It's been 24 years since Donna Martin married David Silver. And how many years do you think it's been since their divorce?
Not to say we weren't rooting for the happily-ever-after that Tori Spelling and Brian Austin Green's characters got in the May 17, 2000, series finale of Beverly Hills, 90210. But, hey, we're all grown-ups now and their off-and-on romance that started in high school and went through the ringer in college before they rekindled the flame on grad night was not the making of a stable lasting love.
Our wisdom of the ages also can't help but reflect on the star-crossed resurgence of Kelly and Dylan by series' end, Luke Perry having returned midway through season nine in 1998 after originally leaving the show in devastating fashion in 1995. Devastating for Dylan, that is, after he married the daughter of the man he originally intended to kill to avenge his own dad's death, and then his bride ended up dead when her father's henchman accidentally shot her instead of Dylan.
It was a whole thing.
Anyway, that must have been what the fans who were not on Team Brenda wanted. Though when Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty signed up for the CW's 90210 in 2008, Kelly was a single mom raising the son she had with Dylan before they split up, and her bond with Brenda was still never to return to what it was before he came between them.
If a lot of this sounds totally unhinged, well... these are just some basic plot points of the Fox drama, which ran for 10 ultra-long seasons (they did summer episodes, too, what a time) and packed in every the-more-you-know issue you could think of along with the soapy love triangles and epic fashion.
Meanwhile, even more was cooking behind the scenes of this TV Guide-era classic set against a backdrop of sports cars, palm trees, the beach and the immaculately manicured grounds of a high school that in reality was nowhere near Beverly Hills (though you may also recognize Torrance High School from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and She's All That).
So, cheers to the 24th anniversary of the Beverly Hills, 90210 finale. And in honor of Donna and David's hope-filled nuptials and Kelly and Dylan's renewed romance, reunite with these secrets about the making of the beloved series: