Customer Reviews

The Beverly Hills 90210 Guide

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The Beverly Hills, 90210 Guide claims to be 'the ultimate authority that no 90210 fan should be without'. I disagree. I think it's a fairly useful companion to the first three seasons of 90210 but there's no way it's 'the ultimate authority'.

I bought this book for two reasons; I'm a huge fan of the show and I was slightly swayed by the enthusiastic summations of fellow Amazon reviewers. I finished the book within a couple of hours (literally) and am not overly impressed. The signs were ominous when the author began by (stupidly?) confessing that despite finding 90210 one of the most addictive shows, it isn't a favourite. Perhaps if this unauthorised guide had been written by a die-hard fan, the resulting effort would've been infinitely more satisfying.

Even if I'm generous and leave aside the grammatical errors that abound (for example ' and this is a DIRECT quote from the book: 'nothing scared her more than the fact that she [Kelly Taylor] and David [Silver] would be sisters'. SISTERS!!! Errrr, HELLO?), I'm not overwhelmed with the content either.

I thought the character biographies on the slender side until I got a load of the episode summaries; at best they omit telling detail and at worst, they're positively skimpy.

In addition, although the author provides a summary of each episode and the original airdate, said episodes are listed numerically but *not* titled (for example,
'#1 10/4/90 --------- #2 10/11/90' etc).

What self-respecting TV guide omits episode titles? Surely the raison d'ętre of such a publication is to feed the hunger of obsessed fans with seemingly endless trivia and information about the show? Episode titles are a must! They're a prerequisite! And don't bother looking in the book's foreward or introduction for an explanation of this gross oversight - there isn't one.

I know that the first episode is the pilot, 'Class of Beverly Hills' and that the second episode is titled, 'The Green Room', but what if I didn't know and I'd already spent $7.95 (plus shipping) on this book? Even the most basic 90210 fan website considers episode titles important enough to list but not, it would appear, The Beverly Hills 90210 Guide.

Ah, the irony. Incredulous? You're darn tootin' I am.

And if you think that's bad, get this. Poor research and/or oversights and slight inaccuracies are unforgivable in non-fiction and yet, they're evident here. For example, of Brandon Walsh's third season summer fling with Brooke Alexander the author says, and I quote directly, "They [Steve Sanders and Brooke] also became romantically involved. Unfortunately, when she met Brandon their romance came to an end and she started dating Brandon". That is sooooo untrue! Steve had an unrequited crush on Brooke and for that reason, they *never* became romantically involved.

Tsk, tsk, tsk author - do your homework!

On the positive side ... um ... um ... it's a relatively inexpensive purchase, it does contain a couple of interesting perspectives on the show (literally) and the trivia quiz in Chapter 14 is fun to do. However, be warned; it too contains mistakes.

Recommended (just) for the truly obsessed 90210 fan. Hopefully someone else out there will write a vastly superior guide to all 10 seasons.

Unlike it's later years, the early years of this drama were well written and intriguing. Although the characters had family problems beneath a life of privllege or (in the Walsh case) were symbolic of the viewing audience who were the all knowing outsiders selectively accepting and discarding portions of "the" life, it was a fabulous show.

Ten years later after it's inital debut, 90210 went off the airwaves. This book brought back wonderful memories of "the high school years" by far and away the best segment of the series. Anybody who wanted to see why gen-xers liked the show needs to check this out.

If you are a true 90210 fan like I, you will appreciate this book because it brings back great memories and it is a good thing to have to look back on. Although it describes the earlier times it is still very good and describes each season so well you can see it. If you are a fan i think you should buy it.

I love Beverly Hills 90210 and this guide is the absolute best... I recommend buying it.