Tori Spelling has weighed in on Jennie Garth’s recent comments about the Beverly Hills, 90210 reboot.
Days after her former 90210 co-star Garth expressed regret about participating in the 2008 CW reboot, Spelling offered her own perspective, making it clear that she didn’t entirely share Garth’s feelings about the experience.
“The stories and who the characters are, I feel like fans have expressed that they wish it would have been different because those characters are so personal to us,” Tori said. MY! On Wednesday.
However, the star made sure to say: “I definitely enjoyed my experience.”
She added: “It was a different cast even though we were also on it from time to time, and Jennie was on it more, but you had to fall in love with that cast as a separate show and not compare it to 90210, the first incarnation.”
Tori Spelling has weighed in on Jennie Garth’s recent comments about the Beverly Hills, 90210 reboot; (pictured in April)
Days after her former 90210 co-star Garth (pictured in 2022) expressed regret about participating in the 2008 CW reboot, Spelling offered her own perspective, making it clear she didn’t entirely share Garth’s feelings about the experience.
Tori only made two guest appearances in the reboot, which aired from 2008 to 2013.
Some of the original cast members of the hit Fox series reunited for 90’s Convention of 2024 in Daytona Beach, Florida over the weekend.
While hanging out and greeting fans, Jennie, Brian Austin Green, Ian Ziering and Gabrielle Carteris took some time to reminisce about the old days, during which they talked about The CW reboot, simply called 90210.
Like its predecessor, the show followed the lives of several wealthy students attending West Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California, and then focuses on their lives after graduation.
During their chat, Green revealed that he actually liked the concept of the show, but Garth wasn’t as forgiving and let it be known that she now regrets reprising her role as Kelly Taylor, as reported by People.
“I wish I hadn’t done it. I don’t want to offend them,” Garth, 52, said of his role. “The producer was a friend of a friend, and I remember he came into my living room, sat me down and (presented it) as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He asked me to do it and I didn’t know how to say no. But people were so nice and gave them all the best.
Producers offered Garth a role as a series regular, but she turned down the opportunity and ended up agreeing to sign on for the reboot as a recurring character.
The new version starred Shenae Grimes, AnnaLynne McCord, Lori Loughlin, Rob Estes, Tristan Wilds, Dustin Milligan, Ryan Eggold, Jessica Stroup, Michael Steger, Jessica Walter, Jessica Lowndes, Matt Lanter, Trevor Donovan and Gillian Zinser.
“The stories and who the characters are, I feel like fans have expressed that they wish it would have been different because those characters are so personal to us,” Tori told E! on Wednesday.
However, Tori made sure to say, “I definitely enjoyed my experience.”
The OG young main cast consisted of Gabrielle Carteris, Jennie Garth, the late Luke Perry, Jason Priestley, Shannen Doherty, Ian Ziering, Tori Spelling, and Brian Austin Green.
Along with Garth, other cast members from the original show who appeared in the first two seasons of the 90210 reboot included the late Shannen Doherty, Ann Gillespie, Tori and Joe E. Tata.
Carteris, 63, chimed in: “I never wanted to do it. I was just shocked that they were doing a new show. I thought, ‘Are they so hungry for it that you’re going to try and reinvent it over and over again?'”
Green said he was shocked to hear about the reboot, saying, “No offense at all, it’s for me, we did 10 years of that show and it’s fine, it’s over.”
The reboot, which premiered in September 2008, ended up running for five seasons, concluding with the finale in May 2013.
Most of the original cast appeared in another revival of the show, Fox’s BH90210 in 2019, in which they played enhanced versions of themselves in a serialized drama.
Nearly two decades after the original series ended, the group reunites, without Luke Perry, “to kick-start a reboot, and must reconcile their new lives with the complications of their histories together.”
For this version, OG cast members Garth, Carteris, Doherty, Green, Priestley, Spelling and Ziering participated for the sole season, which consisted of six episodes that aired on Fox from August 7 to September 11, 2019.
“I was pretty much the only person who openly said that I thought we should give the public what they want: comfort food,” Ziering, 60, said of his thought process behind the show.
Carteris called the brief experience “cathartic,” adding, “It was like coming full circle, being together as adults, having our kids and being able to work together. I think it was probably one of the most impactful moments of my life.”
The original Beverly Hills, 90210 became a global pop culture phenomenon with its cast members, particularly Luke Perry and Jason Priestley, who would later become high-profile teen idols.
It also made the rest of the main cast known in the States, Garth and Shannen Doherty, who seemed to get a lot of press over the years.
Green believes the series’ success was due, in part, to “the lack of internet” at the time.
“The 90s were a different time – there was no way to check facts, no one was going around filming them on video,” the actor explained. “We were bringing a part of the world that was famous and that no one had really seen. Because there was no access to it, people really enjoyed what we were doing. Honestly, I don’t think it would have the same impact this time around as it did back then.”
Carteris believes the show’s desire to address issues that were close to home for young people at the time, such as teenage sex, domestic violence and alcohol and drug abuse.
Tori added: ‘It was a different cast even though we were also on it from time to time, and Jennie was on it more, but you had to fall in love with that cast as a separate show and not compare it to 90210, the first incarnation.’
Beverly Hills, 90210 cast members Garth, Green, Ziering and Carteris paid tribute to the late Shannen Doherty at 90s Con in Florida this weekend, following her passing in July.
Both Ziering and Garth admitted that the show went over the top on more than one occasion, but they don’t mind that it’s all part of its charm.
“We had a lot of moments where we jumped the shark, but I enjoyed them,” Garth admitted. “Just watching the show again, we get more and more outrageous. Even I watch it and enjoy it as a fan. Even in the moments where we jumped the shark, I’m still very proud of the show and I love it.”
The show is credited with creating or popularizing the teen soap opera genre that many other successful television shows followed in the years that followed.
The four stars of the OG show took time out at 90s Con in Florida this weekend to pay tribute to Shannen Doherty following her death on July 13 from cancer at the age of 53.