Beverly Hills 90210 is quite possibly one of the best teen dramas to ever hit television. It was not only so iconic, but it also paved the way for so many future shows.
The West Bev squad was one for the books, but there was a lot going on behind the scenes that fans didn’t know about…
1. The show was originally going to be called *Class of Beverly Hills*.
Everybody’s favorite ’90s teen drama, Beverly Hills 90210 , wasn’t always going to be called that.
According to the New York Times , before landing on that name, the creators were going to call it “Class of Beverly Hills.”
2. Tori Spelling auditioned for the show under a fake name.
The Spelling family already had quite a reputation in Hollywood at the time.
Furthermore, one of the people working on the show was her father. So in an effort to avoid nepotism and unwanted attention, Tori auditioned for the show under an alias .
3. Prior to landing the role of Dylan McKay, Luke Perry was working construction.
Before becoming a major teen heartthrob and “the next James Dean,” thanks to Beverly Hills 90210 , Luke Perry had been working construction to pay his bills while he auditioned for TV and movie roles .
4. Tori originally wanted to play Andrea, but ended up being cast as Donna instead.
“I heard about the show from my agent. She said, ‘Your dad is doing it.’ I was like, ‘I haven’t heard anything about it,'” she told EW .
“I popped into his briefcase when he got home, and I was like, cool. I really wanted to play Andrea,” she continued.
“I went in under a different name, then I got the part of Donna—which I’m sure had something to do with my dad. “
5. Shannen Doherty had a reputation for being a diva.
“She really and truly did not give a [expletive]” Jason Priestley wrote in his memoir of about his on-screen sister. “It was a very cool attitude, until it wasn’t.”
“Her lateness was appalling, and she had a callous attitude and an indifference,” Aaron Spelling added . “It wasn’t like she ruined the show or anything. It just upset the cast members tremendously.”
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6. Shannen and Jennie Garth were “bitter rivals” off-screen.
The pair were best friends while the cameras were rolling, but after that, the gloves were off. They ended up getting into a physical altercation at one point.
“I don’t know why it is, but there is a universal truth that when you put three teenage girls together, some serious [expletive] is going to go down,” Jennie recalled in her memoir .
“Poor Tori, the youngest of the three of us was, inevitably, often caught in the middle and she was always trying to smooth things over, trying to get Shan and me off each other’s backs and get along, but her efforts usually failed,” she continued.
“I did snap and I yelled at her, something to the effect of, ‘Come on, [expletive]! We’re taking this outside !'”
Thankfully, years later the two were able to repair their friendship and are now quite close.
7. Ian Ziering admitted that there was one episode that made him feel betrayed.
“There was an episode where Steve was accused of rape. But, they edited out so much powerful stuff,” he told HuffPost in 2015.
“That was like the first time I really got some great words to say and I work shopped them and I studied. I brought game, and it never even made it through the edit.”
8. Hilary Swank was fired from the show.
After signing a two-year contract to play Carly Reynolds, she was unexpectedly let go from the series after just 13 episodes.
“They never told me why, they just said it wasn’t working,” she told Chicago Tribune .
9. After Shannen left the show, the directors wanted to replace her with Alicia Silverstone, Alyssa Milano, or Drew Barrymore.
They ultimately ended up settling for Saved By The Bell star, Tiffani Amber-Thiessen, who went on to play the role of Valerie .
10. The show’s network forced the writers to make Brenda and Dylan break up after she lost her virginity to him.
“I was strongly advised to write a show that would address the consequences of that sexual experience,” the show’s creator revealed to the New York Times .
“So the first episode of the second season Brenda broke up with Dylan because their relationship had gotten too mature.”
11. Gabrielle Carteris lied about her age when she auditioned for the show.
If you’ve seen Beverly Hills 90210 , then you probably remember how obvious it was that Andrea was older than the rest of the case IRL, and that’s because she was.
While the rest of the cast was in their late teens or early 20s at most, Gabrielle Carteris was 29.
“I actually talked to a lawyer about how could I sign these contracts and lie about my age and still be able to do the show. Is it OK?,” she told *Access Hollywood*.
“[The lawyer said] ‘Yes it is, as long as you just say you’re over 21 .'”
12. There were plenty of BTS hookups and relationships amongst the cast.
When you put a bunch of good-looking young people together for an extended period of time, this is bound to happen.
Tori Spelling revealed that she had a short-lived fling with Jason Priestly at one point, kissed Luke Perry and dated her on-screen boyfriend, Brian Austin Green.
