, putting extensions in for her, cutting Tori’s hair, shaving her face, tanning her body “head to toe,” etc. And then Tori went on about how she wants Jennie to have bangs again. Sisanie agreed. Jennie wasn’t really opposed.

• Jennie pointed out how big her bangs were in the episode, so much so that her daughter Fiona even commented as they watched together. That’s where the title of this installment, “Big Bangs,” comes from.

• Jennie said Fiona also commented on her teeth, which apparently is something Tori has been teasing Jennie about for years.

• Jennie’s voice is still messed up. I feel bad for her.

• A fan named Beverly wrote in to ask if Jennie remembers what Luke whispered to her in the scene where they walk down the stairs and she giggles. Jennie: “I can assure you it was inappropriate. I can assure you it was completely inappropriate... No, I don’t remember all the inappropriate things he said to me!” Tori: “He would get her all riled up.”

• Jennie: “Well, we should talk about the Brandon part. We should talk about Brandon and — what was the teacher’s name?”

• Jennie said Mr. Danzel “was really cute. I have a thing for older guys, though, and he was adorable.” Tori: “Says the woman married to a younger man?” Jennie: “I love the elders.” Tori: “What are you talking about? You’ve only dated younger men.” Apparently Jennie didn’t mean she likes older men in the romantic sense.

• Jennie asked if they ever cheated at school. Tori said she did once with a stolen test and she and her friends got caught. “In fact, I think I was doing ‘90210’ at the time, so I was barely there, and I just wanted to graduate. So that was rough.”

  • TORI SPELLING GRADUATES! Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.

• Jennie: “You can really see how important their GPA was to these kids. Oh my gosh. They were so stressed out about their GPA. Andrea was so worried about her grades. Brandon was so worried about his grades. I felt so stressed out for them.” Tori: “Steve was so not worried about his grades, in line with his character.” Jennie: “He has every confidence in himself in the world.”

• That led to a joke about parents buying their kids’ way into college and how they’ve never heard about that before.

• They marveled over Steve’s shock about Brandon’s parents still being together.

• Jennie pointed out that her parents were still together when her dad passed away and it was the same for Tori. Sisanie’s parents are still together too.

• Jennie: “I always wanted that, to be the old couple that celebrates their 75th anniversary together.” Tori: “Well, that’s gonna be us... It can be your life wife.” Sisanie: “Can you guys please have a 75th anniversary party?” Tori: “Oh my god! We’re doing it.”

  • 75 years after 1990 would be 2065, so mark your calendar. Jennie would be 93 years old. Tori would be 92.

• Jennie: “I did laugh out loud when Steve called Mr. D ‘the hemorrhoid.’ Tori: “I feel like Donna was a little feisty toward Mr. D as well.” Jennie: “You were!” Tori: “And Donna’s like the sweetest. But she hadn’t been defined yet.”

• Sisanie brought up the iconic line about Donna wearing both contacts in the same eye. Tori said it’s “literally one of my favorite lines of Donna’s from all 10 years.” At the time, Tori thought it was so weird, but it happened to her “four years ago.” She said, “Life imitates art. Donna Martin at her finest. It happened.”

• That was Jennie’s favorite line of the episode, but she also loved when Brenda told Brandon, “Excuse me for living,” and when Dylan told Brenda, “Blond, brunette, redheads, girls in tank tops.” Sisanie: “You felt the tingliness through that scene.” Tori: “Smoldering boy!” Jennie: “He knew just what to say to get right under the skin.”

• Sisanie: “Him taking off his helmet in that scene is iconic. That’s how I remember him.” Tori: “I’m picturing it right now. It’s like ingrained in every female’s brain.” Jennie: “And those wrinkles on his forehead. He had those great lines across his forehead.” Tori: “And the one eye, brow going up, the little scar.” Sisanie: “Is it strange I was attracted to him at like 8 years old? I had his posters all over my wall.” Jennie: “I wish we had those now!”

  • Um, I was definitely attracted to Luke at that age.

• Jennie also brought up the butt / bike line, prompting Tori to say Luke “never had a butt.” Jennie agreed. Sisanie: “Now I’m going to look for it.”

