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1990s television series

over to their current flagship teen-drama, 90210. Through being an avid viewer of 90210, I myself became aware of programs and agencies such as "Children of the Night" and "Child Abuse Hotline" during the show, and actually donated to "Children of the Night" when I lived in Los Angeles in the late 1990s. Spelling recounts in his autobiography that, "What set us apart from other shows was our realistic portrayal of issues. On 90210 we entertained, but we also said a lot" (Spelling Graham 174).

As the characters on the show grew, so did I, and millions of others just like me. Spelling and his production team realized this as well, and mentions in his book that it was one of the toughest decisions the creative team ever had to make, to have the cast graduate and move on to college. He thought it would be dishonest to the audience who was growing up with them (Spelling Graham 181). The content of the show shifted from a focus on the Walsh family, to a broader focus on the cast's many different personalities. As the teens on the show graduated high school and moved onto college, so did I. Although I attended a community college and not a university straight out of high school, I could still relate to the situations that the cast was now going through in some respects. As my life became more complicated, so did theirs, and as their social relationships changed, so did mine. During one particular story arc the character of David Silver, played by Brian Austin Green, was going through an addiction to speed, ironically enough, so was I. I can vividly remember relating more to David at that time, than any other character on the show ever. It felt like in some melancholy way, that I had a friend who knew what I was going through. This was the first moment that I can remember realizing how important television had become to me, no matter how fictional it was in essence. Looking back, years after that particular situation, it was easy for me to see the moral effects that the show had on me, and no doubt on many other people in my generation. For every situation like mine, in relation to David's, I would bet that there are countless other viewers who have felt the same way about a particular character on the show at one time or another. The social relevance and ability to connect with teens has never been as effective as it was on 90210 in my opinion, and the creators were appropriately responsible in handling their roles as teachers for a younger generation.

By the mid 1990s,


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