Fans had a right to be shocked after all of the surviving Beverly Hills 90210 cast members agreed to reunite and head back to their former stomping ground for Fox's impending quasi-revival. Fans also had a right to suspect that something catastrophic would go down behind the scenes before the new episodes ever made it to air. Just such a disaster occurred this week, as BH90210's showrunner Patrick Sean Smith and a handful of its senior writers simultaneously quit the project.
Why Did BH90210's Showrunner Quit The Show?
At this point, the dust still hasn't settled enough for straightforward explanations to come out of this surprising turn of events. So it's still unclear why Patrick Sean Smith and multiple writers exited BH90210 just days after the project's premiere date and first trailer were unveiled.
According to Variety, however, there are a pair of potential causes for what might have happened. One source is claiming that the behind-the-scenes dispute was tied to two of the show's lead actresses interfering with the creative process. It wasn't specified which actresses were being spoken about, with the choices being Shannen Doherty, Gabrielle Carteris, Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling. One dares not take any guesses about who might be to blame there, if that was truly the cause.
Another source gave a reason that wasn't directly connected to the cast members, claiming that the writers were displeased with one of the executives that's overseeing the project. It's not hard to grasp that creative differences would pop up for this project, which brings a twist to the traditional revival format.
BH90210 will be a meta-revival for Jason Priestley, Ian Ziering and the rest, as they'll all be playing heightened versions of themselves coming together to produce a 90210 revival. Kind of like Curb Your Enthusiasm's season about the Seinfeld revival, just with '90s heartthrobs. The project will apparently play up some of the stars' real-life relationships with one another and beyond, so perhaps having everyone's personal lives on display caused some skirmishes.
Is BH90210 Still Happening?
Very much so, since the restructured Fox network isn't about to let this potential ratings juggernaut slip through its fingers. In fact, the moves have already been made to replace the departing showrunner as the project moves forward to its August 7 debut.
BH90210 will now have Paul Sciarrotta as its new showrunner, along with the series' co-creators Chris Alberghini and Mike Chessler. Sciarrotta was promoted to the position from his role in the writing staff. He was possibly a pick of the litter, as Sciarrotta has an overall deal with BH90210's producer CBS Television Studios.
For now, Fox is full speed ahead with this slightly comedic iteration of the classic teens-becoming-adults drama. The first promo, which was released during Fox's upfronts presentation, has been watched millions of times across the Internet on different platforms, with Fox's official YouTube vid racking up over 820,000 views. You can check that trailer out below.
Here's hoping all the behind-the-scenes negativity is done for now. This is the kind of show where fans want to see the drama living and breathing on the screen, so maybe the writers who stayed behind will make the episodes even more combative now.
BH90210 will make debut its six-episode limited season on Fox on Wednesday, August 7, at 9:00 p.m. Get ready for some major Luke Perry memorial tributes when the show hits, too.