• Fiona apparently also got a kick out of Brenda saying that line and Sisanie said she likes when lines like that make her cringe and you feel embarrassed with the character.

• Jennie: “How did we get back on to Dylan again? We just keep jumping back to Brenda and Dylan. I had more to say about Brandon, though, because I felt like Brandon was so hard on Andrea in this episode. He was so, like, borderline mean to her.” Tori: “He’s intense, but this episode he was actually angry at people.”

• Jennie: “And again with the yelling in the library! I don’t know what’s going on in that library, but I gotta get to the bottom of it.” Sisanie: “I think in your past life you really wanted to be a librarian.” Jennie: “Apparently, because it really bothers me that they kept having fights in the library.”

• They all expressed shock at the way Brandon “chewed out” Mr. Danzel and said how they could never do that to a teacher. Tori: “That was uncharacteristic. They missed the mark.” Jennie: “He was too angry, too hot-headed. Because Brandon wasn’t really hot-headed.”

• Sisanie made a fair point that ultimately Brandon wasn’t that kind of person overall, but this was still just a few episodes into the series “and he obviously evolved.” Jennie: “You definitely see the range of when he is sweet and cute and then he gets so fiery and angry and then he gets guilty and he’s apologetic and he finds the meaning in it. He really did go through kind of an emotional journey in this episode.” Sisanie: “He’s trying to find himself still. All of you guys are.” Tori: “Who isn’t?” Sisanie: “I meant in the episode. But touche.”

• Jennie: “I wouldn’t want to piss off Andrea.” Tori: “But [she’s] not like scary. Just intense.” Jennie: “Real. And accurate. She’s got a point.”

• Jennie was saying she again thought Jim was being a helicopter parent when they were interrupted by Tori’s dog barking, which led to a tangent about them bringing their dogs with them to work and Musso yapping at people to the point where Tori has to scream at the pooch. Once again, she decided to do a demonstration.

• Tori: “During ‘BH90210,’ he hated Brian Austin Green. Why did I just say Brian Austin Green?... Literally at the end of the shoot, I think Musso was just fucking with him.”

• Jennie: “Sorry, what were we even talking about before Musso so rudely interrupted?”

• Getting back on topic, Jennie said Jim was “hovering about the grades and I felt pressure from him watching.” She acknowledged that school does get more “serious” in high school and that it’s hard for parents to step back, but Jim needed to and Cindy was “as always, the voice of reason.”

• They then joked about Cindy barbecuing so much, with Jennie saying that’s all she did: “Garden and cook, garden and cook.”

• Superfan Sisanie wondered if Casa Walsh was “owned” by them so they could film the scenes there. Jennie: “We just used it like one day an episode in the beginning... We’d shoot all the scenes that took place exterior of the Walsh house that day.”

• Tori said the owners of the house are “mad” and “annoyed” about fans coming to the house. She cited “our number one superfan, Darren Martin, who knows everything,” and asserted that when fans tried to go to the house during Brian’s big podcast event last year, they weren’t allowed on the street. Jennie thought the house had new owners that “weren’t as excited” about the house’s significance. Tori realized she might’ve had the owners mixed up.

  • I visited Casa Walsh in 2009.

• At this point, Sisanie finally grasped that the interior of Casa Walsh was on set in Van Nuys: “My world’s being crushed.”

• Jennie said she loved shooting at the actual house, though. Tori recalled sitting on the lawn and chatting between takes.

• Tori brought up being out there when the O.J. Simpson verdict was announced and how they had to not show emotion in front of all the cameras. This has been discussed on the “Beverly Hills 90210 Show” podcast a few times.

• Sisanie: “I think we all remember where we were for that.” Jennie: “Uh, I don’t.” Sisanie: “Well, obviously you were there!” Tori: “You were sitting right next to me.” Jennie: “Apparently I was on the Walsh lawn!”

• Sisanie brought up Shannen’s wig for her post-dye job look and thought the frizziness was accurate. She also said she tried dyeing her hair blond, too, and it ended up orange. Jennie: “It’s probably Dylan McKay’s fault.”

