For most teenagers in the 1990s (that's me!), Beverly Hills 90210 was a cultural movement. It was what we call a "watercooler show", one where each episode was talked about and dissected excitedly the next morning at school. All the girls wanted to be Brenda (Shannen Doherty) or Kelly (Jennie Garth), and all the boys wanted to be Dylan (the late Luke Perry) or Brandon (Jason Priestley).
Ah, memories. Image: CBS Television.
Back then, we thought we knew everything there was to know about BH90210 - not to be confused with the 2019 reboot 90210, by the way. That show was awful. I mean, it was okay. But it certainly wasn't part of the zeitgeist the way the original was.
As it turns out though, there was a lot more going on behind the scenes of our favourite show than we realised.
Here are 9 things you didn't know about BH90210.
While filming the graduation scenes in 1997, a bomb threat was called in. There were many extras on set because the graduation storyline - which was split over two episodes - was a huge moment for the show.
Actress Jennie Garth became a household name thanks to her time on the show and found the news entertaining rather than frightening.
"We got a bomb threat once. While we were filming a graduation scene, someone hid a bomb underneath the bleachers. It was like, 'Ooh! We hit it big!'"
Okay, okay, this is not a secret because let's be honest, EVERYONE on the show looked way too old to be playing a teenager. But perhaps most especially Carteris, who was 29 years old when she was cast to play 16-year-old Andrea. That's a 13 year difference.
"They didn't know, I lied. I actually talked to a lawyer about how could I sign these contracts and lie about my age and still be able to do the show. 'Is it OK?' 'Yes it is, as long as you just say you're over 21'," Carteris told Access Hollywood. "Then a magazine, that I won't say, did an interview on the show with somebody else and they went and asked my agent. I said, 'I don’t talk about my age', or whatever, they found it in the DMV [Department of Motor Vehicles], illegally. So, then they were printing it and I thought, 'This is it! I'm gonna lose the job, there's no way.' By that time, the show had been on long enough, so it was OK."
FYI, when they were cast, Ian Ziering (Steve) was only one year younger than Carteris at 28. Perry was 24, Priestly was 21, Doherty was 19, and Garth was 18. Tori Spelling (Donna) was 17, as was Brian Austin Green (David).
Listen to The Spill, Mamamia's entertainment podcast. Story continues below.
Seeing that her father, Aaron Spelling, was the creator, Tori Spelling actually auditioned under another name.
"I heard about the show from my agent. She said, 'Your dad is doing it.' I was like, 'I haven't heard anything about it.' I popped into his briefcase when he got home, and I was like, cool. I really wanted to play Andrea. I went in under a different name, then I got the part of Donna - which I'm sure had something to do with my dad," Tori told Entertainment Weekly.
The character of Donna is famously the "nice one" on BH90210, and Tori believes her dad - who passed away in 2006 - had a lot to do with that. It meant she wouldn't have many 'salacious' storylines. Every week, Aaron would ask writer and executive producer Larry Mollin, "What's Donna doing this week?"
One of Tori's most important storylines had to do with Donna losing her virginity. "When I was first cast, Donna was a just a smaller side character. She was a friend of Kelly and Brenda's. So there was never a discussion about her character staying a virgin. I think she stayed a virgin because once we established that she was a fan favorite, people really started relating to her. Teens constantly would approach me and tell me that they were virgins, and they had times where they were scared that being a virgin would make them seem uncool, but then Donna made it okay."
Perry actually didn't appear in the very first episode (fun fact, none of the actors appeared in every single episode of BH90210) because his storyline was supposed to play out in just a few episodes. However, creator Aaron Spelling saw something in him and expanded his role. Lucky for him and lucky for us!
"I was a guest star and Aaron wanted to make me a regular. The studio didn't want to pick up the deal, and he used that instance to illustrate an important principle: He gets to pick who's on the show. He didn't want me to have to go in the room with the network, but he calmly looked at me and said, 'Go get 'em, kid'," Perry told The Hollywood Reporter.
