Did "90210" hold up?

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We're hoping many of you watched the series premiere of "90210" last night so we can discuss with you. If not, we'll give you a run-down of what you missed. **Warning: some plot and character appearance spoilers ahead!

The plot:
The Minnesota twins Brenda and Brandon Walsh are redone with Kansas imports Annie Wilson and her adopted brother Dixon. The family relocates to Beverly Hills to live with aging grandma Tabitha and their father takes over as the new principal at good old West Beverly High. Their first days of adjusting to brats, private jets, pranks and crushes old and new leave the family with the obvious mindset: they're not in Kansas anymore.

Kelly Taylor is still around, serving as the school's guidance counselor and Brenda returns to direct West Bev's theatrical version of "Spring Awakening." They dine at a revamped Peach Pit where lovable Nat struggles to work a modern espresso machine. The times they are a-changin'!

What we liked:

  • BRENDA! We have missed you so.

  • "Silver," David Silver and Kelly Taylor's baby sister all grown up, is by far the most likable character.

  • When Kelly is on the phone insinuating her son, 4-year-old Sammy, misses his dad. DYLAN?! Is that you???

  • Finding out that Mel Silver cheated on Jackie Taylor (Kelly's mom) with her best friend. We can't wait to find out what happened next week when Jackie returns!

  • When nerdy Hannah Zuckerman-Vasquez presents the school's daily news show and the teacher notes that the girl looks like she's 30. (Andrea anyone?)

  • Ryan Matthews, the cool and HOT English teacher.

  • Unlike "Gossip GIrl," the clothes maintain their edge but aren't overly distracting

  • Grandma Tabitha Wilson is essentially the same comically bitchy boozer Jessica Walter played on "Arrested Development." Nice addition.

  • Bringing new tunes center stage via a live musical performance (Tilly and the Wall), as the original series became famous for.

  • The evil Naomi Clark (think of her a meaner, old school Kelly) was more than one-dimensional.

  • Actress Adrianna has a lot of dark secrets. We're intrigued.


What we didn't like:

  • Dixon Wilson. We actually really like him, but why is the adopted black kid the only way to get another race into Beverly Hills?

  • The revamped theme song is totally inferior.

  • The mom, Debbie Wilson. You'd think "Full House" alum Lori Loughlin would be an improvement bland old school Cindy Walsh, but her way-too-hip dialogue annoyed us. You're a mother--stop saying, "dude."

  • Ethan Ward, the cheating-on-his-girlfriend jock, has already reformed and gone sweet in the first two episodes. We kind of want him to remain a jerk.

  • So many freaking characters! We hope we can get them all down.

  • That it took one hour and 29 minutes for Brenda to appear. We were getting nervous!

  • Thus far, nothing truly groundbreaking. It's hard to come up with original teen concepts and compete with "Beverly Hills 90210" which handled serious topics in a way never seen before. But we have our fingers crossed.


Check out the clip of Brenda's return to her old zip code and let us know: did the new "90210" hold up?