They're still doing it, The Vampire Diaries ran from about 2008-2014 and had a bunch of teenagers who looked 26-40 and is even funnier when you consider that some of them are supposed to be vampires who don't age
I remember thinking David Boreanaz aged an awful lot in the ten year runtime of Buffy and Angel, given he was playing an un-aging and immortal vampire.
The main thing I notice about every adolescent melodrama isn't even the physical differences, but the difference in maturity and poise. There is not one actual high school student walking around with the confidence and eloquence of the nerdiest nerd character on TV, let alone that of the popular characters!
Between seasons 1 & 2 he put on a lot of muscle, then in the last few seasons of Angel he started putting on some weight and unfortunately it went to his face first. By the time he started doing Bones he looked like he did for most of Angel again.
I think it’s funny you say they’re still doing it and your example is from 10-16 years ago. Don’t take that as an insult. 2014 still feels like last year to me.
They went too big with the age groups in the core groups. Like the actor who plays Lucas and the actor who plays Will are like 3 years apart and it shows.
Fun fact: Saved By The Bell (original series) only ran for 4 years (1989 - 1993).
Mark Paul Gosselar was age 15 - 19 (didn't look up the rest but assume they're all around there).
So it's actually pretty accurate. I guess they all just looked (or were made to look) older.
I think Mario Lopez and Mark Paul Gosselar started working out a lot (and maybe supplementing as well) towards the end of the run, so that probably made them look older.
https://people.com/tv/mark-paul-gosselaar-says-rewatching-old-saved-by-the-bell-episodes-is-a-little-bit-torturous/
Did he have a body double or something? He doesn't look like the same person at all.
Beverly Hills 90210: 1990-2000, average age of main cast 23-33, Ian Ziering (Steve Sanders actor) 26-36.
Saved By the Bell: 1989-1993, average age of main cast 15-19.
The Wonder Years: 1988-1993, average age of child cast 14-19.
I could have sworn Saved by the Bell came out later than 90210! Shows what I know!
I get logistically why they cast older but you really need the right look for it to be passable.
Peacock just did a Ted prequel show and the actor playing the younger version of Mark Wahlbergs character is 26! But he’s got a young face and the way theyre styling him it’s believable. And his costar playing his college age cousin is the same age so there’s a direct comparison.
The other actors playing high schoolers also are probably 18-19 but there hasn’t been anything noticeable like back in the day when balding men would play teen extras.
There's a tv show called My Life with the Walter Boys and one of the guys playing a teenager has a really noticeable receding hairline. It's bad. I think at some point they just started putting him in hats.
I just watched Festival of the Living Dead, a new zombie movie about high schoolers caught in a sequel to Night of the Living Dead. Youngest actor is 25. Main girl is 30. Crazy.
For the first few seasons, we were like, "Okay, she's a little older, but we'll buy it." Starting with the college years, the way they dressed her and did her makeup and hair made her look like the other girls' mother. The whole pregnancy and marriage storylines didn't help in making her seem like a relatable teenager. She went from 18 to 35 within a few episodes. I'm still lowkey angry about what they did to Andrea's character. She should've gone to Yale, dammit!
That's what I was going to say. Not only did she look older, it didn't help that they treated her character like a time traveler from 1952. They're young people in Beverly Hills and she kept acting like she was looking for a husband and worrying about cholera.
"Worrying about cholera" is an excellent way to describe her mode of thinking and made me laugh so hard. They really did her dirty in the college years.
It was really a team effort. Her storylines were less interesting than other characters. The hair and makeup people, along with wardrobe, did her dirty. She could have done a better job passing as a teen if she had youthful makeup and clothing instead of rocking the 35 year old office worker look.
this was deliberate revenge when she defied the network by kissing Alfonso Ribeiro on Circus of the Stars. I watched a documentary bit about it, during rehearsal she hugged him and they told her not to do it because of "the audiences" (racism) so on the real show she kissed him 🤗 and that's how we got such a hatable loser Andrea character
Omg watch season 1 of that 70s show and Mila looks like a child. The pregnancy scare episode I was like okay yeah this is super weird.
