Reid About It

There's been a lot of talk about the new "Beverly Hills, 90210" spinoff coming out. Let me be the first to say, "Good luck" and "it won't work."

Sorry. I give it a year of heavily-hyped media attention, then a quick fade.

The original "90210" was a surprise hit. Back in 1991, FOX took a chance and aired new episodes of the show over the summer, thus breaking the long-standing policy of the big three networks to only show reruns over the summer months.

Let me correct myself. I say they took a chance, in reality they were just desperate. Fox was airing shows like Drexell's Class, Get A Life, Haywire, and Parker Lewis Can't Lose, some of which lasted so briefly, even wikipedia doesn't remember them. At the time, 90210 wasn't even in the top hundred shows, so they literally had nothing to lose.

And so they did it, and it worked out. Dylan and Brenda's summer romance was the talk of the nation, at least among the coveted young female demographic. The show gained popularity, spun off two shows, and quickly went downhill. Worse, almost every actor left the show at one point or another. Worst of all, Brian Austin Green wasn't one of the actors who left.

The show was a fireball, a product whose legend far exceeds it's actual use. Sure, people remember the chants of "Donna Martin Graduates," but who recalls the murder of Dylan's fiance? Or Vanessa Marcil and Donna turning out to be cousins and half-sisters? Or when everybody realized that Andrea was in her 30's and still in high school, like Cameron Crowe?

Do we need another "90210"? What's to be gained from reimagining the show? That current young female demographic doesn't remember the show, they remember "The OC" and "Dawson's Creek."

They have their own memories. A new "90210" is like hearing a song you used to love when you were a kid and enjoying it, then realizing it wasn't that great anyway and going on to the next one.