• Watch 90210 Online
• Title: 90210
• Category: Sci-Fi
• Premiere: 2001

90210 is the Sarah Palin of TV shows — it’s new, it’s pretty, few people have seen it in advance (no review copies of 90210 were made available to TV critics), and its main purpose is to remind you of a trusty old product while adding some new vigor and soap opera to the cultural discourse.

But on the basis of its two-hour premiere last night, even writing the phrase ”cultural discourse” seems silly. This reworking of producer Aaron Spelling’s heartthrob factory Beverly Hills, 90210 is — well, it’s like the first few episodes of that ancient 1990-2000 series: corny but trying to be hip, crammed with subplots until the producers figure out which ones the audience responds to, and cast with mostly young faces that its network (The CW) prays will become teen idols.

90210 is the tale of the Wilson family, a Kansas clan that’s moved to Beverly Hills and is headed up by dad Harry (Rob Estes, who must now wish he was still starring in Silk Stalkings) and mom Debbie (Lori Loughlin, who had to utter the most embarrassing line of dialogue of the night: ”We could swap stories about Harry’s penis!”). There’s also their daughter Annie (Shenae Grimes, whom we have fond memories of in Degrassi: The Next Generation, but until last night didn’t notice that she does most of her acting by squinching up her eyes to convey anger, joy, lust — anything and nothing) and her adopted brother, Dixon (Tristan Wilds — of all the actors who’ve moved on from HBO’s series The Wire, he’s landed the most high-profile and least rewarding post-great-work role).

Watch 90210 Online