Happy Anniversary, Dylan McKay!
I am celebrating two major anniversaries this week. The people involved in these milestones have brought me more joy, entertainment, and life lessons than I have received anywhere else. Collectively, I’ve spent more time with them than I have nearly all my friends and most of my family. Plus, I love them more than nearly all other humans.
It’s the 30-year anniversary of Beverly Hills, 90210, and the 20-year anniversary of Gilmore Girls!
Both of these shows are so integrated in my life, that I frequently have dreams where the characters are my friends, or my life is taking place in their respective universe. Each show has shaped a different part of my life. Let’s explore.
I was eight-years old when Beverly Hills, 90210, premiered on October 4, 1990. The series wasn’t in my trajectory for the first few episodes, but when I saw a preview for it on Fox later that winter, my life changed forever. All my dreams were being brought to life right in front of me - being blonde and wearing designer clothing and driving a luxury car and knowing celebrities...this was the life I was lusting after and I finally got visual confirmation that this life was happening somewhere. I mean, it wasn’t really happening somewhere, but it was in my living room and these actors on the screen were my people.
You might be asking, “Danya, aren’t many of the themes of this show too mature for a third grade student to be viewing?” The answer is yes. Absolutely yes. Issues I learned about through the lens of this series (before I turned 12-years old) include date rape, pregnancy scares, embezzlement, extramarital affairs, alcoholism, child molestation, gun control and being thrown down the stairs at a Palm Springs hotel by your construction worker boyfriend.
My parents made meager attempts at censoring my viewing. I was enraptured by an episode titled “Slumber Party” where Kelly invited her bitchy friend, Amanda, to a sleepover at Brenda’s house. Amanda comes in hot and is quick to piss on all the fun. She outs Kelly’s real first time having sex (which is traumatic and clearly rape), and then mocks the other girls for eating sugary snacks while concealing her own eating disorder. Luckily, after a few hours in the Walsh house and some mentoring from Brenda, Amanda’s eating disorder is cured and she stops acting like such a twat waffle. But my dad walked in during the scene where Kelly was describing being forced to have sex with the “big man on campus” in the woods after a football game when she was a freshman. He turned off the television and told me I couldn’t watch it anymore. Always low key and never dramatic, I explained to him that this show was all that mattered to me in the world, and all the other kids in my third grade class were allowed to watch it, and why did he want to RUIN MY LIFE! I pouted into the next week, and when I tuned in for the next installment, he didn’t say anything. I chalked this win up to my use of reasoning skills with him. As an adult, I feel like my parents should have encouraged me to watch these episodes - it’s not like anyone else was going to talk to me about these hot-button issues! The show did the parenting for them.
My ultimate crush was on bad boy Dylan McKay. That eyebrow scar...that Porsche...that mid-century Craftsman style home he lived in by himself at 16...those sideburns…. This was my man! The fighting between Brenda and Kelly for him was pointless - Dylan wanted THIS preteen in a training bra from JCPenney.
Hey, Dylan. You know you are here for these shoulder pads and permed bangs.
And the clothes! Oh, the clothes. I was constantly in trouble growing up for all my wanting of name-brand clothing like Kelly and Donna wore. My mom said that I would wear anything if it had a “Guess” triangle on the butt (she wasn’t wrong). But seeing the high-fashion trends of these rich kids was just the escape I needed. I had decided that when I went to prom I wanted the iconic Spring Dance dress that Kelly and Brenda both wore the night Brenda lost her virginity to Dylan.
The final episode of 90210 aired the month I graduated from high school in 2000. It seemed like a perfect time for the show to wrap up since I had been gestated by the glamour of Southern California and was ready to be birthed into the “real world.”
The “real world” for me turned out to be Gilmore Girls. I discovered it in 2004 when it was in syndication on ABCFamily, while new episodes were being made. I was engaged to my husband and all of life was sitting in front of us. I was inspired by Lorelai’s fearlessness and her ability to pave a life for herself, separate from what others wanted for her. But mostly, I wanted to be Emily Gilmore.
Emily knew all the ins and outs of high-society living, a scene I so desperately desired. I wanted to bark orders at hired staff to space candlesticks six inches apart and casually host teas on my patio wearing St. John suits just like her. Emily never backed down from a confrontation and never suffered a fool. She loved her husband and was proud of the life they built together. Could she be bitchy and judge-y? Sure. Me, too. But you see her soften through the series and she is my forever muse.
Living in a quirky place like Stars Hollow seemed to suit me as an adult. A town full of colorful characters who look out for each other, a super hot diner owner, festivals in the dead of winter - all of it just lit my fire. So I knew I had to visit.
The best part of being an adult is doing the things I want and no one telling me otherwise. This has resulted in me taking the Warner Brothers Studio Tour in Burbank, California, where Gilmore Girls was filmed, twice. Because one trip to Stars Hollow was never going to be enough. Frankly, two times isn’t enough either but the studio tours are on pause due to the pandemic. The first trip was by myself. Yes, I did a full vacation to LA alone so I could do whatever I wanted without thinking of anyone but myself. The tour guide cruised through the “Main Street USA” (aka Stars Hollow) portion of the studio tour pretty quickly because filming for Pretty Little Liars was happening at the time. But my second trip to the Warner Brothers studio was life altering.
I wanted to sprint around the square then roll in the grass and sing Carol King until I ran out of oxygen.
Not only did we get to walk around Stars Hollow, but we were able to go inside Kim’s Antiques. I would alternate between tearing up and struggling to breathe when I was inside.
This was when my fan girl status reached a fever pitch. I couldn’t believe where I was standing. The house even smelled like an antique store!
I didn’t even try to hide my extreme feelings. I wanted to shake each tourist and say, “This is it! All of our lives are complete now! We can die happy because we have walked the town square!” But they just kinda walked around and acted...regular. I was NOT feeling regular. I was feeling irrational about how I could stow away at Miss Patty’s dance studio and live out my delusions of attending a town meeting.
I wonder if Squatter’s Rights apply to movie sets? If so, you will find me living out my days at Miss Patty’s.
I won’t even attempt a guess at how many hours of my life have been devoted to 90210 and Gilmore Girls. But I am sure if I had used that time for more productive pursuits - like learning French, reading Tolstoy, exercising, or engaging with real people - I would be a different person. But I’m cool with how I turned out. And let’s face it, aside from Rory Gilmore and Andrea Zuckerman, who really wants to talk about Tolstoy?
