History Series / BeverlyHills90210

* FakeGuestStar: Kathleen Robertson (Clare) in season 5, plus Jason Wiles (Colin), Emma Caulfield (Susan), and Cameron Bancroft (Joe) in season 6. Most appear in over 25 episodes of their respective seasons, though still placed under "guest star" billing (though Kathleen Robertson was PromotedToOpeningTitles come season 6). Especially egregious in the case of Wiles, who appears in every episode in season 6.

* BoyfriendBlockingDad: Papa Walsh was this for Brenda, while Brandon got a lot more slack to the point of DoubleStandard and {{Hypocrisy}}--he's completely blithe and matter-of-fact about Brandon losing his virginity while ''in the house'', merely feet away from his sleeping parents, but completely flips out upon finding out that Brenda is sleeping with Dylan and flips out even more when Brenda makes it clear that Dylan did not force or seduce her.

* TeensAreShort: Both averted and played straight - the teenage characters have a decent range of heights and the tallest male and female characters (Teddy and Silver) are teens but Ivy, Annie, Adrianna and more recently Holly are all much shorter than their parents.

-->-- '''Roger''', ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', "Stan of Arabia"

* OverprotectiveDad: Papa Walsh was this for Brenda, while Brandon got a lot more slack to the point of DoubleStandard and {{Hypocrisy}}--he's completely blithe and matter-of-fact about Brandon losing his virginity while ''in the house'', merely feet away from his sleeping parents, but completely flips out upon finding out that Brenda is sleeping with Dylan and flips out even more when Brenda makes it clear that Dylan did not force or seduce her.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Emily Valentine's clinginess mixed in with her fixation with Brandon and self-destructive behavior (at one point, threatening to set herself on fire in Brandon's family's driveway) points to possible borderline personality disorder, though an exact diagnosis is never made explicit. She gets better, though.

** In season 2, Brandon's girlfriend Emily Valentine (who had an AmbiguousDisorder) went to a mental hospital after having a major breakdown in which she stalked Brandon after their breakup and nearly set a gasoline-soaked parade float on fire with her on it. TheBusCameBack in three episodes, afterwards, with Emily having a significantly improved mental state.

* MarketBasedTitle: In Brazil, the series is named ''Barrados no Baile'' ("Barred at the Party"), in part because [[spoiler:[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/BeverlyHills90210S01E01ClassOfBeverlyHills the very first episode]] shows [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEgeQxts1zo&t=41s one of the underage protagonists suffering this fate when trying to enter a club using a fake ID]]]]; the other reason was to make a ShoutOut to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsbzk8BX_aU a famous 1983 Brazilian song with the same name]].

* GiveGeeksAChance: Subverted. {{Nerd}} Matt rejects AlphaBitch Naomi because he considers her a shallow idiot. Also, Matt is shown to have a healthy romantic life before Naomi even enters the picture.

** Steve gets into CaliforniaUniversity (which, in-universe, ''is'' the actual name), despite his terrible grades, his [[BookDumb book dumb]] personality, and he seemed to have only one reference from his principal. Additionally, he broke into his school's computer system to change his grades (admittedly with the help with a [[{{Nerd}} nerdy]] [[BlackAndNerdy freshman]]) and was actually ''expelled'' from West Beverly High for the incident (albeit temporarily). And by the frequent remarks by other characters, it seems as if California University was a very hard school to get into.

* ConvenientMiscarriage: In season 7, Kelly discovers she's pregnant with her and Brandon's child. After considering an abortion, Kelly decides to keep the child, only to have a miscarriage. [[LawOfInverseFertility She's then told she probably can't have any children, but the sequel series introduces her son.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: Emily Valentine’s clinginess mixed in with her fixation with Brandon and self-destructive behavior (at one point, threatening to set herself on fire in Brandon’s family’s driveway) points to possible borderline personality disorder, though an exact diagnosis is never made explicit. She gets better, though.

* CelebrityParadox: [[Franchise/ChildsPlay Chuckie]] is referenced in a season 2 episode “Chuckie’s Back”. Christine Elise, who portrayed Brandon’s girlfriend Emily Valentine for several episodes during the season (including the episode that aired before this one), starred in the [[Film/ChildsPlay2 second film of that franchise, which came out a year before.]]
** One late season episode has a subplot where Brandon and Steve watch Creator/AaronSpelling produced shows, which doubles as a ShoutOut...to the creator’s own previous works.

