Flashback Friday: Beverly Hills 90210 producer Larry Mollin holds nothing back on bts of the show
-Larry Mollin was a writer-producer on BH90210 from Season 4 to Season 7 of the show. In charge of transitioning the show form High School to College. He....does not hold back in an interview with TeenDramaWhore.
-From Shannen Doherty, Jason Priestley, to the 'old man' (Aaron Spelling) no one was off limits.
The cast:
-They all hated working on the show by Season 5.
-Jason, Jennie, Tori had a lot of influence bts
-The girls couldnt let one another shine so if one changed their hair, the other one had to change their hair.
-The final 4 stayed for 10 seasons because they were getting paid bank and were smart enough not to give up a good paycheck
-S1-3 they only signed music deals that lasted 5 years since it was the average show duration. Wasn't until Season 4 that they started signing music deals in perpetuity.
Shannen Doherty:
-The writers loved Shannen, Brenda was their favorite character to write.
-She always stuck to the script, could memorize the night before, always on point and it was something the cast hated.
-Shannen was tough but a talented professional who was hard to get along with
-Her ultimate demise was two things (not related to her tardiness): She cut her hair in the middle of the season which MASSIVELY pissed off producers since the filmed multiple episodes at once and it messed up their continuity.
And she pissed off Tori/Aaron as she introduced Tori to a guy who would become her boyfriend and was abusive towards her.
-There were no plans to get rid of her until those two incidents happened and from there plans were set in motion to write her out of the show (to which Shannen wouldnt be aware) as most of the cast and producers were pissed at her.
Tiffani Amber Thiessen:
-They were excited to bring her in. She helped bring new life to the show.
-BAG absolutely hated it. He recent revealed that he was very jealous that she'd have romantic scenes with other guys.
-Larry believes that due to it being the 90s and the casual sexual harassment actresses would have to deal it that it fueled BAGs dislike of his girlfriend being on the show.
Gabrielle Carteris:
-Gabrielle wanted to start a family and the producers asked her to hold off as they did not want to introduce children into the show.
-She got pregnant anyway and they attempted to deal with the storyline which was lifted directly from Larrys life.
-He was furious with the casting of Mark Damon Espinoza as her baby daddy. The actor had no chemistry with Gabrielle, had huge ears, receding hairline, just was not right for 90210.
-Spelling eventually saw that Andreas character just didnt mesh with the show as the character had become to grown up and fired her.
Luke Perry:
-Luke was over the show by Season 5
-Very professional
-They couldnt convince him to stay so they attempted to give him a great send off
Jason Priestly:
-Jason would be the one to get Larry fired.
-Jason had decided that he wanted to become a producer on the show to which Aaron obliged to keep him happy and on the show.
-Aaron allowed Jason to practically sweep house behind the scenes. Got rid of the old guard, brought Michael Braverman to be an EP. Braverman was horrible and fired after 6 weeks.
-After 6 months of added responsibilities - Jason ditched the show but was allowed to remain in the credits as a producer even though he wasnt there at all.
The Final 4:
-Tori was the only one was excited to do the show every week. She was always excited to read the latest script.
-She was also the toughest actress to write for since Spelling was very protective of her so every episode pitch would start with Donnas storyline even if she was in 1 scene.
-They had no intention of getting rid of Jamie Walters (Ray) but Spelling forced them to fire him since Tory was being personally perceived as "stupid" for staying with Ray (since fans were unable to differentiate between actor/character). Jamie had just signed a million dollar contract to be a regular on the show and they had to write him out, though he got paid anyway.
-Spelling also forced them to fire prematurely Cress Williams who was a temporary Donna love interest.
-BAG/Ian were great, never really complained.
-Jennie didnt complain a lot but had plenty of sway. She hated working with Dalton James and thus he was fired. He was supposed to be around for the entire season and lasted 12 episodes.
-The iconic "I choose me" was so they could prolong the Brandon/Kelly/Dylan love triangle
Aaron Spelling:
-He was happy to get rid of Shannen.
-Spelling was never the bad guy. He would let everyone else be the bad guy.
-Fired Gabrielle after the character became a mother
-Claimed that Dalton James was anti-Semitic and wanted him gone. (They believe that this was a lie as Jennie wanted James gone and Aaron didnt want pushback from the execs). This forced them to rewrite 10 episodes worth of scripts and retool remainder of the season.
-Would blacklist anyone who he fired from FOX. He didnt want them to have success if it wasnt with him.
-He was a loving man who could be a motherf*cker.
Season 8-10:
-He kept up causally with the show and hated what they did to the series.
-They made the characters so ordinary which was against what 90210 was.
-They repeated storylines
-Jason was partially to blame.
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