New '90210' offers up same scandals, drama as the original

09/09/08 - Last Monday "Beverly Hills 90210" returned on the CW, but not much has changed unless you count the fact that the title has been shortened to "90210."The new version of the '90s hit drama still takes place at West Beverly High School and the hangout spot is still the Peach Pit. Nat (Joe E. Tata again) is still the diner's owner. It even has the same catchy theme song.

A few familiar faces are still in place as well, with Jenny Garth reprising her role as Kelly Taylor and Shannon Doherty coming back as Brenda Walsh. So far, the season premiere showed that the new show is pretty similar to the original - especially seeing as it starts exactly the same way.

A brother and sister move with their family from Kansas to Beverly Hills, where they successfully fit in with the rich kids at their new school. Shenae Grimes plays Annie Wilson, who befriends "it" girl Naomi Clark (AnnaLynne McCord) and is invited to Clark's sweet sixteen. How reminiscent of Brenda and Kelly's first encounter.

Annie's adopted brother, Dixon Wilson (Tristan Wilds) also becomes interested in the school's news production show and finds a quirky friend, Navid Shirazi (Michael Steger), in a scenario that is unmistakably similar to Brandon Walsh's start at school.

The only differences now are that instead of a newspaper, he joins broadcast news... and Navid's father happens to be a famous porn director.

In the two-hour season premiere, the drama has started already. Annie caught Naomi's boyfriend, Ethan Ward (Dustin Milligan) cheating on the ever-popular shopaholic. After the couple break up, Ethan has his eye on Annie, who he had a random relationship with two years ago.

Teen angst is also on display when Naomi's friend, Adrianna (Jessica Lowndes,) is pictured stealing Naomi's money for drugs. Naomi, under the guise of borrowing, also plagiarized Annie's essay. Surprise, they get caught.

Also, Annie and Dixon's father, Harry Wilson, who grew up in Beverly Hills himself, is the new principal of Beverly Hills High. He struggles to find a balance between treating his kids as students and as his family. His worries only increase when he realizes that raising his kids in Beverly Hills will be completely different than raising them in Kansas. Oh yeah, and he also fathered a child he did not know about twenty years ago with Naomi's mother.

By far the coolest character is Silver (Jessica Stroup.) This edgy girl has her own blog, where she creates the most embarrassing and revealing skits about the people that get under her skin.

What's more, this rebel is Kelly's younger sister. One of Silver's favorite topics on her blog is, of course, Naomi Clark. In eighth grade, when Silver discovered that her father was having an affair, she confided in her best friend Naomi, whom she trusted not to tell anyone.

Naomi, being the great friend that she is, told everyone. After the big reveal, Ms. Taylor was driven to drink again and became a bad mother again, just as she had been while raising Kelly; ever since then, Silver has vowed revenge on Naomi.

Although "90210" characters all seem interesting, each with their own secrets, I am still more interested in the original cast members of "Beverly Hills 90210."

Kelly Taylor, now the high school's guidance counselor, has a four year-old son. Then, there's Brenda, always the nice girl. Yet, for some reason, I don't trust this older Brenda. Her charm and innocence is gone and is replaced by an aura of mysteriousness. I get the feeling she won't be as good a friend to Kelly as she used to be.

So all in all, the new "90210" offers up same rich kids and the same drama, which, as in the past, adds up to a huge success. I expect "90210" to be a good week-to-week show, with new drama, secrets and betrayals unfolding as the season moves forward.

Still, even with its inevitable increased edginess for 2008, I don't think it can beat the original "Beverly Hills 90210." There's something irreplaceable about the classics.