yulan

#4

Boomers. That's what the parents of the 90210 kids were, the term a reference to the "baby boom" that ensued in the US in the wake of the end of World War II. Theirs was the era of the Summer of Love, protest marches, peace marches, hippies and afros and psychedelic bell-bottom jeans, tune in, turn on, drop out. Vietnam. Civil Rights. Kent State.

In reality of course, only a relatively small percentage of Baby Boomers did any of those things. While Jim Walsh had been opposed to the war in VietNam, and Iris McKay was a classic child of the upper-middle class whose embrace of sixties counterculture never quite loosened, for the most part, the 90210 parents were rooted pretty soundly in that "Silent Majority" segment of the Boom.

Without the parents, we wouldn't have the 90210 kids. Actually, that's not true. It would have been entirely possible to do the entire show without even so much as a parental walk-on, let the whole gang have invisible parents. Andrea had invisible parents, and only a very occasional sprinkling of grandmother, and I have yet to hear anyone complain that the development of the character suffered for it.

But the 90210 producers didn't just "show" the parents. The parents, with the subplots of their own lives, form an integral thread in the fabric of the story as a whole. Almost all of them are recurring-to-regular enough so that we get to know them, just as we get to know the kids. We follow their dramas and struggles, we love them, we hate them, we agree or disagree with their choices, their parenting, their clothes and hair.

The show is not just about Brandon and Brenda adjusting to life in Beverly Hills, not just about the coming of age of a group of high school pals. It's about families, and telling the parents' stories ensured that the show would also be for families, watched by families, discussed by families.

You can comb the annals of all television history, and nowhere will you find a more Mon and Dadder Mom and Dad than Jim and Cindy Walsh. James Eckhouse and Carol Potter are perfectly cast, and do such a superb job in their roles as Mom and Dad of twins Brenda and Brandon, that even if you lived through the sixties too, Jim and Cindy still seem like Mom and Dad.

And what a Mom and Dad they were! With a preternatural sense of when to back off and when to step up, they seemed to hit that ideal balance between too much rope and not enough, all the while gently imparting all those stolid middle class values of honesty and integrity and hard work and caring that seemed so quaint to those Beverly Hills chlidren of privilege and decadance.

Cindy and Jim maintained that sense of identity, of family, as they made their new home into their Real Home, bringing all that wholesome Walshness to the land of swimmin' pools and movie stars - and lavish mansions churning with tragedy and heartache, secrets and lies.

The rest of the gang are all children of divorce, with the exception of Donna, whose parents are miserable, and Andrea, whose parents are invisible.

Kelly's mother, Jackie is a beautiful ex-fashion model who eventually Reforms and emerges as a loving mother, but only after her struggle with substance abuse has eaten her daughter's childhood and self-esteem. Kelly's suffering is compounded by absent father Bill, who says he will and then doesn't, whatever the occasion. Bill is a mysterious fly-by-night businessman of some sort. It is never clear, at least to me, exactly what his business is, something about investments, but whatever it is, he eventually gets perp-walked out of Kelly's graduation party by the FBI.

Steve, the result of an affair between his father and a small town girl who dies before Steve is old enough to go look for her, was adopted as an infant by Samantha Sanders, a famous TV sitcom actress who in typical stereotypical Hollywood fashion, tries to show her love by lavishing him with gifts and luxuries since the demands of her career preclude her lavishing him with much of herself. Rush, another long-gone father of nebulous but apparently well-compensated occupation, sees Steve occasionally, and on those occasions invariably puts him down and makes him feel inadequate and incompetent. Rush, who is presented initially as Steve's adopted father, is later revealed to have actually purchased Steve and presented him to Samantha without revealing that Steve is his biological son. Or something.

David's mother has manic depressive disorder. Since his parent's divorce, he lives with his loving but bumbling father Mel Silver, noted dentist and serial philanderer. Mel eventually marries then splits, then reunites with Kelly's mother Jackie, to raise the daughter they produced early in the relationship. Sheila's illness causes her to hit bottom, but she is rescued by David and Mel. (showing us that he is basically a good man who just sucks at monogamy) David persuades her to get treatment, she recovers, and when the disease threatens David, Sheila rushes to his side and persuades him to seek treatment, as he had done for her.

