And you’re so right about stretching the story out. I think the writers/producers were so worried about hooking the audience, they decided to forgo a more gradual reveal. It would have been much better to focus on the core characters of Annie and Dixon–and their immediate family–and introduce us to the other characters in a more natural way as Annie and Dixon navigate their way through Beverly Hills High.

I meant to comment on your post today but caught up in work and forgot. I will say that the “fish out of water” thing was very much present in that first script. It just got watered down by the time we got to the final product and I think that’s where the Network just wanted to get right to Annie and Dixon being a part of the school… but part of what I loved about BH90210 was that initial story about Brenda and Brandon having to adjust to Beverly Hills.

Interesting point about the older cast. I thought they backed off of it a little in that second hour. But then I thought what they revealed in the first hour could have been stretched out over many episodes instead of dumping it all on us (and the characters) immediately.

Lame.

Too many characters. The producers are hedging their bets as to whether or not the new “young” (and I say that in quotes because not one of these actors looks like they’re in high school. Heck, they all make Gabrielle Carteris look positively youthful!) cast catches on, so they’re making sure the oldsters can carry the show. It’s too much to deal with–especially in the pilot. There was also way too much backstory and exposition–not only with Dixon’s character.

I’m sure that college kids and those who might have been a bit too young to really appreciate the original (like myself and my friends) are still a part of where the network wants to reach. I guess we’ll just have to see how it plays out later.

There’s nothing WRONG with that, it’s just that my tastes fall more on the side of what they had than what they moved towards. It explains why others are excited about the show and I’m not. Even if I hadn’t read that original script, I’d feel the same way… I just might not be able to idenitfy the reasons as easily.

I should clarify that I didn’t mean we got Dixon’s complete backstory. I’m sure we will actually get that at some point but I actually just meant we got to see the move from his POV. In that earlier script, the move basically meant that Dixon and Annie were about to flip places and not only did it illustrate the closeness between the two fo them but it perfectly captured how moving uproots your life and changes things in an instant. And, more importantly, almost all of the characters involved in that storyline instantly had more depth than I’ve seen in them so far. That’s what I miss, not not knowing Dixon’s history. Plus, because it actually showed us the Wilsons as they existed before moving (we opened in their original home in Kansas), I think it did more to show rather than tell us about how different this world is for the Wilsons.

Not that it matters. Like I said, I know I’m making unfair comparisons because lots of shows change from their original inception. It works as it is now and if you liked that then great!

I don’t need the characters to be that edgy for me to be engaged. They’re sixteen, and for the most part, they acted like any set of sixteen year olds I see on a regular basis. They’re trying to find a place in their school and find others to do that with.

Maybe I’m being silly, but given where the pilot started, I’m not sure I want all of the Wilson kids’ backstory. It’d be nice to know more about how Dixon came into the family, but he’s there now and how he works with being adopted and the new kid should play out on screen. Had I heard all of his backstory, it wouldn’t have mattered then because it didn’t relate to the plot.

Given I have a thing for shows in HS, I’ll still be watching (and now I also feel the need to support that guy I know.)

I agree that Cappie/Casey are probably the end game as well. And it’s probably true that it’s now Cappie’s turn to grow a bit. I think we’ve already seen that with him recognizing the truth in what Rusty and Calvin said and being willing to let go of his issues with Evan. I suppose being able to handle the serious stuff is the next step. Though I do still think Rebecca doesn’t make it any easier for him as she seems to expect him to fix all of her problems for her. I suspect Rebecca is just not used to dealing with her own problems and that’s going to be her lesson here. Yes, you want your boyfriend to be there for you but he can’t make it all go away with some magical words either.

As for your question, I am completely and totally on Casey’s side here. Casey isn’t an angel and she screws up and makes bad decisions but underneath, she is a good person who is slowly maturing. And Frannie deliberating set out to snare Evan. So, no, Casey was not over the line.

Good observations about Cappie and Rusty and the way it relates to Rebecca. I think/hope Cappie and Casey are the end game but they have both had to grow up and rethink things. Casey realized that she didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life and was just drifting along in pre-law. And Cappie has never made any life altering decisions. I’m hoping this is the start of a little maturity that doesn’t take away from his sheer joy/love of life/craziness that make the Cappie character so great. And he stayed with Rebecca because she was hurting over her father. He has depths. He just doesn’t always reside in them.

I think you’re right that the porn director dad is probably supposed to bring some edge but I didn’t think the quite pulled it off. The show overall felt very soft around the edges. I’m not sure I think that’s a bad thing… just something that made it different than what we typically see aimed at teenagers these days.

Dixon being underused could be a symptom of what we discussing in your journal — that his original storyline didn’t fit into how they changed his character/the other storylines so he’s kind of shoehorned in… once they got into the second hour and could do what they wanted with him, he got a lot more screentime. I still don’t think he’s currently all that interesting of a character, though. Amusingly in RT’s script, Evan was more what he is here… it was that first Judah/Sachs script where I felt he would be way to unsympathetic to the audience. Obviously I wasn’t the only one.

I suspect they are going to that with the groups. The fact that there are connections between them seems to indicate that they’re laying the groundwork for it. I’ll be interested in where they go with that too… I just wish I liked more of the characters in the various groups. Hopefully they’ll start fleshing them out and there’ll be more depth to all of them.