My friend and I sometimes joke about how the writers of Beverly Hills 90210 must have sat in meetings and spun a wheel to see what they would write about each week. The wheel had three storylines to choose from. The first option was for one of the gang to help someone. This person was usually never seen again, such as Brandon and Brenda's cousin Bobby, Brandon's "little brother" Felix, Kelly's friend Amanda, the guy that David helped come out to his parents, I could go on. The second option was a love triangle: Brenda, Kelly, Dylan; Brandon, Kelly, Dylan; David, Gina, Dylan; David, Sophie, Steve; etc, etc. The third option was to introduce one of the characters to drugs and, inevitably, give them a drug problem: David, Kelly, Donna, and Dylan.
This all happened over the space of 10 years, but here, my friends, is a recap of the very first "drugs are bad" episode of Beverly Hills 90210, unless you count the time when Cindy walked in on Jackie snorting coke in the bathroom at the mother-daughter fashion show in season 1. That's right, folks, it's season 2's "U4EA" – that's Bevery Hills 90210's fictional street name for ecstasy.
So how does the gang wind up at a rave and how does one of their own get their brain fried (we'll explain that expression later) on drugs? Da-na-na-na, da-na-na-na!
Showing posts with label Beverly Hills 90210. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beverly Hills 90210. Show all posts
The Donna Martin Fashion Retrospective
Did you ever notice how, in the later seasons of Friends, the clothes (unless you looked down at the shoes) didn't date? I mean, I'd still kill for Rachel's wardrobe. I guess it's because the show's wardrobe department chose classic styles - pieces that have always been in fashion.
Not so for Beverly Hills 90210. Like Sex And The City, this was a show that both followed and started trends: think bangs, blazers worn with jeans, baby-doll dresses, and long-sleeved leotard tops with wide-scooped necklines. As such, Beverly Hills 90210 represents both a timeline and time capsule of fashion from 1990-2000, of which Donna Martin is the embodiment. Any clothes historian wanting to research '90s fashion year by year should look no further than the evolution of Donna's wardrobe season by season. In other words, name a trend of the '90s and Donna Martin wore it.
However, she was not a total slave to fashion. Sure, she wore items that everybody wore, but she also wore outfits that nobody dared to wear. The character made famous by Tori Spelling and a graduation chant didn't, by the ninth season, become a designer with her own label and clothing store for nothing, you know.
So hold onto your chokers, because we're taking a look back at some of Donna's finest fashion moments that reflected and defined the design of a decade.
Not so for Beverly Hills 90210. Like Sex And The City, this was a show that both followed and started trends: think bangs, blazers worn with jeans, baby-doll dresses, and long-sleeved leotard tops with wide-scooped necklines. As such, Beverly Hills 90210 represents both a timeline and time capsule of fashion from 1990-2000, of which Donna Martin is the embodiment. Any clothes historian wanting to research '90s fashion year by year should look no further than the evolution of Donna's wardrobe season by season. In other words, name a trend of the '90s and Donna Martin wore it.
However, she was not a total slave to fashion. Sure, she wore items that everybody wore, but she also wore outfits that nobody dared to wear. The character made famous by Tori Spelling and a graduation chant didn't, by the ninth season, become a designer with her own label and clothing store for nothing, you know.
So hold onto your chokers, because we're taking a look back at some of Donna's finest fashion moments that reflected and defined the design of a decade.
Bizarre Television Moments: The 90210 Gang Ends Racism With The Electric Slide
What was going through our heads in the nineties? I lived through it and I couldn't even tell you. One thing I do know, in hindsight, is that there was very little irony. Most television was done in earnest, and I, as a teenager, ingested it in true faith.
Nothing is more nineties than the original 90210, and this clip blows my mind. Where to begin? First, the gang hosts a dance with a neighboring urban (read: black) high school that has a history of violence. Everyone's nervous that something will go down, but David Silver raps his way in the hearts of the students. Then, why not mend race relations with the Electric Slide? Also, Brenda is wearing chunky socks with her boots. And Andrea looks about thirty-eight years old. (My favorite part is at 1:42).
May I also remind you that IRL, David Silver is Mr. Megan Fox?
On the bright side, I am thrilled that the cast is making an appearance in Old Navy commercials. Ever wonder what Brandon and Dylan would be like in their forties? Wonder no longer.
I would have and will always choose Brandon, in case you were wondering.
