Casualty of Fall: 90210

Technically my first self-cancelled show was Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but that was due to TiVo overload with Gossip Girl and Chuck. Now we’re a few weeks into the new season though and I’ve had to officially cancel my first show, 90210. Admittedly this was not a completely unexpected turn of events. While the show was born from a desire to turn nostalgia into greed, there was still a chance for this show to succeed. However it has been 10% nostalgia and 90% bad Gossip Girl rip off. I like the 10% nostalgia, don’t get me wrong but it’s just not enough to keep me around. I like seeing Kelly and Brenda but knowing that Donna and Dylan aren’t coming back makes it a short-term love affair. This was made even more painful when we got the big reveal that Kelly’s baby daddy is the aforementioned Dylan. In addition, the “Donna Martin Graduates” reference in the first ep was made even more painful thanks to the public dispute Tori Spelling has had with the network. As far as the new kids go, the show smacks of a been there, seen it done better vibe. The kids out of water from Kansas are far too fashion forward to pull off the hick aura they’re meant too. Likewise the existing LA students are poor Blair and Serena rip offs (although points for making the Serena copy a guy). I think the biggest problem is that there is no sense of family between the existing LA gang. One of the ways the original 90210 worked was that Brandon and Brenda had to work to befriend the Peach Pit gang. These newbies just fell right in as if they’d been there all along. Now I’m not going to say all is lost on this show. The news broke today that the show has been given a full season order and that former Buffy and Gilmore Girl writer Rebecca Rand Kirshner is heading up the writers’ room. This hold’s some promise but not enough for me to keep my season pass for the show.