{"id":197,"date":"2026-01-05T08:57:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T08:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/?p=197"},"modified":"2026-01-05T08:57:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T08:57:54","slug":"25-rich-facts-about-beverly-hills-90210","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/?p=197","title":{"rendered":"25 Rich Facts About Beverly Hills, 90210"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dust off your scrunchies and bust out your babydoll dresses: the original gang from\u00a0Beverly Hills, 90210<\/em>\u00a0is back! Fans of the retro teen soap have reason to celebrate this summer as the hit series, which ran from 1990 to 2000, is officially back and rebooted.\u00a0On August 7, 2019,\u00a0BH90210<\/em><\/a>\u00a0made its triumphant return to Fox with most of the original cast members\u2014including\u00a0Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Ian Ziering, Shannen Doherty, Brian Austin Green, and Gabrielle Carteris\u2014in tow.<\/p>\n

Anyone who was alive during the 1990s probably watched at least one episode of\u00a0Beverly Hills, 90210<\/em>. A precursor to\u00a0Gossip Girl<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0The O.C.<\/em>,<\/a>\u00a090210<\/em>\u00a0(which ran for 10 seasons) depicted the not-always-so-fabulous lives of mostly fabulous teens living in the world\u2019s most fabulous zip code. It’s time rev up your Bimmer and take a ride behind-the-scenes of the definitive 1990s teen drama.<\/p>\n

1. The Walshes didn’t live in Beverly Hills.<\/h2>\n

Contrary to the show\u2019s title, and its storyline, the Walsh family doesn\u2019t move from Minneapolis to Beverly Hills\u2014at least not judging by the exterior shots of their home. That house is\u00a0located<\/a>\u00a0at 1675 East Altadena Drive in Altadena, California, about 30 miles away from Beverly Hills. But\u00a0Altadena, 91001<\/em>\u00a0just doesn\u2019t have the same panache.<\/p>\n

2. It was inspired by John Hughes, and\u00a0Thirtysomething<\/em>.<\/h2>\n

Beverly Hills, 90210\u00a0<\/em>creator Darren Star was just 27 years old when Fox came to him and told him they wanted to create a series about teenagers in Beverly Hills, and already had Aaron Spelling signed on as producer. Star was interested, particularly if the series could focus on real issues facing teenagers. \u201cThe one show I really liked was\u00a0Thirtysomething<\/em>,\u201d Star\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>. \u201cThe issues were so small and particular to that group, and I wanted teenagers to examine their own navels, in a sense. It would be their point of view, like the John Hughes movies that were very popular at the time, like\u00a0The Breakfast Club<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

3. Ian Ziering thought it was all pretty superficial.<\/h2>\n
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George De Sota, Newsmakers\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ian Ziering had moved back to his home state of New Jersey when he got the call about\u00a090210<\/em>\u2014and had a very specific reaction to the script. \u201cWhen I read the script for\u00a090210<\/em>, I thought, \u2018Boy, this is very superficial,\u2019 and it was,\u201d he\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Entertainment Weekly<\/em>. \u201cI mean, the pilot was all about the glitz and the glamour of Beverly Hills, the obnoxious kids, and the fish-out-of-water story of Brenda and Brandon Walsh. I couldn\u2019t discern from that first script that the show would become very issue-oriented.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Shannen Doherty’s audition was “horrible.” (It didn’t seem to matter.)<\/h2>\n

It didn\u2019t take Shannen Doherty long to determine that, after reading for the part of Brenda Walsh, there was no way she\u2019d be landing the role. \u201cMy audition was horrible,\u201d she\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>. \u201cI actually remember walking out and saying: \u2018I lost that job. I blew it.\u2019 And the casting director came out and sort of winked at me and said, \u2018I wouldn\u2019t count yourself out yet, kiddo.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018O.K., whatever.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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5. Brandon Walsh was the last role cast, and Jason Priestley had a single weekend to prepare.<\/h2>\n

If Jason Priestley seemed like a natural fit for the role of Brandon Walsh, it\u2019s not because he had a lot of time to discover his character. \u201cEverybody had been cast except for Brandon,\u201d Priestley\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>. \u201cI read for Aaron on Thursday. I got the job Friday afternoon, and on Monday we started production.\u201d<\/p>\n

6. Dylan McKay wasn’t supposed to be a recurring character.<\/h2>\n
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Newsmakers\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dylan McKay was originally written as a bit player with a story arc that would last just a few episodes. But Aaron Spelling was so pleased with Luke Perry\u2019s performance that he decided to expand the part. \u201cI was a guest star, and Aaron wanted to make me a regular,\u201d Perry\u2014who tragically passed away in March 2019\u2014told<\/a>\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>\u00a0in 2015. \u201cThe studio didn’t want to pick up the deal, and he used that instance to illustrate an important principle: He gets to pick who’s on the show. He didn’t want me to have to go in the room with the network, but he calmly looked at me and said, \u2018Go get ’em, kid.\u2019\u201d (It\u2019s also worth noting that Perry initially\u00a0auditioned<\/a>\u00a0for the role of Steve Sanders, which went to Ziering.)<\/p>\n

