Advice to the makers of Guess?
Skip the fusty focus groups.
Just follow the shrieking fans.
That Priestley is teen-angel hunky and Doherty is pouty-pretty doesn’t hurt; these twins are zit-free dreamboats.
But90210zings heartstrings for deeper reasons, too.
To fans, the show is well, like life.
But they also know about sex and parents and AIDS.
They know about drunken driving and alcoholic parents.
Many are children of divorce, They know about drug abuse and date rape.
They struggle with the questions of sex: how far, how fast, how scary, how safe?
Life is photogenic in this affluent zip code, but that doesn’t make things any easier.
To the90210audience, this is a great relief.
“The core audience was always aware of it,” says executive producer Charles Rosin.
“It’s just that in calendar year ‘91, the internet really promoted the show.”
Which is more than it did when the series debuted last fall.
But teens were watching, and talking about it in school the next day.
Besides, the show was getting better: The characters were becoming less stereotypical.
The acting became more self-assured.
“So we developed a scenario to promote it.”
“I knew the fans were there,” swears creator and co-producer Darren Star.
“Teenagers really respond to what they like.
And they like to see something that says, ‘I’m not alone.’
Look, on our show, the dysfunctional family is the norm.”
Star inevitably calls his baby “teensomething.”
Dylan is Brenda’ s sometime boyfriend.
Brenda and Dylan had sex once, at the end of this year’s school session.
Brenda thought she might be pregnant but wasn’t.
She decided she wasn’t ready for sex.
She decided she wasn’t for Dylan.
They’re now in romance limbo, pining and unsure.
“Once Dylan’s had a woman, she stays had.”
That’s Luke Perry talking about the Brenda-Dylan thing.
He’s bouncing a basketball.
And he’s being cool charmingly, full-of-it cool.
mall stampeded at the sight of him.
“Feel my pulse,” he dares, holding out a cool, bare wrist.
“Pretty normal, huh?”
Yes, but what’s normal in an industry where little-known young actors become wealthy heartthrobs overnight?
Many in the cast smoke, with nervous, grown-up gestures.
Some have just bought houses.
Big, grown-up houses.
All are feeling pretty excited, pretty jazzed, pretty dazed.
They goof around a lot, and cut up the crew.
The guys in the cast slap and hug and talk about going skeet shooting together.
They claim to have no girlfriends, that they’re free agents.
(The message: Female fans, there’s hope!)
The90210girls give and receive back rubs.
They’ve got boyfriends.
(Hint: Guys, back off!)
“But I think we’re all ready for a break!”
That’s Shannen Doherty sighing with and edgy giggle.
“That’s stupid stuff!”
There’s a sleep-deprived pallor beneath her Brenda makeup.
“I think Andrea’s really going through a budding time now,” says Carteris.
Tori Spelling hunkers in her dressing room with her teddy bear, Stanley.
“My character Donna Martin, is kind of ditzy,” she says in a tiny voice.
She puts people down who aren’t popular.
I think she’s more sensitive than that, though.
I think she’s really funny."
Ziering flashes his own smile; he’s an actor in heaven.
“I feel the writers are so capable and I’m not blowing sunshine up anybody’s tush!”
And then there’s Jason Priestley.
“Jay-Man, Jay-Bob, Jay-Bird!”
“Let me show you my Jason pose!”
He drags on a cig.
“Top secret around here, I’m telling ya.”
A makeup girl comes over for a hug, or maybe it’s a kiss.
“This is not a high-pressure show to work on,” director Braverman says, dryly.
Of course; he’s in the middle of receiving a back rub.
High school was never like this.
“Right now, we’re on our peak.
I don’t want to think about the future.
I just want to enjoy it.
After we did the pilot, everybody was, like ‘What show are you going on?902-what?’
Nobody heard of us.
And now our goal is to beatCheersone day, beat them in the share points.
The students and fans ofBeverly Hills, 90210are cheering: Go, team, go.