• Jennie brought up how she dyed her own hair “super dark” after the show ended: “I wanted to experience what it was like to not be a blond. There was a huge difference, let me tell you.”

• Tori: “I went dark in the show. I regret that. I feel like Donna’s a blond.” Jennie: “You looked so beautiful, though, in the red, that dark red.” Tori: “I like it. It just didn’t feel like Donna. I wish I hadn’t married David — I wanted to remember Donna and David the way they met.”

• Tori said she was encouraged to change her hair by her manager at the time who thought it would help her be “taken seriously as an actress” beyond “90210.” But, she admitted, it didn’t work.

• Sisanie said she had fan questions to ask them and Tori thanked fans for writing in and insisted, “Write in more! We want to hear what you think about it, bad or good, we want to hear questions you have for us, upcoming episodes, let us know.”

• Sisanie: “That was one we got from Monica, where she was like, ‘Can you not spoil things from future seasons?’” Tori: “I cannot promise that.” Jennie: “But good to think of people — that’s so cool that people are jumping in, watching it for the first time with us.” Sisanie’s husband is apparently one of those people.

• A fan named Karen wanted to know: “How long did you have a script before shooting?” Jennie: “Good question, Karen. Very sensible question. I like it.” Superfan Sisanie: “I’m actually curious too.” Of course you are, Sis.

• Jennie said they’d get the script a few days before shooting, sometimes as late as one day before or even day-of in the later seasons. Tori pointed out that there were multiple drafts and said things seemed “rushed” in the later seasons.

• Jennie explained the color system, with the script coming out on white pages, and then the revisions would come on different colored pages: “It was like the rainbow of scripts.” Tori: “I can’t. Do you see her OCD coming out? This is what’s important to her. She can’t remember things that she filmed in a show, but she can remember the order of the color of the organization of papers... I love you so much.”

• Tori made clear she wasn’t nearly as organized as Jennie with her script pages, prompting Jennie to ask how she memorized her lines then. Tori: “I have like a photographic memory so I’m good at learning lines. Spending time on lines isn't good for me because I’ll forget it by the time I get there. For me, it’s easier to look it up, pick it up, move on to the next scene.”

• That same fan wanted to know how hard it is to memorize a scene. Jennie said she relied on her short-term memory so much — “instant recall, looking at something on paper one time, and then going and reciting it in a scene” — that it hurt her long-term memory. Sisanie: “Is that your story and you’re sticking to it?” Jennie: “I mean, it works.”

  • Jennie’s explanation might actually really be part of her memory issues, not just some lame excuse as Sisanie makes it seem like. More on this in tomorrow’s “Teen Drama Links” for premium TDW subscribers.

• Tori and Jennie had a laugh about how, back in the day, they would have script sides printed on “mini pages,” but by the time they did “BH90210,” they needed all of the lines in giant font on full-size pages. Sisanie found this “hysterical.”

• And that fan also wanted to know who was most likely to forget their lines or have bloopers. Jennie: “I feel like we all had our share, but I know I definitely forgot my lines a lot.” She remembered “flatlining” and “completely losing track of what we were doing” in a scene and said the crew “would be like, ‘Oh, there she goes.’” Tori: “But in general, I feel like everyone was pretty on it with their lines.” Jennie said she would “peruse the next day’s work” before bed, but she didn’t “study” the script and “break it all down.”

• Sisanie asked whether there was “room for improv” and Jennie said “they made us stick tight” to the script. She said they could add “inflections or flavors here and there, but we definitely had to get their words across. It didn’t even really enter our minds to want to improv.” Tori said “the boys” would add things in (which has also been discussed on the “Beverly Hills 90210 Show” podcast, including during an installment I was on!), especially physically, but Jennie said they sometimes did too.

• Jennie: “The writers were so great about writing to all of our individual voices. They really listened to the way we talked to each other and they used it so well.”