** Joe E. Tata appears in a majority of the episodes of the first five seasons. He’s PromotedToOpeningTitles come season 6.

* FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: [[RememberTheNewGuy Gina]] was introduced in the show's ninth season as Donna's cousin, and caused much havoc within the group. In season 10, the audience discovered that Donna's father had an affair with Gina's mother in the 1970s, resulting in her birth, making Gina her half-sister. Downplayed example as Gina is still Donna’s cousin. Donna's father, Dr. Martin, discovered this, and was quick to accept Gina as his daughter, though [[spoiler: he later died soon after]].

* FormerChildStar: Steve’s former childhood enemy Chuckie Wilson, a co-star on Steve’s mother Samantha’s show ''The Hartley House'', downplays this. He’s a teenager, seemingly physically well-adjusted, and he’s since left the industry (on account of his parents), only to be drawn back for a potential show reunion. However, Chuckie’s a total {{Jerkass}} to Steve and has been since they were children.

* FreudianSlip: “I like your butt... (beat)...I mean your bike.”

* HappilyAdopted: Steve, for the most part, though he tries to seek out his birth parents when he starts to doubt whether his mother loves him. He discovers that his birth mother has died, [[spoiler: and his “adoptive” father Rush had been his birth father all along.]]

* LateComingOut: Steve’s mother, Samantha, comes out as a lesbian in season 9. Steve is surprised by this, as is Samantha’s ex-husband Rush.

* WhatTheHellHero: Almost every major character has been at the receiving end of this. For example, the season 4 episode “Blind Spot”, after he discovered that his fraternity’s leader was gay and he accidentally outed him to the other fraternity members, has Steve being chewed out by the man for his homophobia and his decision to [[ForcedOutOfTheCloset out him]].

** Brandon is called out by Robinson Ashe III in a season 2 episode because the latter thinks that Brandon’s only befriending him to get a story out of him (in the aftermath of his sister’s boyfriend getting arrested for walking at night in Beverly Hills) and implicitly accused him of racism because of it. Brandon gets fed up with the accusation, leading to Brenda to tell her brother that he wouldn’t be so upset if he felt that Robinson didn’t have a point.

** Ditto for non-studious students like Kelly, Donna, and Brenda. Consider the fact that many of them are wealthy (hence connections, including Steve's father being an alumni of California University), though in reality, it may take more than just connections to get into the school they want.
** Also, Brenda entered the same school after leaving the University of Minnesota earlier in season 4. She may been accepted to CU earlier, though since classes had started at that school, it doesn't really make sense since Brenda should've at least applied for late admission, though no such mechanics are ever mentioned.

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* {{Yandere}}: Jasper, Vanessa
** Though Vanessa has nothing on [[spoiler: Ashley]]. She uses her position as [[spoiler: Liam's bodyguard]] to kidnap him and installs cameras around his bar to watch him all hours of the day.
* YourDoorWasOpen

* TheEighties: The first two seasons, but some shades of it are seen in season three and four. After season two, grunge fashion began to replace the bright colours and teased hair of seasons one and two. {{Justified|Trope}}, because 80s pop culture still persisted into 1993 and wasn't entirely phased out until about 1994-95.
* EightiesHair: All of the characters in season one and two (albeit a bit more muted in season two) but it disappeared throughout season three. Ironically, the character of Kelly, most obsessed with superficial things, kept her Madonna-inspired 80s hair and makeup into season four, but finally ditched it by season 5 for a post-grunge inspired look.

** Donna and Kelly's mothers in their first appearances are completely different from their later incarnations (not to mention [[TheOtherDarrin being played by different actresses than their regular ones]]); the more-laid and implicitly emotionally unstable Nancy Martin is a far-cry from the strict and conservative Felice Martin, for example.

* StalkerWithACrush: Jasper. Surprising?
* StraightGay: [[spoiler: Teddy]], also Marco.
** [[spoiler: Alec]] who is in love with Max.
** Gia herself. It was true that there was little development up to the point where we find out but apparently all of the characters seemed to know.

* InsidiousRumorMill: Emily attempts this against her cousin Annie by telling all of Annie's friends that Annie is trashing them behind their backs. However, Annie calls Emily out on her lies and Annie's friends side with her against Emily.