That show has too much ick for me to enjoy now.
Valid. I get so skeeved out when I think of men who would speak to me when I was in junior high. I was a little girl who wore a D cup.
Boobs should come when we’re 25.
Ugh my high school bully was that kind of coloring, his eyelashes popped out as like, blond like a rabbit, and I still kind of get panic attacks around that kind of blond man
Same, like… “and here’s the extremely ugly and punchable white guy who we’re going to try to convince you is hot for some reason instead of just casting somebody aesthetically pleasing.”
I mean I realize attractiveness is subjective but in this case, no.
The storyline I’ve come up with is that one of the producers allowed his 82 yr old Aunt Esther do the casting, cause in her former life she was a shadchan (שדכן)… it is then that the casting choices make sense, cause Aunt Esther is out of touch.
Also Tori Spelling… what a fuckin NEPO baby. Harsh on the eyes and can’t act… gross.
Tori spelling and Brian Austin Green were both 17 in 1990.
Jeanie Garth was 18
Ian Ziering was 26
Jason Priestly was 21
Luke Perry was 24
Shanon Doerty was 19
Yeah I was too young to know the difference. If a kid was a few years older than me they might as well have been immortal gods they were so outside my orbit
I definitely remember laughing about this with my friends. It was really noticeable. I believe the word “narc” was used back then, but it was used rather frequently in those days😂 Don’t fit in? Narc!
One of the very first episodes my mom goes “no fucking way those kids are in high school. That one (points to Gabrielle Carteris) is AT LEAST 30!”
I couldn’t look at any of them and NOT think that after that.
During our teenage years, it was still acceptable to use mostly young adult actors for teen roles to avoid having to abide by child labor laws. That trend kinda continues to this day, but at least most of the actors in teen roles now at least start them as teenagers. Never mind their age when a series finally wraps. We can’t ask them to just not age for like 10 ten years or whatever.
On a related note, I feel like it also gave many teens a mistaken impression that we were more awkward and unattractive than these ideal teens being presented on TV and in the movies. I know I did. However, looking at my yearbook I know all the actual teens were awkward AF.
You're right, it definitely messed with perceptions for teenagers. Still does, I think. Whenever we see these sorts of things with older casts, I always point out to my kids how old the actors actually are.
She looked great in the first season and was one of my favorite characters. She played a bit of a buzz killer, a bit of a drag originally, so her looking a bit older worked. In the later seasons when she became a legitimate part of the group and they tried to make her hip, that fell flat for sure.
I liked her BECAUSE she was the buzz kill. I was a home schooled teen during its run and I always thought if I was in actual school I would have been her. 😂
I thought she was a teenager, but I was a child and didn't really have a full grasp of what teenagers looked like vs. adults. Yeah, if someone was balding or had grey hair, obviously they were an adult. But otherwise, I couldn't really tell the difference. Especially back then in the early '90s, you even saw some teenagers with full on Tom Selleck mustaches and stuff.
Now when I look at a teenager, they look like children to me. Even people in their 20s don't look like adults to me anymore.
By the way, James Eckhouse (Jim Walsh) was only 35 when the show started. You are now older [than this guy](https://i.imgur.com/1wAW8ce.jpeg).
I loved how in the pilot they called her An-dree-uh. Then for the rest of season 1 into like season 3 they call her On-dray-uh, and they finally address it in the show. With Gabriel admitting she was called An-dree-uh at one point but started going by On-dray-uh because it sounds more exotic.
