Brenda's Back!

When Daria came out on DVD for the first time a few years ago, a curious thing happened: I figured out, from how excited people I follow on Twitter were about a show of which I'd never watched a full episode made me realize that I was on, in this case, the wrong side of a generational divide.

Later, a listener to Extra Hot Great (Mark 1) submitted an episode of Daria for submission into The Canon and I thought, "Now's my chance to connect with the youngsters two to seven years younger than I! I'll watch this show they love and I'll also get on board!" It didn't take, but I get it: the shows you watch in your formative years are special to you forever and ever, even if you know that any objective viewer would tell you it doesn't hold up, and you know in your heart of hearts that they'd be right. It's how I feel about Beverly Hills, 90210.

One of the best things about living in this country is that SOAPnet airs two episodes of 90210 (the real one, not the bullshit CW reboot) every weekday (and a bunch on the weekends). I won't say that one of the worst things is that SOAPnet for some reason thinks anyone wants to continue watching the show past Season 4 -- I haven't forgotten about the gridlock in Congress or the millions of citizens living without health insurance or the crisis in our public schools -- but it's not great.

...Okay, I'll hear arguments about the first Val (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen) year, which I think I saw all of and features such high points as Donna (Tori Spelling) getting pushed down the stairs by her abusive boyfriend Ray Pruit-with-one-t-because-it's-all-his-momma-could-afford (Jamie Walters). But for me, 90210 went dark as soon as Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty) abandoned her friends and family in Beverly Hills forever.

So: good news, everyone! Tomorrow at 10 AM EDT, SOAPnet will air the second half of the two-part 90210 series finale. And at 11 AM, we'll get the first half of the two-part series premiere. (Thereafter, the episodes will air, in sequence, every weekday at 10 and 11 AM.) If you have somehow gone through life never having watched the series premiere, here's some of what you'll see: Josh Mostel catching his chemistry students cheating; Maxwell Caulfield as a lawyer getting taken in by a teenager's extremely obvious lies; Djimon Hounsou (credited minus the surname) as a club bouncer; Brandon (Jason Priestley) slut-shaming a girl dumb enough to want to have sex with him; so very very very much more.

As I said, I know it's not a good show. Even by the standards of the day, the writing was ham-handed and the actors who had to give it life were...inexperienced. The Capital I Issues the show took on were handled without nuance and the plotlines' outcome never even surprised me, a dumb teenager. But my love for it is as true and real as it is completely indefensible.

Beverly Hills, 90210 airs at 10 and 11 AM weekdays on SOAPnet.