The show may be well-known because of the young antics of its high school characters, but it began as a family drama, mainly about Brandon and Brenda. Soon enough, exterior factors played a part in the show’s rise to success – most notably, the Gulf War.
In a strange twist of fate, the first episode to focus more on the high school characters was aired the day the Gulf War began. While most networks covered the conflict, Fox – at the time, of course – had no news shows, and so “Beverly Hills 90210” was one of the few primetime shows on TV. Ratings skyrocketed.
The Magic Trio
One of the long-running conflicts on the show was the animosity between Dylan McKay and his father Jack. Believe it or not, three different actors provided their skills to create Jack McKay. It began with Terence Ford (Harrison Ford's brother), followed by "Independence Day" actor Arthur Brooks.
They both put their spin on the wealthy businessman with a shady past. Finally, "Days of Our Lives" actor Josh Taylor stepped in until the character was killed off in a car explosion, shortly after Jack and Dylan made up. A car bomb? Really? Man, this show got wild. You could even say that it "jumped the shark."
Writing Scott Out
The geeky Scott Scanlon – at least, geeky by the show's standards – was played by Douglas Emerson. Scott was David Silver's friend and voice of reason when David was working on the many different schemes he attempted in order to rise in popularity. Did it work though?
Producers originally intended for Scott to stay around for the majority of the show, but Emerson had a different plan. He wanted to attend college and then join the US Air Force. The writers gave Scott a dramatic exit, and the character ended up dying in a firearm accident at his own birthday party.
The Age of Innocence
We already know that producer Aaron Spelling had nothing to do with Tori Spelling's casting, but he exerted plenty of fatherly pressure on the show. Fellow producers have said that he demanded Tori's character Donna to stay a virgin until she – Donna – graduated from college. Seemed like a reasonable request, right?
Aaron also had Donna's abusive boyfriend Ray written out of the show before the actor's contract ended. Plenty of people had been saying Donna should not be with him, and apparently, Aaron agreed. We can only hope and pray that he did it all out of fatherly love.
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow!
To be honest, Shannen Doherty's diva behavior certainly put her on a short leash, but it was not what got her fired – it was actually her hair. She got her hair cut during the filming of a season finale, which meant the show's continuity was all off.
This meant that plenty of work had to be done for it to make sense. Doherty herself has admitted it was one of the big reasons for her firing and even ended up saying that the producers were right to do so. Ultimately though, Doherty ended up in "Charmed," so all was well with the world.