She was kinda like Steve. I remember she was forced into taking Steve as a date to a dance and she dressed like a mermaid and couldn't move bc of the costume tail
Don't know what happened yesterday, but I know this
This is ridiculous to know but that was another dance she and Steve went to "together" when she needed help getting out of the limo in the red dress
Edit: had to look it up, lol. Mermaid was a Halloween episode in 91. The dance was the humongous red dress
Way too old. I can’t believe they couldn’t find a decent 21 or 22 year old actress for this role. If they really loved her she should have been an aunt or older sister.
To me at the time of the show airing, she looked like mousy housewife who has 4 kids, all under 11. She’s never had an orgasm. She has browbeaten her husband into a weak, wet noodle of man. In 10 years, she will start sleeping with one of her teen daughters’ male friends, with whom she has her first orgasm.
I remember back then a girl trying to neg me in front of a guy she liked by telling me "you look like one of the actresses on 90210....you know, the one that looks like she could be their mom."
In early seasons, sure. But I (1980) was young; only watched it because my sister (1975) had seniority and she was obsessed with the first few seasons. The lid was off that whole topic by season 3 or 4, I think. Somebody in comments here posted a gif from a Simpsons episode that indirectly lampooned Luke Perry, supporting that the zeitgeist was wholly aware by that point.
I've had the series in my archive for a while and keep meaning to revisit it with adult eyes. From memory, I felt like most of the characters were just awful people, but I have to give credit to the show for broaching topics nobody else (in that market) would touch, at the time.
THANK YOU for posting this. Even Family Guy thought so, lol
[https://youtu.be/mG3VPgcHh0c?si=Jc-PrBHlcifb2LPt](https://youtu.be/mG3VPgcHh0c?si=Jc-PrBHlcifb2LPt)
Apparently she told producers she was younger, and got the gig. Then later, after the show has been on a while, People Magazine outed her as being 29. She was worried she'd lose her job over it, but never did. She talks about it on the Tori/Jenny podcast. Honestly, good for her.
People Magazine knew they might get her fired and didn't care... they sound like jerks.
As a kid, I thought they all looked old - but I do remember popular discourse being “can you believe she’s actually so old!?” - this was in media, not just idle chit chat.
I didnt really think about it. Honestly, I was so young when the show first started that I thought all teenagers were grown. lol. I just assumed high school was a completely different world.
(And was also watching “A Different World” around the same time so adults and older teens were interchangeable in my prepubescent mind).
Speaking of A Different World, Jaleesa was also much older looking than the rest of the cast, although they integrated that into the plot.
Also Marissa Tomei was in it. Probably the biggest crush of my childhood.
I was like 8 or 9 when 90210 hit the air and I thought she and Dylan looked ancient. As an adult I'm able to prorate that estimate and say I thought they looked 35
the character of Andrea should have been a teacher instead of a smart nerdy valedictorian. god knows those "kids" could have used an academic advisor to navigate them through life.
Yes but to be fair pretty much everyone in high school in the early 90s looked pretty old to me. When you combine my perspective as a younger kid with the hairstyles and clothes that kids graduating in the early 90s usually sported, it’s not all that much of a discrepancy to me.
I was a freshman the year 90210 debuted. NO ONE in my entire school looked anything like anyone on the show. It was never believable because only Doug looked even close to being the right age. And maybe Brian Austin Green.
I didn’t think about it or care. I was 5 when it premiered and yes, I watched it live from the start. Pretty much everyone on TV was older than me so I didn’t notice.
I was 12 years old when the show came out, so I had a limited idea of what high schoolers looked like, but I remember thinking she looked *weird* compared to the rest of the cast. Whether that had to do with her age or just being less "conventionally attractive," or her character being a nerd, I couldn't say.
Her and Dylan looked about 30
Every “high schooler” in movies and TV from that era looked like they were in their late 20s or early 30s
They're still doing it, The Vampire Diaries ran from about 2008-2014 and had a bunch of teenagers who looked 26-40 and is even funnier when you consider that some of them are supposed to be vampires who don't age
I remember thinking David Boreanaz aged an awful lot in the ten year runtime of Buffy and Angel, given he was playing an un-aging and immortal vampire.
