'90210' gets off to a rough start

[dearprudence]

It seemed like a surefire recipe: Take the No. 1 teen drama in TV history, update it, stoke the publicity fires with news of returning favorite characters from the original, and The CW would land a huge hit.

But "90210" is suffering a serious case of adolescent angst. Instead of becoming prime time's cocky homecoming king, the series developed more like the shy, insecure kid with no date to the dance.

Then, to make matters worse, there has been that mean girl "American Idol" to contend with. Running Tuesday at 8 p.m. opposite the most popular show on television cost "90210" a sizable chunk of its audience.

Looking to woo those viewers back, The CW will move the show to 9 p.m. – out of "Idol's" destructive path – after a six-week hiatus that begins Feb. 17.

Even before it had to compete with "Idol," "90210" was struggling to get out of "Gossip Girl's" shadow, especially with initial reviews that " were lukewarm at best. The new show settled into just-acceptable ratings after debuting to the largest premiere audience in CW history.

"The show may have tried out more voices than most other first-year shows, " said executive producer Rebecca Rand Kirshner Sinclair, who took over the show in September and is "90210's " third steward since its development.

"The only solution, and my challenge, is to have time to fix and develop story lines organically. "

Throughout the fall, the series made news only when "Beverly Hills, 90210 " stars Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty were due on set – or when one of the actors in the new cast acted out. Those headlines have focused primarily on 19-year-old actress Shenae Grimes, who plays good girl Annie, the show's lead character. The New York Post's Page Six reported in September that Grimes was often rude on set and was once overheard saying, "This is my show – everyone else is riding my coattails. " Grimes also has become a target of gossip blogger Perez Hilton.

At a recent "90210 " party, Grimes said she didn't pay attention to the negative press, because "you'd go nuts if you did. " But some of her co-stars and producers said the intense coverage hurt the young cast, especially a recent US Weekly cover story about the thinness of Grimes and her co-stars Jessica Stroup and AnnaLynne McCord and what kind of example that set for the show's young viewers.

"I like that people are talking about the show, but not when it hurts the kids, " executive producer Gabe Sachs said.

The nostalgia hook also is proving problematic for the show. Doherty's Brenda announced she was ready to become a mom in her last appearance, but the actress has not signed on for more episodes. Garth's Kelly, now a guidance counselor at West Beverly High, is slated for just one more, and Tori Spelling's Donna Martin will be back for a limited run.

In some respects, the old characters that attracted wistful viewers have proved to be a distraction.

"The show got so much attention for being a '90210' update that it's really taken some time to explain to the teens that this is their '90210,' too, " Ostroff said.

But arriving at what a show is, exactly, is a bigger challenge when it changes hands three times. The CW announced it was fast-tracking the remake last April, bringing aboard Rob Thomas of "Veronica Mars " fame, but he abandoned it after his first draft because of a commitment with ABC. The network then recruited Sachs and Jeff Judah, known for mining the anxieties of working-class teens in the male-driven dramas "Life as We Know It " and "Freaks and Geeks. "

Because of a time crunch, the pair sped through writing the first six episodes without the benefit of evaluating a produced pilot to guide future story lines. Then the clashes with network executives began. The CW wanted "90210 " to have a female perspective and focus more on money and glitz, like "Gossip Girl. " But Judah and Sachs were more comfortable writing for men – read: an oral sex scene played for laughs in the pilot – so they stopped writing. Judah now handles postproduction duties, including editing and music supervision, and Sachs runs the production on set.

"It was sort of like a big, flashing neon sign that we just drove by when we accepted this job, " Judah said. "But at the time, we thought we'd give it a shot and see what happens . . . . Ultimately, what the network wanted isn't what we do. "

The tension was not lost on the cast. Dustin Milligan, 23, plays Ethan Ward, a character who was initially written as a star athlete/outsider with an autistic brother but who has morphed solely into Annie's love interest – a romance that hasn't lighted viewers' fires.

"I don't think the network knew exactly what they wanted, " Milligan said. "I know Gabe and Jeff were working really hard and doing a really good job with bringing in the quirky moments and the humor and the realism – but a lot of that never quite made it into the episodes. We were all pretty upset about it. "

With Judah and Sachs out of the writers room in September, The CW hired Kirshner Sinclair, who built a reputation working on the beloved teen shows "Gilmore Girls " and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer. " Among her biggest tasks is figuring out what to do with Annie, the girl with the charmed life, never encountering a problem she can't solve or a boy who doesn't fall for her.

Kirshner Sinclair can relate. She, too, stayed out of trouble during her teen years. "Annie is probably closer to who I was in high school, " she said. "So if (the writers and I) could just dig more, I think we could do some genuine things with her. "

What would be best for Annie, it appears, would be for Kirshner Sinclair to stay. The writer-producer would like to be around in some capacity for "90210's " second season, which is a sure bet at this point. The network and studio are pleased with the show's direction now and would like Kirshner Sinclair to stay on as show runner. A decision about her role will be made soon. (It seems clear Judah and Sachs will not work on the second season.)

For now, Kirshner Sinclair is feeling optimistic. The remaining 10 episodes will bring Spelling's return (and, yes, Donna's still married to David Silver), the arrival of Dixon's (Tristan Wilds) estranged mother, Adrianna's (Jessica Lowndes) baby drama, and the much-needed addition of a Dylan McKay bad-boy type (Matt Lanter).

"Before, working on the show was pretty frantic, like solving puzzles, " she said. "But by the end of this season, I think we'll have the right tone down. It's finally getting exciting. "

[littlemissbad]

thanks huni. xoox

[ferociouskitty]

Wow, 90210 sure has had a hard run. I have to say, I think this is just really slow unless we're dwelling on the original cast. Annie is this extremely dramatic character with nothing to dramatize in her life. Ethan is this popular, attractive jock who should be 'cocky' in today's society and he's not which makes him quite a boring character. Silver's character has definitely developed nicely as well as Naomi's. Adrianna's character is definitely working nicely as well but there's really no fire for this show. The teen pregnancy and drug addiction was quite dramatic but I'm not sure it was too smart on the CW's part to push a pregnancy right after a recovery of drug addiction although I do understand that it was to wrok with Brenda's storyline. They are throwing too many valuable factors like pregnancy and drug addiction, in far too fast. It's very chaotic with not a lot of sense tied in to it. I think the CW just really needs to work out their storylines so they're dramatic and firey but at the same time, not a chaotic mess. Gossip Girl has done a fabulous job of that which is probably why they're doing so much better right now.

The original 90210 worked with one big plot of the night and other small more comedic plots which worked fantastically. Right now, everyone has some huge dramatic plot in their lives and it's too much for one hour to handle. They need to really screw around with Annie right now and maybe decrease the intensity of everyone else's problem. Just my two cents.

[dearprudence]