Tag: 90210

RECAP: 90210, Up in Smoke

Leave a comment

Hi, my name is Kate and I’m an addict…a television addict, of course. Tonight marked the first night of season / series premieres for the fall season. And it all kicked off with the always glamorous, never apologetic, 90210.

It’s my ultimate guilty pleasure show, but you have to admit, last season was pretty damn good. And although my expectations for 90210 are never necessarily high, I was thoroughly satisfied with the fourth season premiere.

The Good

  • The Proposal: Liam comes back fresh from his very Pacey-esque summer on a fishing boat and promptly proposes to Annie. While I love these two, I am totally down with Annie rejecting Liam’s proposal…twice. And it will clearly be a long way back for these two. But I was glad to hear Liam tell Annie that he never loved anyone else. Suck on that, Liomi shippers.
  • Improved tolerance: Ivy and odd-couple Nilver didn’t bug me at all. At all. Maybe I am growing up…
  • Annie’s new love interest: classy polo, nice to look at…I approve.
  • Dixon / Annie sibling-ly love.

The Meh

  • The Max / Naomi break-up explanation: I’m actually glad the “OMFG Naomi is preggers” storyline got scrapped and replaced by the always handy “false-positive” route. But for me, it was a poor excuse for the break-up. Yes, Max is very future oriented and he reacted like any typical boy would under those circumstances. But their relationship had already survived so much crap that for this to break them up seemed out of left field. But of course, they had to make room for the shirtless cowboy. Speaking of…
  • Okay we get it, Mr. Cowboy is hot, and the show is obviously lacking in men with thighs like hams and abs you could do laundry on, but I bet he looks just as good in a shirt.
  • Foreshadowing of a Dixon / Ade friendship: Give Adrianna a friend aka Dixon, but please, do not have them hook up. This group is incestuous enough already.

The Bad

  • Navid’s sister. Already not a fan. GTFO my screen.

Wishlist: 90210 season 4

Leave a comment

Tomorrow marks the first day of the fall tv season. And I fully intend to spend the three hours of primetime in pure television bliss with 90210, Ringer and Parenthood. So what am I hoping is in store for our favorite Beverly Hill residents? Read on.

1. Proper send off for Teddy 

Once one of my most hated characters, Teddy has surprisingly become one of my favorites. And I am peeved that he will not be appearing regularly this season. But because his storyline was written and handled so well last year, I have complete faith that he will be given a proper and realistic send off. I would love for Ian to make a reappearance, although I doubt this will happen. I don’t care how they explain his character leaving, just as long as Teddy as happy.

2. A Lannie friendship

The 90210 season three preview shows Liam slamming an engagement ring box on the hood of the car and telling Annie that he’s ready. But since spoilers and new casting has indicated that Lannie will be ending fairly early into the season, I can only assume that the proposal doesn’t go too hot. Well, if I can’t have a Lannie relationship, I will settle for a friendship. I loved their friendly interactions at the end of season 2, but I hope they are revisited soon.

3. Save Adrianna

Adrianna Tate-Duncan isn’t exactly my fave character on 90210, but I still think that she suffered a hell of a character assassination last season. It’s obviously not going to be easy road back, as she did do a nice job at completely alienating herself from her posse, but I hope her character gets a major cleanup. She was great with Navid and deserves to be written well this season.

Au revoir, Teddy

Leave a comment

Trevor Donovan aka Teddy on 90210 will not be returning as a regular for season 4. Instead he will have roughly a 5-episode arc before he says goodbye. And to my surprise, I’m actually upset.

In season 2, I downright hated Teddy. He further tore apart my hopes of ever seeing a Silver / Dixon reunion, I thought Trevor Donovan was a highly unbelievable actor and there’s something about watching a then 30-year-old pretending to be a high school student that’s a bit unnerving.

Everything changed in season three.