Nothing is more nineties than the original 90210, and this clip blows my mind. Where to begin? First, the gang hosts a dance with a neighboring urban (read: black) high school that has a history of violence. Everyone's nervous that something will go down, but David Silver raps his way in the hearts of the students. Then, why not mend race relations with the Electric Slide? Also, Brenda is wearing chunky socks with her boots. And Andrea looks about thirty-eight years old. (My favorite part is at 1:42).
May I also remind you that IRL, David Silver is Mr. Megan Fox?
On the bright side, I am thrilled that the cast is making an appearance in Old Navy commercials. Ever wonder what Brandon and Dylan would be like in their forties? Wonder no longer.
I would have and will always choose Brandon, in case you were wondering.
Jen Grisanti, A Person You Need to Know
So you're in your mom's basement, sitting on a fold-out chair and surrounded by thousands of abandoned scripts for TV pilots and movie ideas, smashing your head on your trusty Smith Corona typewriter and wailing about the cruelty of it all. Still reverberating in your head is the advice given to you by your parents at the last family meeting, "Give up and get a day job."
Why did things turn out this way? Why didn't Spielberg or Nolan return your calls? What can you do to remedy this cruel injustice?
Well, I'll tell you.
You can read this interview with the queen of Hollywood scriptwriting, Jen Grisanti.
You can take her advice to heart, move out of your parents house, and get to work!
Hi Jen, how are you?
I'm great today. How about you?
Wonderful, thanks for asking. Let's start right off with talking about your new book that's coming out this March called Storyline: Finding Gold in Your Life Story. Without giving too much away, what kind of advice do you have for those with a story to tell?
The book is about fictionalizing your truth, so it's about writing from an authentic place. I go pretty deep into how writers can draw from their own emotional well and add fiction to it in their writing so it's not writing from an autobiographical place but writing from a place of truth and adding fiction to it.
Sort of like writing what you know but with pizazz to give it a little "wow" factor?
Exactly. Say for example you're writing a TV spec script and you're writing a Modern Family or The Good Wife, and you are looking at your own personal well of information and figuring out how do I draw from some of what I've experienced in my own life and put that into my characters and situations so that I'm coming from an authentic place? Which means your voice will come out in your writing and you'll connect with your audience.
It really is about learning how to draw from your well in order to connect with your audience.
Why did things turn out this way? Why didn't Spielberg or Nolan return your calls? What can you do to remedy this cruel injustice?
Well, I'll tell you.
You can read this interview with the queen of Hollywood scriptwriting, Jen Grisanti.
You can take her advice to heart, move out of your parents house, and get to work!
 |
| Jen Grisanti |
I'm great today. How about you?
Wonderful, thanks for asking. Let's start right off with talking about your new book that's coming out this March called Storyline: Finding Gold in Your Life Story. Without giving too much away, what kind of advice do you have for those with a story to tell?
The book is about fictionalizing your truth, so it's about writing from an authentic place. I go pretty deep into how writers can draw from their own emotional well and add fiction to it in their writing so it's not writing from an autobiographical place but writing from a place of truth and adding fiction to it.
Sort of like writing what you know but with pizazz to give it a little "wow" factor?
Exactly. Say for example you're writing a TV spec script and you're writing a Modern Family or The Good Wife, and you are looking at your own personal well of information and figuring out how do I draw from some of what I've experienced in my own life and put that into my characters and situations so that I'm coming from an authentic place? Which means your voice will come out in your writing and you'll connect with your audience.
It really is about learning how to draw from your well in order to connect with your audience.
Happy 90210 Day!
On such an important date - 9/02/10 - I think we need to honor the original 90210.
That's better. And let's pretend the new one never happened. Do you hear me? It NEVER HAPPENED.
Now let's all meet at the Peach Pit after school. I'll save some seats at the counter so we can share our trials and tribulations with Nat over a plate of fries. Typical teenage angst like cults, drive-by shootings, and embezzlement. I'll be the one in the acid wash jeans and red scrunchie.
[image|image manipulation]
That's better. And let's pretend the new one never happened. Do you hear me? It NEVER HAPPENED.
Now let's all meet at the Peach Pit after school. I'll save some seats at the counter so we can share our trials and tribulations with Nat over a plate of fries. Typical teenage angst like cults, drive-by shootings, and embezzlement. I'll be the one in the acid wash jeans and red scrunchie.
[image|image manipulation]
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