The verdict on the new 90210

Not a lot has changed in Beverly Hills since the original series finished some eight or nine years ago. There are still people who are playing teenagers, 15 or 16 or so, who look well into their 20s but I suppose that happens with all shows of this genre.
The most disturbing for me what that all the girls look far too thin. They don't look attractive and it all looks too wrong. Ironically Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty, who didn't look too thin in the original series, scrub up pretty well. The only girl in the previous BH90210 who looked too thin was Tori Spelling but she was cast out of this one.
It's her own fault because for me everything that is familiar about 90210 is what made it watchable. I liked that Kelly was there, she has a son (the father a mystery at this point but seems like a good way to bring back another old character should they be convinced) and some dignity. Brenda was great as well, even though she was only in it for a bit in the first episode, and she also had some dignity. This is unlike a lot of the other female characters who are just overtly bitchy and not very likable.
Nat is still running the Peach Pit, which is now like a coffee shop/bar, and the brief chat he had with Kelly and Brenda was great nostalgia. It also suggests Kelly comes there a lot.
Kelly's half sister Erin Silver is a major character which is a great move and also Andrea Zuckerman's daughter Hannah is a student at the school.
The Wilson family are the new Walshs, Harry and Debbie Wilson relocate to Beverly Hills from Kansas with their kids Annie and Dixon (who was adopted and you can't help but see tokenism in his character at this point). There are spoilt brats, the `hot girls' and `hunky guys' you'd expect.
Did I like it?
Yes and no. Some of it was quite interesting and well done. Some of it was pure soapy drivel. That's an overstatement as well. It's almost like two different people were swapping between scenes. It might get better, but as a fan of the original this is not in the same league - thank God for the returning characters. I don't see it lasting too long, a season or two, unless they try harder to not be the same mundane teen drama (there have been the odd exception) that's been on TV since the demise of 90210 the first time.