Well, not at first. When it came out that one of the 90210 males would be, well, coming out, the last character I wanted it to be was Teddy. Not because I thought it would be out of line for his womanizing character for anything like that, but because Trevor wouldn’t be able to pull it off. And I was so wrong. And it was unfair that all of the cute guys (minus Liam) went to Teddy.

Out of all the main storylines in season three: Naomi & Mr. Cannon, Naomi & Max, the horrid Adrianna-Navid-Silver triangle and Liam & Annie, Teddy’s journey to acceptance was by far the best (and this is coming from an extreme Lannie fan). The way it was written and portrayed was perfectly done. I actually preferred Teddy’s storyline over Kurt’s on Glee. It wasn’t pushed in your face, rushed or overdone and it proved that *shocker* 90210 can be great when it wants to. Here’s a nice recap video.

But what I think really made the story work was the chemistry between Trevor & Kyle Riabko who played Ian and later Freddie Smith who played Marco. In the episode “Best Lei’d Plans” when Teddy finally confesses that he likes Ian, I was actually giddy. And the subsequent episodes were just as good. Teddy & Ian’s break-up was upsetting because Ian’s actions were completely out of character and was obviously just a means to let Kyle pursue his pilot. And watching Teddy cry literally broke my heart. Luckily, while I liked their relationship less, the 90210 team still struck gold with Marco & Teddy.

So, au revoir, Teddy. I never thought I’d say this, but Teddy Montgomery, you will be missed.

Big, Blonde, Beautiful…and Bitchy

Leave a comment

In every television show, there is always that certain character you hate. For me, there are usually a handful. I am never simply indifferent about a character, I’m either a fan or their nemesis. And looking back on some of my least favorite characters, I’ve noticed a pattern with the females. They are almost always the female lead, blonde and curly haired and are known for being a HBIC. I can’t really explain my hatred, because I happen to love other fair-haired characters like Quinn Fabray & Caroline Forbes, who could also be considered a HBIC. But there is something about these 5 that have the power to make me want to shut off the tv. How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways…

Peyton Sawyer / Hilarie Burton, ONE TREE HILL

I have never loathed a character as much as P. Sawyer. I found her whiny woe-as-me demeanor to be exceedingly boring and annoying. My personal war against Peyton started in season 1 when she started hooking up with Lucas behind her BFF’s back. And yes, I am extremely anti-Leyton, but even after I accepted Brucas was dunzo I always thought Lucas deserved more than Peyton.

Jen Lindley / Michelle Williams, DAWSON’S CREEK

I never seem to be a fan of the character who chooses to be a rebel simply because they want to be known as a rebel. And that’s Jen. In addition, she attempted to break up my OTP in season 2, snatched Dawson’s virginity and caused drama for the sake of causing drama. Jen only got back into my good books in the series finale…and then she died.

Naomi Clark / AnnaLynne McCord, 90210

Naomi is Beverly Hills’ token spoiled bitch and I have never been a fan of hers. And while she got a bit more bearable this past season (I actually liked her with Max), all of that was ruined when she revealed she was preggers in the last seconds of the finale. And okay, that wasn’t necessarily her character’s fault but it definitely won’t help me like her more.

Marissa Cooper / Mischa Barton, THE O.C.

Because Marissa & Ryan were a power couple of the show, I also disliked Ryan by association. It wasn’t until Marissa kicked the bucket (and made me ecstatic) that I realized I actually liked Ryan. And his new girlfriend, Taylor, as annoying as she might have been was 10 times better than Marissa. Like the others, drama followed her around like a stormy rain-cloud and she bucked the system just to say she did. Her death was one of my O.C. moments.

Britta Perry / Gillian Jacobs, COMMUNITY

Britta is the newest addition to my list of hated characters. When she starts another one of her political debates I groan in sync with the rest of the study group. It doesn’t help that she constantly has a sour puss expression on her face and I can’t stand Jeff with Britta, but I would loathe her whether or not I was pro-Jeff & Annie.

