‘90210’ takes a sociopathic turn
Reboots are never easy. Just ask Roseanne Barr. I’m not surprised by anything I have to review, but the return of “BH90210” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) still gave me pause.
As an effort to recycle the used junk of a 1990s soap for an audience besotted with “Real Housewives” charades, “BH” scores some points for ambition. I was particularly impressed by the aggressive use of the garish colors associated with the Peach Pit and other familiar touches from that show.
Nearly 30 years have passed since the debut of “90210,” and the fictionalized facsimiles of the cast seem stuck in time and all but defined by their performances on the Aaron Spelling-produced series. Tori Spelling continues to display good humor about her persona and her overexposure on too many reality shows. This show’s faux Spelling remains frustrated in her marriage to the ambition-free jock (Ivan Sergei, “Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?”). Jennie Garth’s three failed marriages are tabloid fodder. Jason Priestley is violently frustrated by his association with the show and being stuck directing mere TV movies. Gabrielle Carteris, who played Andrea, the overly responsible hall monitor of the group, is both a grandmother and the head of an entertainment union.
As midlife crises go, these are rather creative and potentially entertaining. But don’t go looking for pathos. If you really want to plumb the depths of existential dread facing a washed-up ’90s star, you’ll have to stick to Netflix’s stellar animated comedy “BoJack Horseman.” The last season of “BoJack” included the amazing episode “Free Churro,” in which BoJack (Will Arnett) delivers a prolonged eulogy/monologue at his mother’s wake. The writing was brilliant and the performance spellbinding. I rarely use those words.
“Churro” reminds us that one of the aspects of getting on is coming to grips with mortality — both your friends’ and your own.
I was a bit shocked that this “90210” revamp got going scant weeks after the death of series star Luke Perry. His absence is mentioned or felt, in two nanosecond-long sequences, easily missed if you blinked.
So we have a group of people to get together, talk endlessly about petty problems and how they were defined by a show. At the same time, they all but ignore the death of a colleague (and presumably a friend) who was the star of that show.
Who are these creatures?
› Alec Baldwin hosts a special themed “Match Game” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14) featuring actors who played doctors on TV, including Joel McHale, Mayim Bialik, Kal Penn, Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison and Bebe Neuwirth.
Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin .tvguy@gmail.com.