Donna, the only one (with the exception of the Walsh twins) whose parents are still married and living together, is kept on a short leash by her mother Felice, the most unlikeable character in the show's voluminous dramatis personae. An almost cartoonish social climber, martinet and bigot, Felice is inexplicably and somewhat incongruously paired with, and unfaithful to, the long-suffering Dr John Martin, a noted cardiologist and loving and functional father. Why he stays with, or ever married Felice in the first place is never explained, and whatever the reason, he takes it to his tomb as he dies from a heart attack before the show ends.

Dylan's mother Iris is my personal favorite of all the parents. Classically and congenitally unsuited for parenthood, she at least loves Dylan enough not to attempt it, and spends her days finding her center at one ashram or another. Iris favors flowy white clothing and pronounces "erase" "e-raze." I love her. Dylan's father, noted white collar criminal Jack McKay, just couldn't live with her. But in all fairness, who could?

Andrea's parents are said to be married to each other and living together, but they are never seen. Perhaps to compensate for this, Andrea's Grandma Rose is played by two different actresses during the course of the show. Lainie Kazan was by far the best Grandma Rose. Not to bash Bess Meisler, who played the later Grandma Rose - it would be unfair to compare anybody to Lainie Kazan! Comparison would also be sort of non-applicable, because in one of the show's few dissonances and total continuity breakdowns, the two actresses were playing two completely different roles. The Grandma Rose we came to know and love in the very first season, played by Lainie Kazan, was loud, annoying and fabulous. But when we saw Grandma Rose again, she was not only played by a different actress, but by a different actress playing the part of a completely different person. Suddenly Grandma Rose was a sweet and kindly little old lady. It was, well, jarring. I'm sure there is a story behind that, maybe someone knows and can tell us - what happened to the real Grandma Rose?

Although technically not a parent, Peach Pit owner and operator Nat Bussichio was enough of one in all the ways that count that in the series finale, when Donna walks down the aisle to marry her David, it is on Nat's arm that she walks, Nat who gives her away. About the only time that Brandon ever got himself into any really serious trouble, it was Nat who saved him. And that was Brandon, who had the parents of all parents. For some of the kids, he was one of the few constants in lives where the people they should have been able to depend on most failed them, or simply weren't there. Nat was always there, always caring, always providing, in the Peach Pit, an emotional home that did not break.

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Note: I'm sure that the above contains all kinds of errors and omissions. For example, if Andrea's parents ever were visible and I just didn't see that episode or don't remember it, please set me straight. I am very conscious that I am in the company of major experts here, and I will appreciate your help!

Thanks to the Wizardry for allowing me the honor of starting this thread, and special thanks to Miss Ruby_Slippers for all her help and guidance.

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Now some Questions and a Call For Opinions!


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Here is a list of the parents and the actors who played them:

Jim Walsh - James Eckhouse
Cindy Walsh - Carol Potter

Jackie Taylor - Ann Gillespie
Bill Taylor - John Reilly

Mel Silver - Matthew Laurance
Sheila Silver - Caroline Lagerfelt

Samantha Sanders - Christine Belford
Rush Sanders - Jed Allan

Felice Martin - Katherine Cannon
John Martin - Michael Durrell

Iris McKay - Stephanie Beacham
Jack McKay - Josh Taylor

Nat Bussichio - Joe E. Tata

Rose Zuckerman - Lainie Kazan/Bess Meisler

PAST THREADS
http://www.fanforum.com/f265/90210-p...kids-62819090/
http://www.fanforum.com/f265/90210-p...07/index2.html
https://www.fanforum.com/f265/90210-...-mom-63219307/

BlackWhiteRose

Tftnt!

yulan

You're welcome.

msstock87

Thanks for the new thread!

yulan

You're welcome.

BlackWhiteRose

Looks good.

yulan

BlackWhiteRose

Oh the actor who played Dr Silver.

yulan

BlackWhiteRose

Dylan had an interesting mom...

yulan

I love how pretty she was.

It's funny that Luke had a crush on her, while Carol Potter (Cindy) had a crush on him

msstock87

I love that Carol had a crush on Luke!

BlackWhiteRose

Oh yeah that was fun

yulan

BlackWhiteRose

Loved that scene