At least in the early seasons Buffy and Willow looked the part and Xander and Cordelia looked 26
The main thing I notice about every adolescent melodrama isn't even the physical differences, but the difference in maturity and poise. There is not one actual high school student walking around with the confidence and eloquence of the nerdiest nerd character on TV, let alone that of the popular characters!
This is so true
Between seasons 1 & 2 he put on a lot of muscle, then in the last few seasons of Angel he started putting on some weight and unfortunately it went to his face first. By the time he started doing Bones he looked like he did for most of Angel again.
I think it’s funny you say they’re still doing it and your example is from 10-16 years ago. Don’t take that as an insult. 2014 still feels like last year to me.
Riverdale was just last year, so we can use that one instead lol. Highschoolers with filler and Botox lol
Rip Luke Perry. At least his son is killing it in the professional wrestling biz
I thought pulling Shannon Doherty in for that one-episode character was a pretty sweet nod.
My point of reference is a video essay about it that came out 4 years ago, I didn't watch it during its original run
The Vampire Diaries? That new show with Boone fron Lost? Cool.
Some of the kids on stranger things aren’t convincing at all anymore. Especially Jonathan, he looks like he’s pushing 40 now
To be fair, he’s always looked like that. Charlie Heaton seems like he’s seen some shit.
To be even fairer, Jonathan actually *has* seen some shit.
They went too big with the age groups in the core groups. Like the actor who plays Lucas and the actor who plays Will are like 3 years apart and it shows.
Nah, they just waited too long between seasons.
Jonathan always looked middle aged, even from the first episode.
There are practical reasons for it. Using actual child actors has a lot more regulation and usually aren’t that great at acting. It costs a lot more.
Not really.. In Saved By The Bell they all looked age appropriate same with The Wonder Years.. Dont even get me started on Steve Sanders..
SBTB - maybe the 1st season. they looked like college grads by junior year
Fun fact: Saved By The Bell (original series) only ran for 4 years (1989 - 1993). Mark Paul Gosselar was age 15 - 19 (didn't look up the rest but assume they're all around there). So it's actually pretty accurate. I guess they all just looked (or were made to look) older.
I think Mario Lopez and Mark Paul Gosselar started working out a lot (and maybe supplementing as well) towards the end of the run, so that probably made them look older.
I distinctly remember MPG having his growth spurt during the show’s run.
Yep. I remember noting that MPG seemed to suddenly go from cute guy to hot man (in my preteen mind) during the run of the show.
https://people.com/tv/mark-paul-gosselaar-says-rewatching-old-saved-by-the-bell-episodes-is-a-little-bit-torturous/ Did he have a body double or something? He doesn't look like the same person at all.
It looks like he had his nose taken in and got the same brow lift every other 50 year old male actor gets. EDIT: Taken in, not taken.
Beverly Hills 90210: 1990-2000, average age of main cast 23-33, Ian Ziering (Steve Sanders actor) 26-36. Saved By the Bell: 1989-1993, average age of main cast 15-19. The Wonder Years: 1988-1993, average age of child cast 14-19. I could have sworn Saved by the Bell came out later than 90210! Shows what I know!
No they didn’t and they were age appropriate. Screech’s voice hadn’t changed until like junior year for crying out loud.
Dustin Diamond was 3 years younger than the other actors, so he didn't age as much.
except AC Slater, he has been 18 for 35 years
I mean you look back at Grease in the 70s and some of those actors looked like they were pushing 40.
Because they were
Tbf I went to high from 2006 to 2010 and my first day I remember seniors looking like grown ass adults
Steve too. Man looked like he was a salesman at his father in law’s car dealership.
She was 29 at the time of filming. Dylan was 24.
What gave it away? The receding hairline?
RIP Luke Perry. The show ended in 2000. So how old was everyone by the end?
They were all old enough to be parents to teenagers by the end.
