You Can't Go Home Again

I guess I'm stepping back onto my soap box. This fall's tv lineup will include the new 90210. The new 90210! Do we need another 90210? Do we even need another teen drama series? Isn't there enough sex and deception and angst on tv in the form of One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl and The Hills? On the promos the creators said that this 90210 will be edgier, sexier, more controversial than the first. How much edgier can you get it? Why is it entertaining to watch high schoolers sluttin' it up? Really, I find it a little disturbing that adults would be watching high scoolers sluttin' it up. I know you may say that adults are not the target demographic, but the creators did say that they expect the original show's fans to watch also. And the fact that they have Jennie Garth reprising her role as Kelly Taylor says that they are trying to pull in old fans (who are definitely no longer teenagers).

As I watched the cast members (only a few; I couldn't get through all of the intros) talk about their characters, I just didn't care. I did not care that Silver would be the atypical high schooler who is a free spirit type (sadly, she does not sound like an atypical high school tv character). I did not care that Naomi is the hot rich girl with the on-again/off again relationship with sexy Ethan and she gets whatever she wants. I just didn't care. As I watched, I was thinking, "Been there, done that."

I know the next generation has not been there, done that (actually they have--One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, The Hills), but people, COME UP WITH NEW IDEAS! Stop trying to make us relive yesterday. 90210 is Generation X's memory; not Gen Yers'. Hollywood will suck the life out of anything, then revive it and suck the life back out. They didn't even bother to come up with a new premise--a wholsome, nuclear family with one boy, one girl (both teenagers) from the heart of America comes to rich, wild Beverly Hills and tries to adjust.

Okay, I am just venting. But we should demand more out of the film and tv industry. We're smarter; we deserve more. Steel Magnolia, you like to write letters. Write them a letter. I will do my part--I'm not going to watch. Do you think they'll get the message?