New 90210 Premiere: Back to Where We Were

After a long game in which the Cubbies lost to Houston (boo!) I am about an hour into the new 90210 and already it is proving to be a sticky sweet bundle of fun that matches the old one...this week's lesson? Taking responsibility for your actions.

First of all, outside of the obvious guest appearance by Jennie Garth, they do a nice job of giving a nod to the old show. A Zuckerman ("What is she? 30?") does the news in a shout out to Andrea. Jennie Garth's Kelly gets a reference to her polka dot spandex leggings. And Brenda is in town for a month so we can look forward to seeing her for a while. Lastly, for continuity's sake, Nat and the Peach Pit are back as a meeting place for all the kids.

Let's start with the midwest transplants:
ANNIE is BRENDA
DIXON is BRANDON
But not twins, Dixon is adopted...though they do have an unerring sense of what is right and wrong that they must have picked up in Kansas)

ETHAN is DYLAN (troubled boy who gets inspired to be a better man by Annie, no motorcycle though-yet)
GEORGE is STEVE (a-hole who you can expect to have a heart after he loses his alpha male testosterone angles)
NAOMI is KELLY (remember? She did start out as a Hollywood byotch, turns out she is hard as nails to cover a mushy marshmallow inside.)
NAVID is DAVID SILVER (the goofy kid who has mad skills as something creative, oh except this new one has a porn producer dad)
ADRIANNA is ANDREA (overachiever already hooked on drugs, from the wrong side of the tracks but this one is an actress not a. star student)
SILVER is TORI and she is the heart of the show like Tori was the conscience of the first show except Silver can swim with the sharks- (oh and she is Kelly's little sister.)

Now we get to the adults. Mom played by Lori Laughlin is a true Kansas girl grounding the dad played by Rob Estes-who is returning to his 90210 roots as principal of West Beverly. She'll need to be there for him since he just found out he has a son with Naomi's mom...an old hs girlfriend who gave their high school baby up for adoption. (Is Palen's daughteer watching?)

Also interesting is the ruggedly handsome and witty English teacher and lacrosse coach who is a love interest for Kelly (who also has a 4 1/2 year old son--whose baby is that?)

Lastly and perhaps my favorite part of the show is the grandmother...the booze-swilling old Hollywood diva the Wilson clan has moved to LA to support from Witchita. She delights in telling hysterical stories about the old days...like Riccardo Montalbon cracking an egg on her ass. As a girl from central PA, I always liked the idea that the 90210 peeps were in HOLLYWOOD but the old show stayed away from the white elephant in the room. This character for me is a true nod to the famous zip code.

Thumbs up...let's just hope that the show continues its fun kitchy start that we all loved about the show to begin with.