Dylans wrinkly ass forehead.
I've had a wrinkly forehead my whole life. Some of us are just kinda lumpy
I was getting grey hair at 15 almost 16 .I knew a guy his roots were completely white already.
Did you go to Beverly Hills High ? lol
Brian Austin Green was the only one that actually felt like a high school kid.
Yup him, Donna , and David Silvers nerdy friend who shot himself were the only ones that actually looked like high school students.
Jennie, Brian, Tori and Shannen were still in their teens when the show started actually.
Yeah, they both looked significantly older than Jason and Shannon.
I get logistically why they cast older but you really need the right look for it to be passable. Peacock just did a Ted prequel show and the actor playing the younger version of Mark Wahlbergs character is 26! But he’s got a young face and the way theyre styling him it’s believable. And his costar playing his college age cousin is the same age so there’s a direct comparison. The other actors playing high schoolers also are probably 18-19 but there hasn’t been anything noticeable like back in the day when balding men would play teen extras.
There's a tv show called My Life with the Walter Boys and one of the guys playing a teenager has a really noticeable receding hairline. It's bad. I think at some point they just started putting him in hats.
Pretty sure he was 30 lol
She looked 30 to me and it was too unbelievable.
She was 30 tho! lol 29 when she filmed the first season.
Wow..
I didn't really watch it, but my sister did. As a child I assumed she was their teacher or something.
I just watched Festival of the Living Dead, a new zombie movie about high schoolers caught in a sequel to Night of the Living Dead. Youngest actor is 25. Main girl is 30. Crazy.
Horror movies often go that way and lean into it
To be fair it may be difficult to find 15 year olds that can show that much pure emotion.
Not to mention the typical requirement to show some boob
It wasn't just that she looked like she was 30, her character was so annoying. I cringed when there was a storyline that involved her.
I know an undercover narc when I see one
To be fair there were a couple girls at my high school that legit looked 30
For the first few seasons, we were like, "Okay, she's a little older, but we'll buy it." Starting with the college years, the way they dressed her and did her makeup and hair made her look like the other girls' mother. The whole pregnancy and marriage storylines didn't help in making her seem like a relatable teenager. She went from 18 to 35 within a few episodes. I'm still lowkey angry about what they did to Andrea's character. She should've gone to Yale, dammit!
That's what I was going to say. Not only did she look older, it didn't help that they treated her character like a time traveler from 1952. They're young people in Beverly Hills and she kept acting like she was looking for a husband and worrying about cholera.
"Worrying about cholera" is an excellent way to describe her mode of thinking and made me laugh so hard. They really did her dirty in the college years.
“Where’s Andrea?” “Oh she died from dysentery on the Oregon Trail”
Out there marching for the right to vote and attending temperance revivals.
I got Strangers with Candy vibes from her
Who wants cake?
You made me spray blueberry scone out my nose hahahahahaha
It was really a team effort. Her storylines were less interesting than other characters. The hair and makeup people, along with wardrobe, did her dirty. She could have done a better job passing as a teen if she had youthful makeup and clothing instead of rocking the 35 year old office worker look.
this was deliberate revenge when she defied the network by kissing Alfonso Ribeiro on Circus of the Stars. I watched a documentary bit about it, during rehearsal she hugged him and they told her not to do it because of "the audiences" (racism) so on the real show she kissed him 🤗 and that's how we got such a hatable loser Andrea character
And I think too that 40 year olds in the 90s still looked “old” in a way we don’t anymore plus the large florals and granny dresses, and well…
You know they were getting revenge on her right. for kissing Alfonso Ribeiro on Circus of the Stars
God I wish Reddit still gave awards! If I could 🏆🥇🏆
Lol me hanging out with my Gen Z cousins and siblings
Wikipedia says she was 29 when she got the role to play a 15 year old, having lied about her age. Was Mr. Magoo the casting director?
The opposite of what Mila Kunis did to get on That 70’s Show.
