Here’s a list of things we learned during the Oct. 3 premiere of The Unauthorized Beverly Hills, 90210 Story:
— Shannen Doherty and Jason Priestley pretty much owe their careers to Tori Spelling. If it wasn’t for her suggestions to dad Aaron Spelling, they might have never been cast as Brenda and Brandon Walsh.
— Tori Spelling and Brian Austin Green had an immediate connection. The started flirting with each other at the very first table read.
— Fox execs were initially worried that Shannen and Jason were too intimate with each other while playing siblings Brenda and Brandon.
–The network hated that Brenda lost her virginity to Dylan and then boasted about it to her friends in the Season 1 finale, without showing any sign of remorse. Because of this, the writers were forced to break up Brenda and Dylan.
— It was actually Tori Spelling’s idea for Donna to be funny. She also came up with the idea for Donna to fall back in her chair and have her gigantic dress flop up during the spring dance (Season 1, Episode 21).
— Aaron Spelling initially paid Luke Perry out of his own pocket because Fox execs didn’t like the actor. When audiences fell in love with Luke, he became a regular cast member.
— Jason Priestley was once roommates with Brad Pitt.
— Everyone made out with everyone while on set: Jason and Jennie Garth, Jason and Shannen, Tori and Brian, Luke and Shannen, Luke and Jennie, etc.
— During one particular photo shoot, Shannen demanded she be the only one wearing a red dress, but Jennie and Tori wanted to wear red dresses, too. Ultimately, Jennie and Tori wore red dresses, while Shannen begrudgingly wore black.
— After Shannen constantly showed up late to set, fought with cast members, and got into a bunch of legal trouble, the cast banded together in order to get her fired from the show. Tori was the only holdout, as she considered Shannen to be a friend. But when Shannen threatened her on set, Tori quickly sided with her co-stars.
— Oh, and Ian apparently predicted Sharknado long before it ever existed — at least, according to Lifetime. During one particular scene, when Ian is trying to talk some sense into Shannen, he tells her she’s like “a mixture between a shark and a tornado,” to which Shannen replies, “that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Yeah, us too.
Overall, the unauthorized movie was fun to watch, but it didn’t cover as much as we had hoped (ie. crazy Emily Valentine, more details on the cast’s romantic relationships with each other behind the scenes, and everything there is to know about Shannen’s exit from the show)! On a positive note, however, Lifetime was spot-on with the casting of Annie Cobb as Jennie Garth. Dan Castellaneta, on the other hand, seemed more like he was impersonating Donald Trump than playing Aaron Spelling.
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— Chris Rogers