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7. Allegedly, no one knew that Tori Spelling was Aaron Spelling’s daughter.<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s long been rumored that the casting directors had no idea that Tori Spelling, who auditioned under another name, was Aaron\u2019s daughter. But even Tori has admitted that there may have been some nepotism at play.\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>I heard about the show from my agent,\u201d the actress\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Entertainment Weekly<\/em>. \u201cShe said, \u2018Your dad is doing it.\u2019 I was like, \u2018I haven\u2019t heard anything about it.\u2019 I popped into his briefcase when he got home, and I was like, cool. I really wanted to play Andrea. I went in under a different name, then I got the part of Donna\u2014which I\u2019m sure had something to do with my dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

8. Aaron Spelling kept a close eye on Donna’s storylines.<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s probably no coincidence that Aaron Spelling\u2019s daughter was the most naive character in the crew, and that her commitment to abstinence was a major plot point throughout the series. \u201cThe thing that was always at play in the Donna story was that Donna was played by the daughter of Aaron Spelling,\u201d writer\/executive producer Larry Mollin\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Vulture. \u201cThe minute we\u2019d go in to pitch stories about an episode, he\u2019d ask, \u2018What\u2019s Donna doing this week?\u2019 Even though Donna wasn\u2019t one of the main characters in the inner-circle\u2014she was a supporting character, really, in the beginning\u2014you always had to start what the episode was about with, \u2018What was Donna doing?\u2019 That\u2019s what the old man wanted to hear. It was sweet. It was actually very endearing, his admiration for her. Tori was really out there. She was just enjoying herself. So even though the old man couldn\u2019t control her, he could control Donna Martin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe at first [he was being protective],\u201d Spelling said of Donna’s virginity storyline. \u201cI\u2019m not sure. When I was first cast, Donna was a just a smaller side character. She was a friend of Kelly and Brenda\u2019s. So there was never a discussion about her character staying a virgin. I think she stayed a virgin because once we established that she was a fan favorite, people really started relating to her. Teens constantly would approach me and tell me that they were virgins and they had times where they were scared that being a virgin would make them seem uncool, but then Donna made it okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

9. Gabrielle Carteris lied about her age to play Andrea.<\/h2>\n
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Michael Buckner, Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not many of the \u201cteens\u201d at the center of\u00a090210<\/em>\u00a0were actual teenagers. Gabrielle Carteris was the oldest cast member; she was 29 years old when she was cast as 16-year-old Andrea Zuckerman. Worried that she would be considered too old, she lied about her age. \u201cThey didn\u2019t know, I lied,\u201d Carteris later\u00a0admitted<\/a>. \u201cI actually talked to a lawyer about how could I sign these contracts and lie about my age and still be able to do the show. \u2018Is it OK?\u2019 And, \u2018Yes it is, as long as you just say you\u2019re over 21.\u2019\u201d It was the press that eventually outed her. \u201cThen a magazine\u2014that I won\u2019t say\u2014did an interview on the show with somebody else and they went and asked my agent [my age], I said, \u2018I don\u2019t talk about my age,\u2019 or whatever, they found it in the DMV, illegally. So, then they were printing it and I thought, \u2018This is it! I\u2019m gonna lose the job, there\u2019s no way.\u2019 By that time, the show had been on long enough, so it was OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ziering was just one year younger than Carteris; \u201cI was 28 years old playing a 16-year-old,\u201d\u00a0he told\u00a0<\/a>Entertainment Weekly<\/em>. \u201cI just kept my mouth shut. I never talked about it. And I wasn\u2019t the oldest in the cast either. I just thought, if they\u2019re going to buy, I\u2019m going to sell it.”<\/p>\n

10. It wasn’t an immediate hit, but summer episodes changed that.<\/h2>\n

Beverly Hills, 90210<\/em>\u00a0made its debut on October 4, 1990, but it was far from an overnight success. All that changed thanks to two key moves: a season one finale that saw Brenda lose her virginity to Dylan, and the decision to begin airing the show\u2019s second season in the summer. \u201cBy the end of season two,\u201d\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Entertainment Weekly<\/em>, \u201c90210<\/em>\u00a0nearly double[d] its audience (from 9.5 to 17.4 million viewers), and [was] pulling in an astonishing 52 share of teen TV-watchers. Then came the hysterical fans, the mall riots, the action figures \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