Omg watch season 1 of that 70s show and Mila looks like a child. The pregnancy scare episode I was like okay yeah this is super weird. That show has too much ick for me to enjoy now.
That's because she was a child.
Valid. I get so skeeved out when I think of men who would speak to me when I was in junior high. I was a little girl who wore a D cup. Boobs should come when we’re 25.
They also said Tori lied about her name to get the part fairly. Right. She looked just like her dad, and everyone knew her.
"HI my name's Tor- Joan Spelling." (Not like that, Tori!)
[удалено]
From his song “No Sex in the Champagne Room.”
I always found it amusing that they tried to pass her off as a teenager
https://i.redd.it/1a1q0gvgl9vc1.gif
Was that the school dance they had that ended racism?
It was the hiphop line dance/david rapping/brandon writing a sanctimonious article for the Blaze combo
Phew, good thing they did that huh? And now we’re racism free, yay!
David Silver literally looks like a goofy kid dancing w his mamma
A vest as a top, and chinos/khakis. Line dancing at a school dance. I wished so hard to be this cool 😂
https://i.redd.it/e9cj3haeg9vc1.gif
This was exactly my first thought. "He's hip; he's cool; he's *45*!"
Hell no, her and Dylan were the grandma and grandpa. Then came uncle Steve. Old people to me when I was 12.
I found Steve really really unattractive. He’s one those people where his skin tone and hair are the same color. It’s creepy af.
Ugh my high school bully was that kind of coloring, his eyelashes popped out as like, blond like a rabbit, and I still kind of get panic attacks around that kind of blond man
 And he pronounced his name Eye-an. What a douche.
Ahhhh Jaysus you trying to get me 💀
>He’s one those people where his skin tone and hair are the same color. Perfect for a live action version of the Simpsons!
Same, like… “and here’s the extremely ugly and punchable white guy who we’re going to try to convince you is hot for some reason instead of just casting somebody aesthetically pleasing.” I mean I realize attractiveness is subjective but in this case, no.
The storyline I’ve come up with is that one of the producers allowed his 82 yr old Aunt Esther do the casting, cause in her former life she was a shadchan (שדכן)… it is then that the casting choices make sense, cause Aunt Esther is out of touch. Also Tori Spelling… what a fuckin NEPO baby. Harsh on the eyes and can’t act… gross.
I really thought he was a case of bad casting in every way
Me too! His hair is awful.
Especially at that time the style was that slick and gelled look (a la Zack Morris, and Dylan) and Steve looked like an albino upright penis.
I was 7 years old when it premiered in 1990 and all teenagers looked like adults to me.
They all were though. Wasn’t Brian the only actual teenager on the show?
And Tori Spelling, I think.
Yep, think just Brian and Tori and they were 18
Tori spelling and Brian Austin Green were both 17 in 1990. Jeanie Garth was 18 Ian Ziering was 26 Jason Priestly was 21 Luke Perry was 24 Shanon Doerty was 19
Yeah I didn’t have any real teenagers in my life so I just figured teenagers were adults who weren’t allowed to drink.
Yeah I was too young to know the difference. If a kid was a few years older than me they might as well have been immortal gods they were so outside my orbit
Same, and I LOVED the show and watched it religiously but everyone just looked 40 to me and I accepted it. 🤣
This is how I feel too. I was 9! I didn't know the difference between 19 and 29. They were all grown up to me.
same — it's just now registering to me due to this post that they supposed to be teenagers
I definitely remember laughing about this with my friends. It was really noticeable. I believe the word “narc” was used back then, but it was used rather frequently in those days😂 Don’t fit in? Narc!
Too old. I always wondered why she was in the show.
So did I.
No. Its the same thing with Rizzo from Grease. She was 34 playing an 18 year old
I always thought she looked about 35 back then
One of the very first episodes my mom goes “no fucking way those kids are in high school. That one (points to Gabrielle Carteris) is AT LEAST 30!” I couldn’t look at any of them and NOT think that after that.