• Tori: “It was really great to see that happen. We didn’t even know it was happening. Don’t you feel like you didn’t know it was happening but all of a sudden Donna and Kelly turned into Tori and Jennie, but we didn’t know — they just did it... It didn’t occur to us at the time like, ‘Oh, our characters are evolving more into us and becoming more of us.’ We can look back now and see it, but at the time we didn’t know. It just felt right.”

  • ...Or maybe Jennie and Tori became more like their characters?

• Sisanie wondered if there was someone spying on them on set in order to write the characters more like them. Tori: “Who is that person? Maybe that was the same person that told Jessica Alba not to look at us in the eyes. Who knows? We don’t know. We will never know. But we will never let that go.”

• Last question from that same fan: “For wardrobe, did you choose your outfits or did someone select that for you?”

• Before answering, Jennie pointed out the skimpy shirt Donna was wearing in the episode and how “taut” Tori looked, prompting Tori to sing, “Those were the days.” Jennie also said that every scene, Steve had a “new, ugly shirt on.”

• In response to the question, Tori said, “We did have say in it, more and more as the show progressed... They started to figure out our individual styles, what worked best on our bodies, what we liked. We definitely could say, ‘No, that doesn’t work for me.’ It’s not like we had to wear it... That means that Ian picked those shirts!”

• Superfan Sisanie asked if they figured out the outfits “day of.” Jennie explained how there were fittings for each episode while filming the preceding episode.

• Jennie: “Wardrobe is a really tricky, challenging part of acting, I think more so than people even think, because it takes a lot of energy and planning. Wardrobe stylists and coordinators, they have a lot of work to do.” She added, “A lot of clothes we went through on that show.”

• Sisanie pointed out that a lot of the clothing is back in style now and Jennie wished she could go back into their wardrobe room today.

• Sisanie and Jennie rejoiced about 2020 ending, but Tori said, “Crazy enough, 2020 I know was horrific on so many levels for so many people, but there were moments of it that gave us pause to go back to what was important, the simpler things in life. Quarantine, as awful as it was, let us be with our family. Sometimes life moves really fast... and you don’t get that moment. For Jen and I, we started a lot of passion projects in 2020. We had time to kind of do that and really get our ducks lined up that 2021 is going to be really amazing.”

• Jennie: “I feel like 2021, it’s gotta be better than 2020, so there’s that... It doesn’t matter what your resolution is because 2020’s gonna be whatever it's gonna be. You’ve got no control.”

• Tori agreed, pointing out how excited everyone was for 2020 and thought it was going to be “the best year.”

• Jennie: “Just take it as comes. Just go with the flow. Be in the moment. Be with your loved ones. Focus on the things that are important and good for you and keep you safe. Just go with it and see what happens. That’s my resolution.”

• When Sisanie said it was time to wrap up, Tori seemed surprised and yelled out “No!” Sisanie pointed out this was their last installment of the year and said the “homework assignment” is to watch episode 7 of the show for next week.

• Tori: “Bye 2020!”

• Jennie: “I always love it at the end of the year and you’re done working or seeing people and you can say, ‘Okay, see you next year!’”

• Tori: “We will definitely see you next year. Be safe. OMG!”

As I worked on this post, I had a (somewhat obvious) realization: The “9021OMG” podcast has actually made it to eight podcasts. There’s nothing particularly impressive about eight, of course, especially when “Beverly Hills, 90210” has nearly 300 episodes and they’re only on episode 6. But I just had a moment where I was like, “Wow. They’re really continuing with this.” Because I’ve just been so skeptical — and in truth, I remain so. Like, will they really continue past season 1? Will this really go on for the years it’ll take to get through the entire series? I’m still doubtful. But I’m already impressed that they’ve made it this far, which I suppose is some kind of backhanded compliment. I also must point out that there doesn’t seem to be ads anymore for beauty products or tushy cleaners, so thank goodness for small miracles.

Anyway, with eight podcasts under their belt, it seems like they might be finding their groove. I still wish there was a little more organization instead of jumping from topic to topic and back again, but there’s no denying they are staying on track more than they did the first few weeks. Baby steps, I guess, and you know I’ll keep following this podcast journey — all the highs and all the lows — in 2021. I hope you’ll join me!

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