Another fun fact, Perry initially auditioned for the role of Steve, which went to Ziering of course. Sadly, Perry is the only cast member not with us today - he died in March 2019 after suffering a stroke.
Watch: Dylan and Brendan meet on BH90210. Story continues below.
I forgot Swank was even on this show, and that's probably because it was for a hot minute. She played Steve's love interest, single mum Carly Reynolds, in season eight. Swank was contracted for a two-year run as Carly, but was fired after only 16 episodes.
Throwback! Image: CBS Television.
In a 2014 interview with Conan O'Brien, she admitted she was devastated when they let her go. And in 2018, she addressed the firing again, telling Stuff, "They were like, 'Look, it's not working. And I couldn't move. I was like, 'What's not working? Me? Am I bad? I'm not working because I'm bad?'"
It turned out that fans didn't like Steve to be in a relationship (!) and had written in to the show to let them know their opinions. There were enough of them that the producers decided to do as the fans wanted.
But don't feel sorry for Swank. Shortly after being fired, she was cast in 1999's devastatingly eviscerating Boys Don't Cry and won herself a very nice Oscar.
"If someone came back after hiatus with a completely different haircut, Aaron would go crazy," Aaron Spelling's publicist told The Hollywood Reporter.
And if, like me, you always wondered why Perry was squinting, it may have something to do with the fact that sunglasses was a no-no on set.
"Hair was very important to my dad," Tori said. "And if you watch, there are never sunglasses on 90210. He'd always say, 'Let them see it in your eyes before they hear it in your words.' Luke Perry's famous squint was probably because my dad wouldn't let him wear sunglasses."
So, you've probably heard about how Doherty was "difficult" or a "diva" behind the scenes of the show. This is backed up by quite a number of the cast and crew. Doherty and Garth argued a lot - although by the time they guest-starred on the reboot in 2019, they had made up and were firm friends. "Now, as grown women, we happen to get along as well," Garth told E! News.
Famously, Perry asked to "work with the blonde" aka Garth, so that he would not have to be paired with Doherty, who played his love interest.
It was Tori who told her dad that Doherty should be off the show, due to all the tension she was causing. "I felt like I was a part of something, a movement, that cost someone their livelihood. Was she a horrible person? No. She was one of the best friends I ever had," Tori said.
Ultimately though, Doherty was fired because of her haircut. Writer and executive producer Mollin revealed that Doherty cutting her hair in the middle of season four, throwing off continuity, was the final straw.
BH90210 style was fabulous. Image: CBS Television.
Long before there was Team Edward vs Team Jacob, there was Team Brandon vs Team Dylan. Fans loved either Brandon and Kelly together, or Dylan and Kelly together, and they were pretty vocal about it.
Perry, who played Dylan, was all for Team Brandon.
"My guy was a lot of things, but stable wasn't one of them. If you're looking out for her in the long term, which is what you wanna do, then you gotta do that thing and fall on the sword and let your best friend have her and that's what my guy would do," Perry told BS Report in 2013.
Like a bunch of teenagers all living together under one roof, there was a lot of bad blood between the cast members.
"There were times when it was worse than high school. The environment there was like: Are you kidding me? There was a lot of tension and unnecessary drama on the set, a certain amount of competition, and a certain - probably - anger about different salaries as the years progressed," Garth told The New York Times.
"People would find out how much someone was making, and then they'd be angry and want that, or if you got days off in your contract, they'd want that. Nobody was brave enough to step in and set us straight, and have a serious talk with us about it."
And when you put a bunch of good-looking people together, hooking up was maybe inevitable.
In 2015, Tori claimed she slept with Priestley - something he denied profusely. But, in his memoir, Priestly did admit that "various combinations of people slept with each other".
Whew! So much drama.
Feature Image: CBS.
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