Flashback to 1990: '90210' debuts on TV

This week, in "signs that you are old," we mark the 25th anniversary of Beverly Hills, 90210. And since it's been 20 years or so since we watched the teen soap, we decided to go back and watched the two-hour pilot episode. (You know, so you won't have to.)

We first met Minnesota twin transplants Brandon (Jason Priestly, sporting a carefully feathered mullet) and Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty) on Oct. 4, 1990 on their first day at West Beverly High School. They pulled up in a brown Chevrolet hatchback as their classmates dropped their Porsches and Mercedes off with valets.

"I think we're gonna need a raise in our allowance," declared Doherty's Brenda as she took in the scene.

Across the parking lot, jock archetype Steve Sanders (future Sharknado slayer Ian Ziering) caught up with ex-girlfriend Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth), noting, "You got a nosejob," while freshman David Silver (Brian Austin Green, whose voice had yet to drop) met up with that blond boy who would later accidentally shoot himself. Across the street, Andrea Zuckerman (Gabrielle Carteris) arrived on the bus after surreptitiously commuting from outside the school district.

We barely heard from Brenda and Kelly's future third wheel, Donna Martin (Tori Spelling, the daughter of executive producer Aaron). Dylan McKay (Luke Perry), who would later romance both Brenda and Kelly and break up their friendship, was completely absent. He wouldn't make his debut appearance until the show's third hour. Perry had originally auditioned to play Steve (no, we can't really picture  that, either) but was instead chosen to play the brooding surfer with the absentee parents. (Guess it was good there wasn't really a West Beverly gang yet because there wasn't a Peach Pit for them to use as a gathering spot, either.)

Instead, the writers pursued short-lived romances for our corn-fed protagonists. After Kelly altered Brenda's (paper!) driver's license, she got into a club where she met (and nearly bedded) a lawyer. (Outside, a bouncer played by future Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou tore up Kelly's fake ID.) Meanwhile, Brandon attracted the interest of the richest girl in school, who was really just looking for someone to talk to. Naturally, classmates misinterpreted his account of the evening and quickly spread the rumor that he slept with her.

In retrospect, the pilot didn't look anything like the decade-long phenomenon that would draw more than half the teen audience on Thursday nights, finish second to Cheers in its time slot and help keep the teen magazine industry in business.

And while the 90210 pilot did not age well (especially the fashion), it was also refreshing to go back to a time before the characters began swapping romantic interests like square dance partners, the actors started hating each other and the plot points went from teen soap to soap-soap.

What can we say? 1990 was just a simpler time.

Feeling nostalgic? The original Beverly Hills, 90210 is available on Hulu.