11. The season one finale didn’t sit well with Fox affiliates.<\/h2>\n

About \u201cSpring Dance,\u201d that season one finale that saw Brenda and Dylan consummate their relationship? Well, it didn\u2019t make everyone happy. \u201cThe affiliates were scandalized,\u201d Star\u00a0recalled<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>. \u201cNot because they had sex, but because Brenda was happy about it, and it didn\u2019t have any dire consequences. I was strongly advised to write a show that would address the consequences of that sexual experience. So the first episode of the second season Brenda broke up with Dylan because their relationship had gotten too mature.\u201d<\/p>\n

12. Jennie Garth knew the show was a hit when they received a bomb threat.<\/h2>\n
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Fox Television<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When discussing the show\u2019s huge bump in popularity, Jennie Garth\u00a0recalled<\/a>\u00a0how, \u201cWe got a bomb threat once. While we were filming a graduation scene, someone hid a bomb underneath the bleachers. It was like, \u2018Ooh! We hit it big!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

13. Beverly Hills High School wanted nothing to do with the show.<\/h2>\n

West Beverly High School is a fictional place; the series takes place there because Beverly Hills High School would not allow the production to use its name. Filming for the school-set scenes took place at Torrance High School, about 20 miles away. If the school looks familiar to you beyond the\u00a090210<\/em>\u00a0gang, that\u2019s because it has made lots of film and television\u00a0appearances<\/a>\u00a0over the years;\u00a0She\u2019s All That<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em><\/a>, and the\u00a090210<\/em>\u00a0reboot all shot there as well.<\/p>\n

14. Donna Martin was originally Donna Morgan.<\/h2>\n

\u201cDonna Morgan Graduates?\u201d Though Donna\u2019s role grew as the show continued, it seems as if she wasn\u2019t always Donna Martin. In a season one episode where she auditions to be the school\u2019s resident DJ, her name is given as Donna Morgan. It must run in the family: also in the first season, her mother\u2019s name was Nancy and she was played by Jordana Capra; in season two, her name was Felice and Katherine Cannon took over the role.<\/p>\n

15. Those students were\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0yelling “Donna Martin graduates.”<\/h2>\n
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Fox Television<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his 2014 memoir,\u00a0Jason Priestley: A Memoir<\/em>, Priestley let his readers in on a little secret: During that famous protest in which Donna\u2019s West Bev classmates face off against the administration to make sure that she receives her diploma right alongside them, they\u2019re not actually yelling, \u201cDonna Martin Graduates.\u201d At the urging of Priestley, they were yelling, \u201cDonna Martin Masturbates.\u201d \u201cI knew they were going to go back and reloop this dialogue anyway,” Priestley\u00a0explained<\/a>, “so it was pretty irresistible.\u201d<\/p>\n

16. There was a lot of tension behind the scenes.<\/h2>\n

It was hardly a secret that not everyone was BFFs behind the scenes. \u201cThere were times when it was worse than high school,\u201d\u00a0Garth told<\/a>\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>. \u201cThe environment there was like: Are you kidding me? There was a lot of tension and unnecessary drama on the set, a certain amount of competition, and a certain\u2014probably\u2014anger about different salaries as the years progressed. People would find out how much someone was making, and then they\u2019d be angry and want that, or if you got days off in your contract, they\u2019d want that. Nobody was brave enough to step in and set us straight, and have a serious talk with us about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

17. There was plenty of romance behind the scenes, too.<\/h2>\n

According to Priestley, not all of the backstage antics were anger-driven. \u201cVarious combinations of people slept with each other over the years,”\u00a0he wrote<\/a>\u00a0in his memoir, noting that his own \u201cfirst full-fledged adult relationship\u201d\u2014with Christine Elise, who played bad girl Emily Valentine\u2014began on the show.<\/p>\n

18. Tiffani Thiessen and Brian Austin Green were a real-life couple when she was cast as Valerie Malone.<\/h2>\n
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In the fifth season, Tiffani Thiessen joined the cast as Valerie Malone, ostensibly replacing Shannen Doherty. At the time, Thiessen and Brian Austin Green were a real-life couple, which led to some awkward moments. In her first episode, she shared a kiss with Luke Perry. \u201cThat was probably the more awkward thing,”\u00a0Thiessen said<\/a>. “Literally having your boyfriend on the show and then literally kissing another man, ‘I get paid for this, honey. I don’t know what to tell you.'”<\/p>\n

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19. Thiessen needed a hand double in her first episode.<\/h2>\n

