90210 - the reviews are in

The reviews are in from last night's two-hour premiere of the much-buzzed-about 90210. Here is what the critics had to say:

“90210 is a perfectly competent and reasonably seamless revival that understands what made the original tick (and tick and tick), while being infused (occasionally suffused) with enough contemporary touchstones to remind new viewers that this isn’t their parents’ (or at least older siblings’) trusty fave… 90210 is not a disaster, and the CW can now officially let out a deep … sigh … of relief.” — Newsday

“More than just a famous zip code, 90210 is easily the most hyped show of the fall season and the CW is banking on all of the buzz to draw in big ratings. This spinoff, eight years after the first series ended, is a pallid copy of the original fish out of water story only with shinier cars, fancier clothes and Botox aplenty.” — Variety

“All the expected ingredients were there: gorgeous teens, lots of style and extravagance, raging hormones, and always the potential for backstabbing, broken hearts and payback. Same old, same old at West Beverly Hills High School.”– AP

Vaguely on topic, the image just above is a screencap from a frame of full 1080p hi-def video shot by what is essentially a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera, the Canon 5D Mark II. Relevance to 90210? It was the series which inspired me when I was producing soap opera. And this amazing new camera inspires, too. The tools are coming faster than we can envisage the new storytelling paradigms they facilitate.