Television series

90210

Name: 90210
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: 2008
Cast: Shenae Grimes-Beech, Jessica Stroup, AnnaLynne McCord, Jessica Lowndes, Mack Wilds

Coming-of-age

A reboot of the 1990s teen drama that traded the original's Beverly Hills glamour for a grittier, younger-skewing take on privilege, friendship, and survival. It's pulpy and melodramatic but genuinely invested in its characters' pain. For people who want high stakes without cynicism, and who don't mind soap opera rhythms.

TVMaze rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love glossy, serialized soap where friendships and tangled romances carry the story from one cliffhanger to the next, and you don't mind the drama being the point.

Skip it if you want a tight, self-contained story, since this is a long, meandering run where friendships and love lives stretch across years instead of closing cleanly.

What it asks of you: A long commitment: five seasons of hour-long episodes, with slow stretches of hanging-around talk and an easy pull to keep going past the point you meant to stop.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Gossip Girl2007

The gold standard of teen soap opera: wealthy New York kids navigating scandal, betrayal, and moral compromise with style and wit. It's trashy but never stupid, and the central mystery hooks you for seasons.

But It can feel smug, and the will-they-won't-they games sometimes wear thin. Worse, it occasionally mistakes cruelty for sophistication.

One Tree Hill2003

Raw, earnest melodrama about loyalty and identity in a small North Carolina town. It earns its emotional moments and trusts the audience to care about genuinely good people, which is rarer than it should be.

But The basketball scenes are clunky, the pacing uneven, and it occasionally veers into territory that hasn't aged well. Some seasons are stronger than others.

The O.C.2003

The original template for this exact format: a newcomer enters an insulated wealthy community and upends everything. It has genuine heart beneath the glamour, and the season-one arc is television romance done right.

But The later seasons lose focus and chase increasingly wild plot twists. And yes, the fashion is aggressively 2003.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from 90210

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Party of Five1994

Both understand that friendship and family obligation can be more narratively compelling than romantic entanglement, and both are willing to destroy their characters in service of that truth.

Seismic difference in register: this is family drama, not teen soap. But it shares the core insight—young people thrust into adult responsibility, held together by loyalty and sheer will. It's sophisticated and genuinely tragic.

But It's seriously heavy. There are no Gossip Girl pleasures here, just the weight of real consequence. And it's entirely absent of the glamour that makes 90210 fun.

Dawson's Creek1998

The spiritual ancestor of everything that came after. Small-town teenage life rendered with real affection, articulate characters, and a willingness to let friendships be the actual plot. It genuinely respects its cast.

But The dialogue is notoriously overwrought—teenagers quote movie critics instead of talking like humans. If you can't meet it there, it won't work for you.

Skins2007

A British counterpoint: darker, messier, less concerned with plot resolution. It captures the genuine chaos of teenage life without moralizing, and the ensemble cast-switching keeps it fresh across seasons.

But It's often genuinely upsetting, featuring sexual assault, addiction, and death. The US remake lost everything that made it work; stick with the original.

Hart of Dixie2011

A lighter, more fun take on found family and Southern gothic. It's frothy but warm, with actual chemistry between its leads and a real affection for its oddball characters. Great comfort viewing.

But The romantic subplot sometimes overwhelms the actual interesting stuff, and the final season feels rushed. It's not trying to be serious, which is fine until you wish it would commit to something.

The Vampire Diaries2009

Supernatural melodrama with genuine character work underneath the vampire mythology. The central love triangle actually has stakes because all three characters are written as real people with legitimate conflicts.

But The mythology gets increasingly convoluted, and the show occasionally kills off characters in ways that feel designed for shock rather than meaning. It also leans heavily on romantic entanglement as plot.

Revenge2011

A revenge plot that actually unfolds like clockwork: meticulous, escalating, genuinely surprising. The Hamptons setting gives it a sinister edge, and Emily VanCamp carries every scene with intelligent fury.

But The show stretches its premise further than it can hold. By the later seasons, the plot has become almost unrecognizable, and some character deaths feel arbitrary rather than earned.

Popular1999

A satirical take on high school hierarchy from Ryan Murphy before he got serious. It's campy, clever, and genuinely funny about cliques and performance, with unexpectedly tender character moments underneath the snark.

But The tone can be inconsistent—it veers between sharp satire and genuine drama without always landing the transition. It's also very much a product of its late-90s moment.