REVIEW: 2010-2011 Television Season

Leave a comment

I have always watched a crap-ton of tv, but this year seemed particularly heavy. I had at least two shows per day Monday thru Thursday and I discovered the brilliance of British television. It’s been a busy television season and on the whole, I’m satisfied with the finales we got.

Shows That Premiered This  Season…

After watching the pilot episode, I stuck with only four shows this year: Being Human, Shameless, Happy Endings and The Walking Dead. I always bitch about how much I hate American remakes of British tv shows…and yet two of them made the list. However, unlike Skins, these remakes are actually good. People have been listing Happy Endings on their comedy Emmy wishlists, and while I think that is a wee bit of a stretch, this show surprised me. Any sitcom revolving around a group of friends is immediately likened to, well, Friends. I found the overall premise of Happy Endings to be relatively weak, but the show definitely improved over the course of its short season.

FAVORITE NEW SHOW: Being Human, hands down. The show just gives such a fresh spin on the whole vamp-werewolf dynamic and it totally holds its own against the U.K. counterpart. Although, it’s official, I can’t stand the Josh/George character aka the werewolf in either version.

Discovered shows already on air…

This year, I discovered so many wonderful programs that are already on air. I love this, because then I have oodles of episodes to watch without an annoying hiatus. Thanks to blogs and mostly Tumblr, I had heard only high praises for the British shows, Misfits and Skins. Misfits is by far one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen and I kind of have a crush on Robert Sheehan. I also randomly stumbled upon The Big Bang Theory bloopers on YouTube and even those made me crack up, which gave me the incentive to blindly purchase the dvds. And it’s amazing. I am making it my mission to attend a taping before I leave LA.

While I am still making my way through Parks and Recreation & 30 Rock, I have to say, I love NBC’s Thursday night comedy line-up. I know I am so late to The Office party, it’s not even funny. Within a course of 4 days, I watched every single episode on Hulu. What can I say? It was a boring finals week. And unlike other fans, I don’t think the show has necessarily lost its mojo, I for one, loved season 6. I caught the last few episodes of season 7 on air and while I do agree that it will be a different program, I think the show has potential to be great without Michael Scott / Steve Carell. One of my roomies always sang the praises of Chuck, so I gave that a try, too. It’s a great dramedy and I kind of have a crush on Zachary Levi, too.

FAVORITE NEW SHOW ALREADY ON AIR: This is such a tough decision because I love each and every one of the programs shown above. But it has to be Community. If Glee gets an Emmy nod and Community doesn’t, there’s officially no justice in the world. Even Community‘s “weaker” episodes are better than most shows’ best. And it’s two-parter paintball season finale was damn near flawless. Community‘s comedic style is exactly my cup of tea and I am officially the biggest Jeff & Annie fan ever. I would normally find a relationship between a 20-year-old girl and a guy who is nearly 40 to be disgusting, but they are absolutely adorbs. And to think I only discovered this gem because it was on sale at Target…I have so much love for Target.

Returning shows…

FAVORITE RETURNING SHOW / BEST OVERALL SEASON: This was really not a tough call, as a lot of these shows had lackluster seasons, The Vampire Diaries. Now, I am not one of those crazy TVD fans who stakes out polls on Entertainment Weekly until TVD reigns supreme, but this season was very strong overall. I am such a fan of Tyler & Caroline and I cannot wait to see where the writers take this storyline. We finally saw some progression in the Stefan / Elena / Damon triangle and Jeremy finally got some lovin’ and a relationship I approve of. No sophomore slump here.

ONE TREE HILL: Much like Glee becoming the Kurt Show at times, One Tree Hill morphed into the Brooke & Julian Show. And I love Brooke and Julian, but it was overkill with the babies. If the network would have let Mark Schwahn & crew do the abortion storyline intended for Brooke in season 4, it would have added another dimension to the fact that she is unable to have children. It just seemed too easy to have Brooke get magically pregnant, with twins no less. I love me some Stephen Colletti, but I think the fact that he is now a series regular says enough. We all know that One Tree Hill should have ended after season 6, if not season 4. Although OTH never racked up high numbers, as a long-time fan, it’s horrible to see how its fallen not only in ratings but in quality.

