My "Beverly Hills, 90210" Name Pet Peeve

“Beverly Hills, 90210.” “90210.” “BH90210.”

Long ago, these were all names for the same show. Today, despite constant misnaming, they are three different shows. And it drives me positively bonkers that so many don’t seem to understand that.

Let me break it down…

When “Beverly Hills, 90210” premiered on FOX in 1990, “90210” quickly became shorthand for the series’ name. This continued throughout the show’s 10-year run and even after. If you referred to a TV program called “90210,” people knew what you were talking about. They knew you meant “Beverly Hills, 90210.”

That all changed in 2008 when “90210” came to mean a different show on a different network. The CW launched a “Beverly Hills, 90210” spinoff called “90210.” That meant, from then on, “90210” was the name for a show unto itself. It was not the same series as “Beverly Hills, 90210.”

Of course, because abbreviations are common in pop culture, there was still another nickname for “Beverly Hills, 90210.” That was “BH90210.” For nearly three decades, if you referred to “BH90210,” it was understood you were talking about “Beverly Hills, 90210.”

And then that changed too. In 2019, FOX debuted an event series called “BH90210.” No longer could “BH90210” mean “Beverly Hills, 90210.” They were different shows.

To be clear: “Beverly Hills, 90210” aired on FOX from 1990 to 2000. “90210” aired on The CW from 2008 to 2013. “BH90210” aired on FOX in 2019.

Yet people are still wrongly using the names interchangeably. When Brian Austin Green competed on “Dancing with the Stars” earlier this fall, he was repeatedly referred to as an actor from “90210.” But Green had nothing to do with “90210.” He starred on “Beverly Hills, 90210.”

Even The New York Times got it wrong in a recent article about Shannen Doherty. The piece asserts Doherty “was only 19 when she started acting on ‘90210.’” In actuality, she was only 19 when she started acting on FOX’s “Beverly Hills, 90210.” She was 37 when she appeared on The CW’s “90210.”

It’s really not hard to get it right and I don’t think I’m asking for too much. Call “Beverly Hills, 90210” what it is. Not “90210.” Not “BH90210.” Not “Niner,” as Daniel Cosgrove recently called it on the “Beverly Hills 90210 Show” podcast.

Just “Beverly Hills, 90210.” You have time for the extra syllables and words, I promise.

Now you may be wondering how to refer to the “Gossip Girl” spinoff. After all, The CW’s “Gossip Girl,” which aired from 2007 to 2012, has the same exact name as HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl,” which premiered in July. Well, you call it just that: the “Gossip Girl” spinoff. Or: the new “Gossip Girl.” And you can refer to the original show as just that: the original “Gossip Girl.”

When you use the proper name, like with “Beverly Hills, 90210,” or contextualize the name, like with the new “Gossip Girl” spinoff, there is no doubt as to what you’re referring. There is accuracy. There is clarity. And all is right in the teen drama world.