First things first -- don't forget that today is your last chance to win a copy of Skinned! Just email me -- robin (at) robinwasserman (dot) com -- with the title of your favorite book.  WInners will be announced soon!

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Moving on. 90210, "new and improved." I've awaited this show's debut with eagerness and dread. And now that it's arrived, I'm a little reluctant to comment on the pilot, given how incredibly wrong I was about the Gossip Girl pilot. (Except for Chuck being the second coming of James Spader. That one I called from the outset.)  Stll, quick impressions:

-Not enough Brenda Walsh!

-Definitely enough "Hannah Zuckerman-Vasquez" (though I did appreciate the inside joke)

-What the hell did they do to the Peach Pit?

-Who's the father of Kelly Taylor's baby? (I mean, obviously they're keeping this a mystery in hopes they can woo Jason Priestley or Luke Perry back on screen, but If it's Dylan, I swear, I'll punch a whole in my tv.)

-Laurie Laughlin and Rob Estes are no James Eckhouse and What's Her Name (speaking of unnecessary adults, Nat is looking...botoxed)

-It's embarrassing how much of a chill I got when the theme song kicked in.

-I foresee the biggest problem going forward is that the female lead CANNOT ACT.  She's insufferable, and seems to have only two acting modes. "Frowny face" and "inappropriate laughing face." It gives me a whole new respect for how much Shannen Doherty really made this show, back in the day. Which leads me back to,

-Not enough Brenda Walsh!

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In other news, anyone flip over from the CW to the RNC at 10? (This was like going straight from a Justin Timberlake concert to the Bing Crosby Christmas Special.) Slate's take: "Boaters, facelifts, bowties, creepy pallor. It's like a Lynchian version of The Music Man."

And you can see why:



(The Texas delegation, via the New York Times)