Darren Star got his big break on Beverly Hills, 90210, the teen drama that shaped the careers of stars like Shannen Doherty, Luke Perry, Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth. But making the 1990s series was an uphill battle for the star, who’s also known for his work on Sex and the City and Emily in Paris.
The legendary screenwriter, 63, reflected on the ups and downs of the Fox series in a new interview with Vulture on Wednesday, August 14, in which the star faced massive backlash due to an intimate scene between Brenda and Dylan. Shannen Doherty played Brenda Walsh, who passed away in July 2024, and Luke Perry played Dylan McKay.
In the first season of the show about teens living independent lives in Beverly Hills, the producer recalled that the “network” had a lot of influence over the show’s content, especially surrounding the characters’ sexuality. According to the source, the issue escalated after an infamous Season 1 episode aired on several Fox affiliate networks.
In season 1 episode 21, titled Spring Dance, Brenda and Dylan become intimate during the dance and sleep with each other after the junior prom. The episode was written and directed by Starr and the network had little knowledge of its subject matter until it aired on May 2, 1991.
“When all these colleagues realized what they had aired, a lot of them freaked out,” the star revealed in the interview. Blame the timing, the network also demanded another episode in which only Brenda expressed remorse and regret over her act. Surprisingly, it wasn’t just about the intimate scene.
The writer added, “It wasn’t just the fact that Brenda had sex, but also that she enjoyed it.” So, after the series returned for Season 2, the star felt compelled to write an episode in which Brenda faced a pregnancy scare and “realized she was too young to have sex,” the producer said.
As expected, Fox and its sister networks were cautious and suppressed several “sharp” episodes following the Spring Dance controversy.
The star explained that the network had “a lot of notes” about his show and that dealing with anything related to sexuality was particularly “difficult”. Questions were asked about the parents or school teachers of the featured teens, as well as their peculiar lifestyles. So, he responded with the defiant stance that it was a show about teenagers who take care of each other, so anything beyond that would be irrelevant.
The late filmmaker and actor Aaron Spelling “was the man who fought for the show,” the star praised. He said Spelling, whose daughter Tori was a series regular, Donna Martin, negotiated episodes with Fox for the debut season, which was always “on the verge of cancellation.”
The star, who was a teenager at the time, used his youthful perspective to underscore the unique storyline of Beverly Hills, 90210. Even though it wasn’t an instant hit, reruns helped it achieve global pop culture phenomenon status.
Beverly Hills, 90210 follows the lives of a group of friends living in the glamorous neighborhood of Beverly Hills and focuses on romance and their plight along with modern issues of the era such as AIDS, suicide, drug abuse, and teenage pregnancy. The show ended after ten seasons on May 17, 2000.
Also read: Beverly Hills 90210’s Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling remember co-star Shannen Doherty: ‘Still dealing with my tremendous grief’
