tangentwoman

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

9021Old

When I get back from the gym on the weekends, I often like to stretch/cool down in the living room while half-watching 90210 on SoapNet. I know. A couple of weeks ago, the Smelmooo came in and said, "Who's that guy?" and I identified him as Noah, but that was pretty much all I knew, because it was near the end of the show's run, and I pretty much had stopped watching it by then.

But the early days -- The Brenda Years, if you will -- I watched religiously, often while on the phone with my friend Erin (kids today must IM during shows, which to me would be too much multitasking), and I remember eagerly anticipating the show when I saw the ads for the pilot, where Mrs. Walsh asks Kelly what her curfew is, and Kelly cocks her head and says, "Excuse me?" like Cindy's speaking Greek.

Anyway, I saw that the pilot was going to be aired on SoapNet last weekend, and I taped it, and watched it tonight. And much of it I'd forgotten:

-- There was valet parking at West Beverly, at least in the pilot. Does anyone remember if they kept that up throughout? I sort of think they dropped it.

-- Kelly says "bitch" when she first meets Brenda (about a class, not about Brenda, although that would have been funny), which I didn't realize you could say on TV in 1990.

-- It is so ridiculous to me that the hostess of the party would have a lipstick on her person when she meets Brandon and gives him her phone number. Equally ridiculous: she seems to be wearing a long-sleeved velvet dress at a pool party.

-- Steve said "bitch" too! About Kelly!

-- Kelly is wearing spandex bike shorts over spandex leggings, under slouchy socks.

-- I had totally forgotten about the guy that Brenda meets at the club at the end of the episode. He is such a sleazeball that I can't imagine that even stupid, lonely, abandoned Brenda would fall for him.

-- When I looked up the sleazeball, I discovered that he was on the show Monsters, which people don't believe existed, but which I enjoyed tremendously. I even visited the set once, which was super-cool. And for some unknown reason, my sister and I sometimes quote one episode (which, bless you, IMDB, I just discovered was called "Holly's House") that includes the line, "Maybe Mr. Mike would like a nice piece of bird-day cake!"

-- I kind of can't believe that I continued watching 90210 after the pilot, because it was kind of awful. But I guess I can sort of understand why it might have appealed to my 13-year-old self, even in the pre-Dylan McKay era.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Two things I learned today

(1) Apparently, you can't say "screwed" on the ABC Family Channel. Which seems sort of outrageous, because I think two-thirds of what happens on 7th Heaven reruns is way more offensive than thw word "screwed."

(2) No matter how many times I watch "Never Been Kissed," and how well I try to steel myself, I tear up at the end of the movie. It's completely embarrassing.

I also learned the origin of the word "lobbyist," but I've already forgotten it. But whatever I heard dispelled the myth that it was first used in the lobby of the Willard Hotel in D.C., so I guess I learned two-and-a-half things today.