Beverly Hills 90210 - The Final Season

The final season of the hit Fox series Beverly Hills 90210 holds a special place in this reviewer's heart not because I was a die hard fan from beginning to end who couldn't get enough of Dylan, Kelly, Steve, Donna and David but because I had the distinction of being a writer on the show during this last season. One might think that by the time a show gets to its tenth season there isn't much story to tell but I can tell you first hand that the tenth season, which arrives on DVD this week, is chock full of some terrific serialized twists and turns as well as long romances that finally get an overdue pay-off.

As we move into the final season, real life drama creeps in as Steve (Ian Ziering) grows up and focuses on his marriage and new baby. David (Brian Austin Green) fights career ups and downs alongside romantic drama while he waits for longtime love Donna (Tori Spelling) to be single again. Speaking of Donna, she first finds out cousin Gina (Vanessa Marcil) is really her sister due to an indiscretion of her father, who ends up having a heart attack and dying. Then there's Dylan (Luke Perry), the rich boy who longs for Kelly (Jennie Garth) even when she's engaged to someone else.

As for working on an iconic series even in its final hours, it was a treat to go back through these episodes and see the stories that were pitched by yours truly (including the very soapy story where Dylan's long-dead father was found out to have never died and was living in the witness protection program all these years) as well as the fashion shows, dating mishaps by tabloid queen Tori Spelling and, finally, wrapping up the series with Kelly and Dylan finally coming together and the big splashy wedding of Donna and David.

The DVD itself doesn't offer much in terms of extras but all 25 episodes of the final season are here including the series finale special The Final Goodbye which looks back at the entire series. And if you happen to watch episode 13 of this season, you might see a familiar name as the writer of that episode.