I was bored at 12am at night on October 28, 2020, up to season five of Beverly Hills 90210 and was sick of what the show became. I hated Dylan the drunk coma fuck, hated Valerie the lying manipulative bitch (fuck Valerie), was sick to death of Andrea and her whiny cheating ass...Clare was alright I guess. David got better from his real low. Donna's just there, Kelly and Brandon were the only ones I could truly tolerate at the point I was watching. But then I remembered my mom say something about how she used to watch Degrassi back in the late 80s, and because 90210 was not that long after that and it was a high school drama which my 18-year-old self could relate to, and because I already knew about the newer Degrassi but really didn't give a shit about it when it was on, I got suddenly interested in checking it out so I typed in "80s degrassi" and the first image I laid my eyes on was a picture of Arthur, Yick, Spike, Stephanie and Joey leaning against a set of blue lockers, just chilling. (Lucy is actually also in this photo too, but the version I saw cropped her out for some reason).
And I was mesmerized by that particular picture. One reason was because of Spike and her hair and the bump on her stomach, and the other was because of how realistic everyone looked. How they were actual, legitimate kids, that I probably would have gotten to school with circa 1987. So after that, I started watching the show, but in my own true fashion, I didn't start with the first episode; I started with the important one: It's Late. After watching five whole seasons of a Hollywood-made teen drama with 25-year-olds playing 15 year olds with high (at the time) production values, watching the whole 27 minutes (half of a 90210 episode) of an episode of Degrassi Junior High was a revelation. It was so fucking unabashedly low-budget and realistic. No 30-year-old women playing nerdy bookworms in this one. At first, I couldn't get used to Amanda Stepto, who plays Spike's less-than-convincing way of saying "Mom...I'm pregnant.", or how her crying in that episode is basically just sporadic sniffling, but I realized that it's part of why I like the show so much. The acting isn't always perfect, but it somehow makes it more convincing and real.
However, for all the praises I can sing about this masterpiece, my biggest grievance is how my favorite character, Spike, got sidelined multiple times during what I thought were important plotlines (either to her, or to the story). These consist of:
- The plotline about Spike being kicked out. Season 2 episode 11 Trust Me basically consists of, "Welp, guys, I'm going in" to the PTA meeting, Joey stealing a car, and then "Welp guys, i got kicked out". The book explains it better but I CAN'T FIND THE FUCKING STUPID BOOK ANYWHERE AND I'M NOT PAYING 100 BUCKS ON ABE BOOKS FOR IT!
- Her reaction to Shane's acid accident. You'd think she'd at least be a background character during those episodes but we never even see Spike at all! And the next time we see her she barely mentions it!
- In Degrassi High...what the hell happened between her and (the Irish guy she used to date) Patrick after the season 2 episode "Body Politics"? He called her out for "meddling" with him and Liz in the library and that is it. We never even see Patrick at all in any form ever again. Did they call a truce later on? Was it made clear he wanted nothing to do with her again? Did Spike self-reflect after the whole "you may be a mother but you have a lot of growing up to do" comment? Nah, who gives a shit about that when some dumb plot about a sports team is more important.
Because this show is 30 years old as well, you do get some Next Generation fans that dismiss this as old irrelevant cringe. But that doesn't really matter when TNG is older now than what DJH was when TNG started. Haha, fuck you, checkmate.
In conclusion, this show is a masterpiece no matter how outdated or lame you might think it is, and it's a shame Beverly Hills 90210 likes to think of itself as the first 'real' teen drama, when in reality it just glamorized it and popularized it for an international audience.
Series A groundbreaking show that gets overshadowed too much
I was bored at 12am at night on October 28, 2020, up to season five of Beverly Hills 90210 and was sick of what the show became. I hated Dylan the drunk coma fuck, hated Valerie the lying manipulative bitch (fuck Valerie), was sick to death of Andrea and her whiny cheating ass...Clare was alright I guess. David got better from his real low. Donna's just there, Kelly and Brandon were the only ones I could truly tolerate at the point I was watching. But then I remembered my mom say something about how she used to watch Degrassi back in the late 80s, and because 90210 was not that long after that and it was a high school drama which my 18-year-old self could relate to, and because I already knew about the newer Degrassi but really didn't give a shit about it when it was on, I got suddenly interested in checking it out so I typed in "80s degrassi" and the first image I laid my eyes on was a picture of Arthur, Yick, Spike, Stephanie and Joey leaning against a set of blue lockers, just chilling. (Lucy is actually also in this photo too, but the version I saw cropped her out for some reason).
And I was mesmerized by that particular picture. One reason was because of Spike and her hair and the bump on her stomach, and the other was because of how realistic everyone looked. How they were actual, legitimate kids, that I probably would have gotten to school with circa 1987. So after that, I started watching the show, but in my own true fashion, I didn't start with the first episode; I started with the important one: It's Late. After watching five whole seasons of a Hollywood-made teen drama with 25-year-olds playing 15 year olds with high (at the time) production values, watching the whole 27 minutes (half of a 90210 episode) of an episode of Degrassi Junior High was a revelation. It was so fucking unabashedly low-budget and realistic. No 30-year-old women playing nerdy bookworms in this one. At first, I couldn't get used to Amanda Stepto, who plays Spike's less-than-convincing way of saying "Mom...I'm pregnant.", or how her crying in that episode is basically just sporadic sniffling, but I realized that it's part of why I like the show so much. The acting isn't always perfect, but it somehow makes it more convincing and real.
However, for all the praises I can sing about this masterpiece, my biggest grievance is how my favorite character, Spike, got sidelined multiple times during what I thought were important plotlines (either to her, or to the story). These consist of:
- The plotline about Spike being kicked out. Season 2 episode 11 Trust Me basically consists of, "Welp, guys, I'm going in" to the PTA meeting, Joey stealing a car, and then "Welp guys, i got kicked out". The book explains it better but I CAN'T FIND THE FUCKING STUPID BOOK ANYWHERE AND I'M NOT PAYING 100 BUCKS ON ABE BOOKS FOR IT!
- Her reaction to Shane's acid accident. You'd think she'd at least be a background character during those episodes but we never even see Spike at all! And the next time we see her she barely mentions it!
- In Degrassi High...what the hell happened between her and (the Irish guy she used to date) Patrick after the season 2 episode "Body Politics"? He called her out for "meddling" with him and Liz in the library and that is it. We never even see Patrick at all in any form ever again. Did they call a truce later on? Was it made clear he wanted nothing to do with her again? Did Spike self-reflect after the whole "you may be a mother but you have a lot of growing up to do" comment? Nah, who gives a shit about that when some dumb plot about a sports team is more important.
Because this show is 30 years old as well, you do get some Next Generation fans that dismiss this as old irrelevant cringe. But that doesn't really matter when TNG is older now than what DJH was when TNG started. Haha, fuck you, checkmate.
In conclusion, this show is a masterpiece no matter how outdated or lame you might think it is, and it's a shame Beverly Hills 90210 likes to think of itself as the first 'real' teen drama, when in reality it just glamorized it and popularized it for an international audience.