The Friday Five

The Friday Five is back!  Here are some pop culture moments from the week for you to mull over.....



1. Jennie Garth:  The news about Jennie and her husband, Peter Facinelli, proved not to be a surprise for a lot of us in Hollywood as there were rumors about them for almost two years. However, I was sorry to hear that they were splitting up.  Jennie is incredibly nice, so let's give her some good press this week.  Check out the interview I did with her last fall for Starpulse.

2. Shealeigh Daily:  This sweet and talented girl won Radio Disney's NBT late last year.  She kindly gave a shout out to my niece and her pal yesterday, so I hope you all stand up and take notice because this gal is going places.  Here's my interview with her from December.

3.  85th Annual Academy Awards:  Okay, the show stays in the same place next year, the last Sunday in February, but the nominations move up a week.  Watch out, Golden Globes, the Oscars are trying to steal your thunder......and make the award campaign season one week longer.  Oh my!



4.  Community:  The NBC show finally made its return to the lineup last night.  Did you watch?  I interviewed the cast a few weeks ago at the Paley Fest and they were chomping at the bit to get back to the fans who supported their show tremendously during their hiatus.

5.  Luck:  This week in Hollywood was anything but lucky for this HBO series which was cancelled after a swift series of horse fatalities on set.  I heard rumors that they were using older horses for challenging racing scenes which may have contributed to the deaths, but in the end, the ratings weren't great. Either way, HBO acted quickly to put this series down. Was it the ratings or the heat from PETA?  What do you think of this week's hottest TV controversy?

That's it for this week's Friday Five.  Let me know what you liked or didn't like this week in the comments section below.  Join the conversation with me on Twitter, Facebook, or Google Plus.

Jennie Garth (Kelly Taylor, Kelly Taylor, Kelly Taylor!!!) Interview

I had a really fun Monday which began with an interview with Jennie Garth.  How can you not love the original Peach Pit during the Brenda Years?  I loved everything about Kelly Taylor and Dylan McKay during that summer season when Brenda went to Paris.  Fast forward to 2011 when I get the opportunity to interview Jennie Garth for Starpulse.  In 2009, I interviewed former Executive Producer/Show Runner for 90210 , Charles Rosin, who gave me the inside scoop on what it was like to work on that set with all of the hottest TV actors of the 90's. He had some wonderful things to say about Jennie, so I was excited to start out my week with her.  I hope you check out the short article and video interview on the Starpulse page here.

Were you a fan of the original 90210?

Happy 20th Anniversary, 90210!

If you are under the age of thirty, this post probably doesn't apply to you.  I am sure you have watched the reruns of this amazing show, but to understand the epic of Beverly Hills, 90210, you had to be there.  The hysteria, the fashion, and the cult of the Brenda Years.  It will go down as one of the few shows I gathered around the TV for with friends, snacks, and a rush of excitement.  It was before the days of DVRs, the internet, and the spoilers that ruin each season finale these days.  The show premiered twenty years ago today:  October 4, 1990.  Eventually, the show was paired with the soapy drama, Melrose Place, and it put the FOX network was firmly on the map. (It's hard to imagine that FOX was a very young network at the time and consistently in 4th place in the ratings.)  I obsessed over everything Kelly Taylor and I was firmly in the Kelly/Dylan corner during the infamous Brenda/Kelly/Dylan love triangle.

Mom Jeans!

It's a little horrifying to look back at the fashions because the early 90's were a slow recovery period from the obnoxiously fluorescent 80's.  We still wore Mom jeans, bigger hair, and loud prints, but I think the 90210 crew was the epitome of cool in the early part of the decade.  It's almost laughable to think now that Shannen Doherty was our generation's version of Lindsay Lohan.  She was tough, she liked to get married over and over, and she was often in trouble with the law.....minus the Lohan drugs and SCRAM bracelet.  Shannen's antics actually seem tame and rather quaint in comparison. Ah, how times have changed.

Naughty Shannen

It has been a thrill for me since moving to LA in 2000 to see the locations where some of my favorite episodes of the series were shot and I was honored to interview Executive Producer/Show Runner, Charles Rosin, last year for his online show, Showbizzle.  The behind the scenes gossip he gave me is priceless.  I appreciate him satisfying the 90210 nerd in me.   I've seen Shannen Doherty in person and she is tiny, but her features are a lot softer looking in person. I think some of her edginess is an act.  I saw Tori Spelling at a wine and cheese party with her first husband and they made sure to take the cheese that they brought with them home in a doggy bag.  Isn't that weird?  Luke Perry is super short, short enough to ruin all of my 1990 Dylan fantasies--I like my men tall.  While I have yet to run into the rest of the Brenda years cast, I did interview Brenda's replacement, Valerie Malone AKA Tiffani Thiessen.  She's a dream to interview and simply a genuine, lovely person. I'm still waiting to interview Jennie Garth, but I will keep you posted when that happens.

Not the worst example of '90's fashion....

Tori's 1st or 2nd nose is featured in this photo.

Where to start?  Jennie's boxy blazer?  Brian's Tetris shirt?  Ian's fro?  Ah, the '90's.

They always dressed Steve Sanders in the worst of the worst.  It's like he got the wardrobe leftovers.

Remember those sideburns?

The horror!  Brenda and Kelly have the same dress.  It really didn't matter, Brenda's dress was coming off soon in a hotel room in with Dylan.

Donna, Donna, Donna....will she graduate?

Phew. "Donna Martin Graduates!"

Happy 20th Anniversary, 90210!  What's your favorite 90210 memory or episode?  Let me know in the comments below.