LIGHTS OUT: I won’t divulge too much because it hasn’t aired on NBC yet, but I thoroughly enjoyed the finale. It was the perfect end to a nearly-perfect show. Can we get some Emmy love, pwease?

I generally enjoyed 90210‘s season 3. I think the first half of the season why stronger, but it overall was exponentially better than Gossip Girl. The only thing I really liked about Glee season 2 was the return of Fuinn and we all know how that ended. As for Grey’s, hopefully this season will be its last and it can go out on a high note. It’s already losing its magic, I don’t buy any article that claims Grey’s is having a comeback. Just limit the Calzona, give Alex a substantial love interest, bring back Addison and reunite Mark & Lexie and you’ll be back on track.

So what’s going to be my summer obsession? Well, So You Think You Can Dance, obvi, but I also started watching Six Feet Under today and I’m loving it so far. I am also planning to spend this summer checking out Fringe, Parenthood, Modern Family and The Good Wife.  All I can say is, thank God for Netflix.

RECAP: 90210, The Enchanted Donkey

Leave a comment

Oh, 90210, how I have missed thee. I have anxiously awaited your return, but I’ve got to say, this episode was lackluster. Come on, Annie gets bitten by a monkey. Were you really that desperate for storylines Rebecca Rand Kirshner? The gang travels to Cabo for spring break to relax and forget their troubles. But in true teenage drama fashion, their problems follow them to the tropical paradise…

What I Floved…

  • Liam proves he is the best boyfriend ever: You don’t meet many guys who are willing to find a mariachi band to personally cheer you up and get up at 7:30 a.m. during spring break, you just don’t.
  • Teddy wants a relationship: After his little stint with his ex-roommate / Aquaman from Smallville, Teddy realizes he is tired of the endless string of one-night-stands and wants to be in a committed relationship. Tripp and Teddy also looked like brothers, that was kind of disturbing. I’d rather his real relationship be with Ian, but since the writers decided to write off one of their best characters, I’ll settle for Marco.
What I Was Indifferent About…
  • Ivy & Dixon: Ivy is addicted to pot. Dixon doesn’t have storyline. In my opinion, these two characters are just taking up valuable screentime at this point. Give them a good character arc before you waste my time.
  • Naomi & Max: Even though Max is by far my favorite love interest for Naomi to date, their relationship is a typical pairing that’s been overdone. It’s basically an episode of Beauty and the Geek. They need more drama before I will invest interest in them.
What I Could Have Done Without…
  • Adrianna / Navid / Silver: It’s about to be a what? Girl fight! The only tolerable moment of this wretched storyline tonight was Navid admitting that he wasn’t worth them losing a friendship. I completely agree with you here, Navid. You are not worth all of this. I wanted to throw up when Silver said she was falling in love with him (by the way, that swimsuit was ugly). And for a minute, I truly thought that all had been forgiven and this triangle from hell was finally over. But of course not. We’re just going to drag this out as long as possible. And now PsychoAdrianna is messing with Silver’s bipolar meds to get her revenge? This is really a new low, 90210, I can’t wait to see what the show will look like next season without the stench of RRK. Bring back the Navianna & Sixon!
Season three started out so great that I am a little disappointed in where these last episodes seem to be going. But this season is still miles better than season two. But at this point, I’m not sure that’s even an accomplishment. However, 90210 is still my ultimate guilty pleasure show and I will continue to be a loyal fan. Damn my dedication.

Quotables from the episode:

Annie: I don’t understand, I thought you hated all this stuff.
Liam: I may not be a guy who loves churros and swimming with dolphins, but I’m a guy who loves a girl who loves churros and swimming with dolphins.

Liam: Sushi in Mexico? That ends badly.

Naomi: Who needs water when we’ve got margaritas?