"90210" vs. "90210": And the real stars are supposed to be...?

So the CW is going full-force with the hype for their new Beverly Hills 90210 update coming this fall, 90210 (I guess the new generation has no attention span for the actual name of the zip code?). My only question is, who are the actual stars of this show, the oldies who are returning (catfighters-in-waiting Tori Spelling, Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth), or the new cast who's supposed to carry this newfangled update? With new flowing in regarding the use of the Peach Pit, and even the return of Joe. E. Tata (why? Romantic foil for Jessica Walter is my bet), take a look at the pros and cons of all this nostalgia. Where? After the jump!



Don't get me wrong, the return of Donna, Kelly, and even Brenda Walsh(!), does peak my interest. After all, as a diehard fan of the original series (the first series of which I can say I watched the entire thing from season 1-10), it's that nostalgia that is gonna bring in the demographics beyond the Gossip Girl crowd. And since she never returned after her booting from the original after its fourth season, lord knows that older demographic is uber interested to see what her deal is (myself included).

That said though, why is the CW failing to hype the rest of their cast? In all of their press releases, the information is all about the old crowd, never the new one. For all of the hype, it's not matching the promo material released so far, as it's all pics of the new crowd. The info they're spewing doesn't match. Why should we care about these people in the promo pics, when we have no idea who they are? It's not like the new cast doesn't look appealing, and the older additions certainly give them some leverage (Arrested Development's Jessica Walter, Full House's Lori Loughlin). Why not throw us a bone about all of them for once?

Because here's the big kicker: Doherty is only signed on for a brief few episodes, and Garth's Kelly will only be sticking around on a recurring basis. Hopefully, 90210 will follow the mold of Degrassi: The Next Generation, by making people come for the old crowd (even though Joey Jeremiah lost the hat), but stay for the new crowd with quality storytelling. However, for that to work, they've gotta make the stories actually good. The original 90210 was a groundbreaking series in the teen format back in the 90's. Let's hope for Aunt Becky's sake that lightning strikes twice.