Beverly Hills 90210 was a popular primetime television soap opera that aired from 1990 to 2000 on the Fox Network. The show followed the lives of a group of teenagers living in the posh, star-studded Southern California community of Beverly Hills. The show was created by producers Aaron Spelling and Darren Star. The "90210" in the title refers to one of the suburb's postal codes (or ZIP Code).

The original central characters were twins Brandon (played by Jason Priestley) and Brenda Walsh (played by Shannen Doherty), who moved with their parents, Jim and Cindy, from the Twin Cities to Beverly Hills.

Although the first season had low ratings, Fox stuck by 90210, even re-launching it in 1991 with an innovative summer mini-season. Viewership increased dramatically and cast members Priestley and Luke Perry became instant teen idols .

The infamous Melrose Place was initially a spinoff from the show. In latter seasons, the success of Melrose Place's development into an ultra-sensationalistic soap opera influenced the direction of its predecessors, which also headed off into the same direction.

Star's later series Grosse Pointe satirized the production of a high-school soap opera, set in Los Angeles. The show-within-a-show was clearly intended to represent "90210".

Cast

• Jason Priestley as Brandon Walsh (1990-1998)
• Shannen Doherty as Brenda Walsh (1990-1994)
• Jennie Garth as Kelly Taylor
• Ian Ziering as Steve Sanders
• Luke Perry as Dylan McKay (1990-1995, 1998-2000)
• Gabrielle Carteris as Andrea Zuckerman Vasquez (1990-1995)
• Brian Austin Green as David Silver
• Tori Spelling as Donna Martin Silver
• James Eckhouse as Jim Walsh (1990-1995)
• Carol Potter as Cindy Walsh (1990-1995)
• Douglas Emerson as Scott Scanlon (1990-1991)
• Joe E. Tata as Nat Bussichio
• Mark Damon Espinoza as Jesse Vasquez (1993-1995)
• Kathleen Robertson as Clare Arnold (1994-1997)
• Tiffani-Amber Thiessen as Valerie Malone (1994-1998)
• Jamie Walters as Ray Pruit (1994-1995)
• Vincent Young as Noah Hunter (1997-2000)
• Hilary Swank as Carly Reynolds (1997-1998)
• Lindsay Price as Janet Sosna (1998-2000)
• Daniel Cosgrove as Matt Durning (1998-2000)
• Vanessa Marcil as Gina Kincaid (1998-2000)

Trivia

• As a result of the show, 90210 is the most familiar ZIP code for people who live outside the United States. It is often used to try US-only services like Google Local.

• In Sweden the names Dylan and Brandon suddenly became popular in 1992 through 1994. Both names provide a far-fetched pronunciation for the average Swede and were as good as completely unknown before the show started airing in the country.