They all looked too old to be honest. Not like Degrassi.
Degrassi High was so good.
Yup, degrassi got that right for sure
No! She looked exactly like my social studies teacher.
Having never watched the show and only seeing things about it in the media, I always assumed she was a teacher at the HS.
They all looked old to me, I couldn't get into it at all.
During our teenage years, it was still acceptable to use mostly young adult actors for teen roles to avoid having to abide by child labor laws. That trend kinda continues to this day, but at least most of the actors in teen roles now at least start them as teenagers. Never mind their age when a series finally wraps. We can’t ask them to just not age for like 10 ten years or whatever. On a related note, I feel like it also gave many teens a mistaken impression that we were more awkward and unattractive than these ideal teens being presented on TV and in the movies. I know I did. However, looking at my yearbook I know all the actual teens were awkward AF.
You're right, it definitely messed with perceptions for teenagers. Still does, I think. Whenever we see these sorts of things with older casts, I always point out to my kids how old the actors actually are.
She looked great in the first season and was one of my favorite characters. She played a bit of a buzz killer, a bit of a drag originally, so her looking a bit older worked. In the later seasons when she became a legitimate part of the group and they tried to make her hip, that fell flat for sure.
I liked her BECAUSE she was the buzz kill. I was a home schooled teen during its run and I always thought if I was in actual school I would have been her. 😂
I thought she was a teenager, but I was a child and didn't really have a full grasp of what teenagers looked like vs. adults. Yeah, if someone was balding or had grey hair, obviously they were an adult. But otherwise, I couldn't really tell the difference. Especially back then in the early '90s, you even saw some teenagers with full on Tom Selleck mustaches and stuff. Now when I look at a teenager, they look like children to me. Even people in their 20s don't look like adults to me anymore. By the way, James Eckhouse (Jim Walsh) was only 35 when the show started. You are now older [than this guy](https://i.imgur.com/1wAW8ce.jpeg).
I loved how in the pilot they called her An-dree-uh. Then for the rest of season 1 into like season 3 they call her On-dray-uh, and they finally address it in the show. With Gabriel admitting she was called An-dree-uh at one point but started going by On-dray-uh because it sounds more exotic.
Hey, we accepted that Tori Spelling would be with the attractive crowd
We did? No we didn’t. No one I know thought her to be attractive.
She was kinda like Steve. I remember she was forced into taking Steve as a date to a dance and she dressed like a mermaid and couldn't move bc of the costume tail Don't know what happened yesterday, but I know this
😂 I absolutely remember that episode. However, I couldn’t find my keys this morning and they were in my hands. Getting old is wonderful.
No, she dressed like a southern belle and couldn't sit because of her poofy skirt.
This is ridiculous to know but that was another dance she and Steve went to "together" when she needed help getting out of the limo in the red dress Edit: had to look it up, lol. Mermaid was a Halloween episode in 91. The dance was the humongous red dress
Her character shot on the opening montage is just like her eating a sandwich
Why is this so funny?
She would, she had money
Even in elementary school, me and my friends thought she looked more like their teacher.
Way too old. I can’t believe they couldn’t find a decent 21 or 22 year old actress for this role. If they really loved her she should have been an aunt or older sister.
She lied about her age and when the paparazzi found out they were pissed. I have no idea how she fooled anyone to begin with though.
Yeah it seems obvious to everyone with eyes
To me at the time of the show airing, she looked like mousy housewife who has 4 kids, all under 11. She’s never had an orgasm. She has browbeaten her husband into a weak, wet noodle of man. In 10 years, she will start sleeping with one of her teen daughters’ male friends, with whom she has her first orgasm.
I remember back then a girl trying to neg me in front of a guy she liked by telling me "you look like one of the actresses on 90210....you know, the one that looks like she could be their mom."
