90210 Forever!
Image courtesy of 90210-Media.org

For five seasons, 90210 have bravely fought the good fight, avoiding cancelation as much as possible until the very end. The youth-oriented drama that was spun-off from a popular 90’s teen soap, about a group of teenagers living their lives through twists and turns against the backdrop that is Beverly Hills, ended its 5-year run on a bittersweet feel-good note.

The show early on, have always been under heavy critical scrutiny from a lot of haters, mostly a combo of some die-hard BH90210 fans, genre fans who only watched 2-3 episodes and plainly haters of the genre. Haters gonna hate but if a show lasted half as long as the mothership, then it’s as much as a respectable of a run as any long-airing show. I’d understand some criticism from those who knows what they’re talking about, but if it’s coming from those who are just simply into hating the show, well they shouldn’t watch a show they don’t even like.

90210 have changed my life in more ways than I could have imagined. When it first started airing in September 2, 2008, I was an 18-year old college sophomore still in search of what I want in life. I have heard and kinda watched the first 90210, having been a 5-year old casual viewer of when it aired on Philippine television about twenty years ago. The only vivid thing I remember of it was its iconic opening sequence, with matching theme music to boot.

One of the things I like about the show was that it heavily features music from several bands, artists, even up and coming ones, encompassing different genres of music. Among them: Jessica Lowndes, The Goo Goo Dolls, The Veronicas, Fall Out Boy, Carly Rae Jepsen, Olly Murs, Ryan Adams, Owl City, Sia, The Script, Adele, Boys Like Girls, The Ting Tings, Tegan and Sara, Coldplay, and the list goes on and on and on.

The show struggled to find its identity beyond being related to a known brand. It was no Degrassi for sure, a show that seamlessly integrated old and new characters into the canvas. However, despite the departure of some of its BH90210 character imports, there’s one that served as the one living connection of between the two shows, Erin “Silver” Silver.

Eventually, despite the setbacks of no former characters around for the long-haul, the show found its place and was comfortable with its core cast of perky Annie (Shenae Grimes), jerk-face Dixon (Tristan Wilds), good guy Navid (Michael Steger), former druggie Adrianna (Jessica Lowndes), rich b!tch with a soul Naomi (AnnaLynne McCord), paranoid Silver (Jessica Stroup), and bad boy Liam (Matt Lanter), in addition to several memorable characters such as first season heartthrob Ethan (Dustin Milligan), free spirited hippie Ivy (Gillian Zinser) and playboy gay tennis star Teddy (Trevor Donovan).

Although despite some behind-the-scenes developments, changing showrunners and EP’s, the show have managed to really last long when no other show could which had similar problems after its first season.

Although I love 90210, it doesn’t change the fact that it had it’s fair share of high and low points. Among the low points was, at the time, the hit-and-run storyline, a story started from the Season 1 finale and ended 22 episodes later in Season 2. Kansas girl Annie, “ran over” a homeless man, while driving drunk. At the 11th-hour before “Confessions” aired, the storyline’s ending was altered, which resulted with Annie taking the fall for what she did.

I was happy however that the storyline was revisited in a way that really put some closure for fans when Jasper, one of the characters involved in the hit-and-run story, appeared before Annie and Liam during their high school alumni homecoming in “902-100“.

It was weird seeing how much all these characters changed, from what they were in the first season to what they are now at the time the show ended. That’s I felt I could relate to them in one way or another, minus the luxury and glamor of one Beverly Hills.

When Annie and the rest of the West Bev gang graduated high school, I was only two months away from graduating college. Throughout seasons 4 and 5, I saw the gang as finally a cohesive group of friends. Even with whatever problems and issues they’ve went through, problems that always threaten their friendship, they always survive and persevere. During those times, I was, after college, trying to find my place in the real world, wanting to be my own person with his own job to jumpstart a career.

90210_IvyRajReunionDEMO from James Habitan on Vimeo.

Real life was always a bumpy for me, but it’s a lot worse for the West Bev gang. Over the years, they’ve lost quite a number of loved ones: Silver lost her mother to cancer, Ivy’s husband also succumbed to the disease. Annie’s employer-turned friend, Marla, committed suicide while Riley, a physical therapist she fell in love in Season 5, died from complications post-surgery.

Even their lives were at stake at one point in the series: Naomi was raped, Annie was shot, Silver had a meltdown caused by her bipolar disorder, Liam was held hostage and was almost placed in a box, Dixon nearly died from a car crash and Navid was almost beaten up to death by his Uncle Amal’s drug ring cohorts.

90210’s ratings were never spectacular nor great but, by its network’s standards, it was an average performer, with an added boost from DVR viewings, DVD sales, international syndication, and alternative and other new media viewership from different platofrms. Despite getting extremely low-ratings during much of its fifth season, I was in the hopes of possible a sixth and final season order (my dream final season would have been a seventh season, coinciding with most of the character’s college graduation). Unfortunately, it was never meant to be as the network announced its cancelation last March.

The cancelation annoucement was made just as 90210 was about to wrap production for the supposedly fifth season finale, the show’s 114th episode entitled “We All Fall Down“. It was like death calling when it happened, and as the succeeding weeks went by leading into the final episode, I lost my job, and I lost three loved ones along the way. I was that sad, tortured knowing that a show that kept me going all these years was going to end.

I was worried how the show is going to end things given that it had all but actually set things up for a possible sixth season. The good thing was that the EP’s and the writers just have enough time to alter the season’s ending so that it would be remade into an actual series finale.

In preparation to watching the final episode, I started a mini-90210 season premiere marathon for the past two weeks so that I could see how the show evolved from where it started to where it is now. And when I did get to watch the last episode, I was happy that the show did manage to end on a somewhat bittersweet/good note: Annie and Liam are engaged (Lannie), Navid and Adrianna are officially back together (Navianna), a possible Dixon and Silver reunion was foreseen (Sixon), and Naomi bravely fought the good fight for her man (Team Naomi).

To be honest, I was surprised because Season 5 felt almost somewhat of a final season, with the writers bringing back past characters and revisited long-forgotten stories like the aforementioned hit-and-story, and the Missing Wilson arc from season 1. Had we gotten another season, a supposed 5-year time jump would have happened, with Silver battling cancer and the possibility of Naomi rekindling her feelings with Max. We could have expected more returns, probably Naomi’s dad, Principal Harry. The show was also keen in developing Mark, Naomi and Annie’s missing half-brother for the season.

But I take what we’re given and for that, I’m happy. The story of 90210 doesn’t really end because as in real life, we all fall down. But, like a phoenix, we will rise again.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the cast and crew, past and present, for bringing us one of the best, underrated shows on TV. A show that defied the odds and ridicule. A show that will live in our hearts forever, like the Animo spirit.

I’d like to especially thank Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars, Party Down) for breathing life into the new 90210.

Remember, 90210 will long live the day!