Tori Spelling reminisces about 'Beverly Hills, 90210': 'Kids were a lot more sheltered then'
The cast of Beverly Hills 90210 hit the Peach Pit on Saturday night, telling Yahoo Lifestyle that a 2019 reboot of the teen phenomenon “just made sense.”
The pop-up event, held at the original Johnny Rockets on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, was a punchy effort between Fox and PopSugar, preceding Wednesday’s premier. Fans time-traveled to the 1990s-era hangout where Brenda and Brandon Walsh (played by Shannon Doherty and Jason Priestley), Kelly Taylor (Jeannie Garth), Donna Martin (Tori Spelling), David Silver (Brian Austin Green), Steve Sanders (Ian Ziering), and Andrea Zuckerman (Gabrielle Carteris) made high school memories.
The pink-and-green diner with its namesake neon sign was open for lunch from Aug. 1 to 3, and on the last evening, it transformed into “The Peach Pit After Dark,” the fictionalized nightclub where musicians such as The Flaming Lips, Fergie and Christina Aguilera all once performed.
Uniformed staff served Megaburgers, milkshakes, 90210-stamped sugar cookies, and cocktails such as the West Beverly Blaze and Peach Pit margarita. And between songs by C+C Music Factory, Backstreet Boys, TLC, Madonna and Nirvana, a recording by Spelling and Green saying, “I hope you like my playlist!” played over the loudspeaker.
A restroom sign read, “Brendan and Brenda’s Bathroom” with a framed photo of the twins in their double-doored ensuite, while cast headshots hung on a leopard-print wall and a basket of eggs represented tokens to a nightclub where Emily Valentine (played by Christine Elise) once drugged Brandon’s drink with the mind-altering U4EA. There was also a tribute booth to actor Luke Perry (who played Dylan McKay), who passed away in March at age 52, from a stroke.
At the Peach Pit, wearing a Mandi Line white dress with “Donna” written in pink graffiti, Spelling, 46, told Yahoo Lifestyle that she and Garth developed the new six-episode series. “We’re best friends, we raised our kids together, and we wanted to continue working together. Obviously, Beverly Hills 90210 is your first thought because that’s what we did 30 years ago.”
Ziering, who portrays a success-hungry entrepreneur similar to Steve Saunders, also told Yahoo Lifestyle, “There are glimmers of my actual existence on the show — it’s not on the nose, but it’s on the cheek.”
One upgrade that will surely blow viewer’s minds: The improved technology. To the West Beverly graduates, cordless phones were cutting edge, pagers were in, and social media hadn’t yet been invented (MySpace launched in 2003, three years after the series ended).
“It was a different world 30 years ago,” Spelling told Yahoo Lifestyle. “Kids were a lot more sheltered then, and everyone’s eyes are more open nowadays. It’s different.”
So, of course, is the fashion. Certain 90210-approved styles like Brenda’s high-waisted denim, Kelly’s bold blazers, and Donna’s bra tops have since re-popularized, but Ziering told Yahoo Lifestyle that fans won’t be treated to his skimpy athleisure.
“The [original] fashion wouldn’t hold up today. I did wear half-shirts but that was really indicative of the times,” he said, jokingly. “We should probably bring back my Day-Glo shorts.”
One subtle storyline will revolve around the absence of Perry, who had most recently played Archie’s father, Fred Andrews, on the CW show Riverdale. Shooting without Perry was “difficult,” Spelling told Yahoo Lifestyle.
“We lost a part of our family and it happened at a time that should have been really happy,” says Spelling. “We were all coming back together and then all of a sudden we lost a part of our family. We had to move forward and it was difficult to do it without him. We’ve addressed it as best as we were comfortable, as a tribute to him, but it’s not easy.”
“There’s not a moment or day that goes by,” adds Spelling, “that we don’t realize one of us is missing.”
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