So I stayed up way too late to catch up on some of my shows last night, and I finished the night off with CW’s new 90210.  While I think it’s totally cheesy, and not all that exciting, I was totally drawn in.  I thought it was a lot of fun, and I can see myself watching it for a while.

The only part I didn’t care much for – was Shannen Doherty’s return as Brenda Walsh.  I thought she was totally boring – and in my opinion, hard to look at.  When did she get those buck teeth?  It’s a bit of a stretch to see her and Kellie as friends, but whatev.

I liked it. 

Speak Up: What did you think?

It seems that everyone is anticipating the reunion of two rivals – Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty – who have returned to 90210’s West Beverly High, and this week’s Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive interview with the former teen stars about their rocky past, unlikely reunion, and why the new show shocks even them.

Below is an excerpt of Entertainment Weekly’s Q&A:

EW: Did you ever think the two of you would be sitting here talking about playing Brenda Walsh and Kelly Tay­lor again?

Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty: [In uni­son] No.

Garth: I thought [Beverly Hills, 90210] had a beginning, middle, and an end. It was very neatly in its coffin and it was done. When they told me they were do­ing it, I thought: No! Like something sort of sacred was being disrupted. Some part of who I was and a piece of my history was being messed with. It took me a while to settle into that idea.

Doherty: Early on, my publicist got a call asking her “Would she do it?” I was kind of like, Why would I play Brenda Walsh again? There was an “I Hate Brenda” newsletter. Why would I pos­sibly get myself back into that? I think it was too scary for me. I didn’t want to go back to people hating me. It just wasn’t something that I considered for a good chunk of time. At some point it hit me that this is what the fans want­ed. They put a roof over my head. They allow me to eat and to feed my dogs. The only reason I survive is because of them. If there’s one way to possibly say thank you, it is to go back and play a character that you never even liked yourself.

EW: You didn’t like Brenda?

Doherty There were parts of Brenda I loved. They just took her in a really odd direction that I didn’t necessarily agree with at the time. I still kind of look back and think, Eh, it’s not what I would have done, but I understand. Every show has to have that character full of teenage angst and drama. I think she was driven by insecurity that was at the root of everything.

EW: The other day you had your first scene together in 14 years. When did you last see each other before the scene and what was it like shooting together again?

Doherty: [Laughs] Oh, God. When was it? Ten years ago? I don’t know. A long time. I can only speak for myself, but being with someone I knew made it easier for me my first day on set. At least for me there was an appreciation that we’d been through the first 90210 together and now we’re going through it again, but in such a different way be­cause we’re both adults now. The only weird thing was while we were trying to catch up everyone was watching us. Every single eyeball was on us. I don’t know what they were expecting. I was more interested in talking to her about Dancing With the Stars. I thought she did an amazing job.

Garth: There had been so much buildup. Everyone was asking me before what it was going to be like. I was like, “I don’t know. I haven’t talked to her in 10 or 15 years.” I had that tension and I started to let it get to me. Is she going to be nice? Is it going to be a bad envi­ronment? But when I saw her every­thing was fine. [To Shannen] I was go­ing to call you and tell you this—I got your number from Gabe but I never called. I felt a certain comfort too in having you there and I did not think I would feel that way. It was at some point around 2 a.m., and I felt like it’s so nice to have someone here who is a partner, someone who knew where we’d been and what it was like with the real show.

Doherty: I think when you’re 18, your per­sonalities conflict, and then you meet up 10 or 15 years later and the playing ground is totally different and you’re fine. Like Jennie said, of course there were nerves going in. But half of it was the buildup everyone else put on it. When I was driving to the set I was get­ting phone calls, and I finally turned my phone off because I thought, I have to go in there with a completely fresh attitude and start over and give everybody a chance and everybody has to give me a chance. Once I was able to turn all of that off, the first moment I saw her it was like, Okay, this is going to be good. It was like, “Hey.” Then a hug. It’s like going to a war together. You’ve already been in the trenches together. You learned so much from that first war. That second war, you know what you need to do to make the set the most peaceful environ­ment you can possibly have.

EW: Okay, but back to the fistfight: fact or fiction?

Garth: I don’t think we ever hit each other.

Doherty: We had our moments.

Garth: I just remember being outside and the boys having to try to settle us down.

Doherty: No, we never punched each other.

Garth: Scratching? I’m not going to deny that.

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Naomi Clark is the center of attention at her Sweet 16 birthday party at Boulevard 3.

Wendy (Meghan Markle), Navid (Michael Steger), Annie (Shenae Grimes), Silver (Jessica Stroup) and Dixon (Tristan Wilds) enjoy themselves while hanging out at Naomi’s birthday party. Little do they know what drama will unfold.

Ethan Ward (Dustin Milligan) waits for his dance with his girlfriend Naomi, the birthday girl.

5 MORE PICTURES AFTER THE JUMP! (more…)

Long live West Beverly High! In The CW’s much-talked-about 90210 update (premiering Sept. 2), a first-day-of-school ”love triangle” forms when new girl Annie (Shenae Grimes, far left) bumps into couple Ethan (Dustin Milligan) and Naomi (Anna-Lynne McCord). ”It’s awkward for me because I learn that they had hung out before,” McCord says. ”I’m like, Who is this girl? How does she know my boyfriend? It’s a typical high school moment.” Get used to Naomi having a bit of a — oh, how do we say this nicely? — bitchy attitude: ”She’s a spoiled rich girl,” reports McCord of her character who has been likened to original 90210-er Kelly Taylor (played by Jennie Garth). ”Naomi has these faces: She’s got who she is with her mother; who she is with her daddy; who she is with the kids at school; and who she is with the principal,” she adds. ”But then she’s really herself when it comes to Ethan. That’s when you see a side that the audience will connect to. It’s just like, Oh, she does have a soul!”

Along with Annie (Grimes, right) comes her adopted brother Dixon (The Wire’s Tristan Wilds) — both of whom have been transplanted to the zip code from Kansas in order to tend to their ailing ”diva” grandmother (Arrested Development’s Jessica Walter). ”She has an alcohol problem, so our family moves to Beverly Hills to help her,” Wilds explains. Well, from the looks on the siblings’ faces when they first pull up to their new digs, it doesn’t seem like it’ll take too long to adjust to an affluent lifestyle. ”We’re living in our grandmother’s mansion, and we’re just taking it all in,” adds Wilds, who reports that Dixon is a ”ladies man” and a bit of a troublemaker. ”The house is in Bel-Air, so I went up to [exec producer] Gabe Sachs and I’m like, ‘Gabe, did I switch shows or something? I feel like I’m the Fresh Prince now! What’s going on dude?’”

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