Nothing Guilty About It

One of my great pleasures in life is TV targeted at teenagers. I love it... pretty much all of it: good, bad, mediocre. One of my current favorites is, of course, "Gossip Girl," which has this great campy, soap opera thing going on. "Greek" is also excellent...like, it's actually pretty well-written and well-acted, and despite the fact I was not a member of the Greek system in college, it just makes me happy. "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" is resoundingly terrible. I mean, it's awful. The acting is mostly bad, the romantic lead looks like a young Bob Saget (I do not consider this a plus) and, coming from the creator of "7th Heaven," it is, not surprisingly, incredibly preachy. But yet, oh yet, I watch. I eat up the terrible plotlines and stilted performances like I'm binge-eating the shitty generic leftover candy the day after Halloween.

So, of course, I was very excited about this week's two-hour premiere of the new "90210." And, as someone who willingly spends my precious few available minutes watching shows like "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," I thought it was pretty good. Perhaps a little light on the angst (other than giving a couple of female characters dyed black hair) but that can be fixed over time. I'm looking forward to checking it again next week before I completely formulate an opinion. But, for a remake, I'm optimistic. It helps that Brenda and Kelly made an appearance in the first episode. Bring back Dylan for a guest spot and I'll be sold.