Valerie Malone was immediately painted as the show\u2019s \u201cbad girl,\u201d which was illustrated by her smoking a joint at Casa de Walsh. The role didn\u2019t come all that naturally to Thiessen. \u201cThey wanted me to roll a joint with one hand so I looked like some kind of pro,\u201d the actress\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Entertainment Weekly<\/em>. \u201cI couldn\u2019t do it. The person you see is actually somebody else\u2019s hand rolling a joint.\u201d<\/p>\n

20. There was a “no sunglasses” rule. And hair could be a problem for Aaron Spelling, too.<\/h2>\n

Apparently, few things ticked off Aaron Spelling more than a cast member coming back from a break with a new hairstyle. \u201cIf someone came back after hiatus with a completely different haircut, Aaron would go crazy,\u201d Spelling\u2019s publicist, Kevin Sasaki,\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHair was very important to my dad,\u201d Tori confirmed, adding, \u201cAnd if you watch, there are never sunglasses on\u00a090210<\/em>. He’d always say, \u2018Let them see it in your eyes before they hear it in your words.\u2019 Luke Perry’s famous squint was probably because my dad wouldn’t let him wear sunglasses.\u201d<\/p>\n

21. Hilary Swank was fired from the show. (Then went on to win two Oscars.)<\/h2>\n
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Today, Hilary Swank is known as a two-time Oscar winner. But from 1997 to 1998, she was known as Carly Reynolds, a single mom and Steve Sanders\u2019s love interest during\u00a090210<\/em>\u2019s eighth season. Though she was originally contracted for two years, she was fired after just 16 episodes\u2014and, in a 2014 interview with Conan O\u2019Brien, she\u00a0admitted<\/a>\u00a0that she was \u201cdevastated\u201d when she was let go. Of course, things turned out pretty well for Swank; shortly after losing the gig, she was cast as Brandon Teena in 1999\u2019s\u00a0Boys Don\u2019t Cry<\/em>, the role that netted her her first Oscar statuette.<\/p>\n

22. Ziering once trashed his dressing room.<\/h2>\n

During the show\u2019s fourth season, Ziering had a bit of a rock star-style breakdown. In an episode that saw him wrongly accused of rape, Ziering was given some serious material to work with while attempting to clear his good name. \u201cBut, they edited out so much powerful stuff,\u201d\u00a0Ziering said<\/a>. \u201cThat was like the first time I really got some great words to say and I workshopped them and I studied. I brought game, and it never even made it through the edit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feeling betrayed, \u201cI tore the dressing rooms apart,” Ziering admitted. “We all work so hard for our characters and to not even get a heads up … I\u2019m not a volatile person, I have a very long fuse, but after working so hard on this particular episode, I just didn\u2019t feel like they were with me on this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

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23. When Priestley left the show, it was with zero fanfare.<\/h2>\n

In addition to his starring role, Priestley also served as a producer and director on the series. But when he made the decision to leave toward the end of the show\u2019s run, no one really acknowledged his departure. In an interview with\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>, Priestley was asked about his most memorable experience from working on the show. \u201cWhen I left the show, it was so anticlimactic, it just left a bad taste in my mouth,\u201d\u00a0he said<\/a>. “It was the fourth episode of the ninth season. I did the first scene of the morning\u2014literally with this actor who was brought in to replace me\u2014and that was it. I\u00a0hugged the crew, picked up my box of stuff, went to my car and drove away. There was no party, no nothing. I felt like I’d wasted nine years of my life.”<\/p>\n

24. Luke Perry was Team Brandon.<\/h2>\n

Though they were best friends, Brandon and Dylan spent much of the series battling for Kelly Taylor\u2019s affections. And while the end of the series saw Kelly attempting to reignite her relationship with Dylan, Luke Perry thought that Brandon was the smarter choice. “My guy was a lot of things, [but] stable wasn’t one of them,”\u00a0Perry told<\/a>\u00a0Bill Simmons.”If you’re looking out for her in the long term, which is what you wanna do, then you gotta do that thing and fall on the sword and let your best friend have her and that’s what my guy would do.”<\/p>\n

25. Over its 10-year run, the show received just one Emmy nomination.<\/h2>\n

Firing a future Oscar winner may be one of\u00a0Beverly Hills, 90210<\/em>\u2019s closest brushes with award recognition. Though it received four Golden Globe nominations during its run (two for Jason Priestley, two for Best Television Series \u2013 Drama), it only ever received one Emmy nomination: Milton Berle got a nod for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for the season five episode, \u201cSentenced To Life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dust off your scrunchies and bust out your babydoll dresses: the original gang from\u00a0Beverly Hills, 90210\u00a0is back! Fans of the retro teen soap have reason to celebrate this summer as the hit series, which ran from 1990 to 2000, is officially back and rebooted.\u00a0On August 7, 2019,\u00a0BH90210\u00a0made its triumphant return to Fox with most of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions\/199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsliked.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}