May 15, 1970
Get Smart's last
episode airs.
A one-season revival of
Get Smart, the 1960s comedy about bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart,
is cancelled after only seven episodes. The original series, developed by Mel
Brooks and starring Don Adams, aired from 1965 to 1970.
May 17, 2000
Final episode of Beverly
Hills 90210 airs.
Donna Martin (Tori Spelling)
and David Silver (Brian Austin Green) finally say their vows, and on-and-off
couple Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) and Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) reunites, as
the curtain closes on the teen drama series Beverly Hills, 90210 after
10 seasons. The final episode of the show, which premiered on October 4, 1990,
on the Fox Television network, airs on this day in 2000.
Beverly Hills, 90210 was created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron
Spelling, known for his roster of hit TV shows, including The Mod Squad,
Charlie’s Angels, The Love Boat, Dynasty, Starsky and
Hutch and T.J. Hooker, among many others. At the outset, the show
focused mostly on the culture shock that twin siblings Brandon and Brenda
(Jason Priestley and Shannen Doherty) experience when they move with their
parents from Minneapolis to swanky Beverly Hills. The first few seasons of the
series followed the Walsh twins and their classmates--notably played by Garth,
Perry, Spelling, Green, Gabrielle Carteris, and Ian Ziering--through their time
at West Beverly Hills High School (the fact that many of the actors were noticeably
older than high school age was well noted in press coverage of the show). The
third season saw many of them go off to college at California University, and
by the eighth season the gang (much changed after many cast departures and
additions) was making their way into adult life.
90210 became the first in a string of Fox programs that were geared
towards teenagers and young adults, combining glamour and style trends with a
moralistic spin on teen-focused “issues.” Seemingly, no subject was taboo, and
in its 10 seasons the show featured plotlines revolving around alcohol and drug
abuse, learning disabilities, teenage pregnancy, date rape, gay rights,
domestic violence, suicide and AIDS. Fueled by a young, diverse audience, 90210
proved to be consistently popular in the ratings for most of its run,
reaching as high as No. 24.
Frequent cast changes occurred throughout the course of the show, most
notably the departure of Doherty, who left at the end of the fourth season amid
rumored tensions on the set. Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, who played Brandon’s
bad-girl cousin for four seasons, replaced Doherty. Perry departed near the
beginning of the sixth season but returned in the ninth as a “Special Guest
Star.” In 1992, 90210 spawned a spin-off, Melrose Place, which
was aimed at a slightly older audience; though it got off to a disappointing
start, it eventually became another hit, producing in turn its own short-lived
spin-off, Models, Inc. In the 10th season, ratings for Beverly Hills,
90210 dropped to an average of only 10 million viewers per week, a decline
from previous seasons. Fox finally pulled the plug in early 2000, and the final
episode aired that May. Melrose Place had bowed out the previous year.
In the fall of 2008, an updated version of Spelling’s
now-classic series, titled simply 90210, debuted on the CW network. The
show focused on a family from Kansas--parents with two teenage children--who
move to Beverly Hills to keep tabs on the father’s alcoholic mother, a former
TV star. Garth and Doherty both signed on to reprise their roles of Kelly
Taylor and Brenda Walsh, now a guidance counselor and a guest musical director,
respectively, at West Beverly Hills High School.
May 18, 1990
The TV movie "Return to
Green Acres" was aired.
Based on the CBS situation comedy Green Acres (1965-1971). It stars
all the then-surviving original cast (Hank Patterson (Fred) and Barbara Pepper (Doris Ziffel) died in
1975 and 1969 respectively). The movie starts with the original opening credit
sequence from the series, but in a sepiatone color to tell you that
it's been a while since the TV show ended. The sequence turns to color with an
added section to the theme song, which is when we see a 20-something year old
Arnold the Pig, putting flowers on Doris Ziffel's grave. The Douglas' trusty
farmhand Eb (Tom
Lester) has
married a girl named Flo, who pops out kids every five minutes.
May 15, 1970
Get Smart's last episode airs.
A one-season revival of Get Smart, the 1960s comedy about bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart, is cancelled after only seven episodes. The original series, developed by Mel Brooks and starring Don Adams, aired from 1965 to 1970.
May 17, 2000
Final episode of Beverly
Hills 90210 airs.
Beverly Hills, 90210 was created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron
Spelling, known for his roster of hit TV shows, including The Mod Squad,
Charlie’s Angels, The Love Boat, Dynasty, Starsky and
Hutch and T.J. Hooker, among many others. At the outset, the show
focused mostly on the culture shock that twin siblings Brandon and Brenda
(Jason Priestley and Shannen Doherty) experience when they move with their
parents from Minneapolis to swanky Beverly Hills. The first few seasons of the
series followed the Walsh twins and their classmates--notably played by Garth,
Perry, Spelling, Green, Gabrielle Carteris, and Ian Ziering--through their time
at West Beverly Hills High School (the fact that many of the actors were noticeably
older than high school age was well noted in press coverage of the show). The
third season saw many of them go off to college at California University, and
by the eighth season the gang (much changed after many cast departures and
additions) was making their way into adult life.
90210 became the first in a string of Fox programs that were geared
towards teenagers and young adults, combining glamour and style trends with a
moralistic spin on teen-focused “issues.” Seemingly, no subject was taboo, and
in its 10 seasons the show featured plotlines revolving around alcohol and drug
abuse, learning disabilities, teenage pregnancy, date rape, gay rights,
domestic violence, suicide and AIDS. Fueled by a young, diverse audience, 90210
proved to be consistently popular in the ratings for most of its run,
reaching as high as No. 24.
Frequent cast changes occurred throughout the course of the show, most
notably the departure of Doherty, who left at the end of the fourth season amid
rumored tensions on the set. Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, who played Brandon’s
bad-girl cousin for four seasons, replaced Doherty. Perry departed near the
beginning of the sixth season but returned in the ninth as a “Special Guest
Star.” In 1992, 90210 spawned a spin-off, Melrose Place, which
was aimed at a slightly older audience; though it got off to a disappointing
start, it eventually became another hit, producing in turn its own short-lived
spin-off, Models, Inc. In the 10th season, ratings for Beverly Hills,
90210 dropped to an average of only 10 million viewers per week, a decline
from previous seasons. Fox finally pulled the plug in early 2000, and the final
episode aired that May. Melrose Place had bowed out the previous year.
In the fall of 2008, an updated version of Spelling’s
now-classic series, titled simply 90210, debuted on the CW network. The
show focused on a family from Kansas--parents with two teenage children--who
move to Beverly Hills to keep tabs on the father’s alcoholic mother, a former
TV star. Garth and Doherty both signed on to reprise their roles of Kelly
Taylor and Brenda Walsh, now a guidance counselor and a guest musical director,
respectively, at West Beverly Hills High School.
May 18, 1990
The TV movie "Return to Green Acres" was aired.
Tony Figueroa
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