Same ZIP Code, Few New Tricks

Same Beverly Hills, same premise, same Kelly Taylor. 90210, the CW's much-hyped spinoff, sticks too close to the original series and lacks its power to shock, Laura Fries writes in Variety. The show that premiered last night “is a pallid copy of the original fish-out-of-water story, only with shinier cars, fancier clothes, and Botox aplenty.”

The two-hour premiere attempts to bring the series up to date—hello, school gossip blogger—but, Fries sighs, "with shows like The Hills and Gossip Girl exploring the upscale teenage lifestyle, this incarnation doesn't really offer anything new." Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty add some spark by returning to the ol’ ZIP code, but so far the series hasn't figured out a logical way to blend new and old. (More 90210 stories.)