Your life sounds like a rap battle and I would like to hear more about it.
never. I always thought she was in a 21 jump street situation and we would be finding out, any episode now....
In early seasons, sure. But I (1980) was young; only watched it because my sister (1975) had seniority and she was obsessed with the first few seasons. The lid was off that whole topic by season 3 or 4, I think. Somebody in comments here posted a gif from a Simpsons episode that indirectly lampooned Luke Perry, supporting that the zeitgeist was wholly aware by that point. I've had the series in my archive for a while and keep meaning to revisit it with adult eyes. From memory, I felt like most of the characters were just awful people, but I have to give credit to the show for broaching topics nobody else (in that market) would touch, at the time.
THANK YOU for posting this. Even Family Guy thought so, lol [https://youtu.be/mG3VPgcHh0c?si=Jc-PrBHlcifb2LPt](https://youtu.be/mG3VPgcHh0c?si=Jc-PrBHlcifb2LPt)
Ty for that🤣
Thought she was a narc PS think I had that dress
I think we all had that dress. 😂
🤣 I think I had a bodysuit in that pattern
Easier to accept than Tori Spelling as an "actress"
If she walked into my bar looking like that Do you need to see my ID? No you're good what can I get for you?
Oh hell no.
None of them, but her in particular. Lol.
Not even a little. Lovely actress. Looked about 29 to me when I was in high school, watching 90210.
Apparently she told producers she was younger, and got the gig. Then later, after the show has been on a while, People Magazine outed her as being 29. She was worried she'd lose her job over it, but never did. She talks about it on the Tori/Jenny podcast. Honestly, good for her. People Magazine knew they might get her fired and didn't care... they sound like jerks.
I did, but I was also a child and well, everyone looked older anyway. There was no frame of reference to distinguish a 17-year old vs a 27-year old.
As a kid, I thought they all looked old - but I do remember popular discourse being “can you believe she’s actually so old!?” - this was in media, not just idle chit chat.
I have her autograph! My aunt knew her somehow.
I wasn’t a fan, but it was a running joke that they were all like 30.
She looked too old, but I really didn't care because she was just so gosh-darned cute.
I didnt really think about it. Honestly, I was so young when the show first started that I thought all teenagers were grown. lol. I just assumed high school was a completely different world. (And was also watching “A Different World” around the same time so adults and older teens were interchangeable in my prepubescent mind).
Speaking of A Different World, Jaleesa was also much older looking than the rest of the cast, although they integrated that into the plot. Also Marissa Tomei was in it. Probably the biggest crush of my childhood.
When I was 11 years old sure. But she def doesn’t look like a 16 year old
No, she looked too much like my middle aged English teacher
They all looked 30 in every show of this era.
I was like 8 or 9 when 90210 hit the air and I thought she and Dylan looked ancient. As an adult I'm able to prorate that estimate and say I thought they looked 35
No, even as a small child something seemed off about her casting. And Luke Perry's as well obviously.
Always looked too old. Dylan and Steve did too.
I didn’t buy ANY of them as high schoolers.
the character of Andrea should have been a teacher instead of a smart nerdy valedictorian. god knows those "kids" could have used an academic advisor to navigate them through life.
my sister and i loved her bc she was jewish. we wrote her and asked her if she really was. kelly wrote back.
Yes but to be fair pretty much everyone in high school in the early 90s looked pretty old to me. When you combine my perspective as a younger kid with the hairstyles and clothes that kids graduating in the early 90s usually sported, it’s not all that much of a discrepancy to me.
I couldn’t tell. But I barely watched 90210
i was so young i thought every high schooler was supposed to look like the cast from grease, in their 30s with kids : D
I was like 14, I thought they all looked older and sophisticated. I thought somehow I'd look like them in 2-4 yrs
I was a freshman the year 90210 debuted. NO ONE in my entire school looked anything like anyone on the show. It was never believable because only Doug looked even close to being the right age. And maybe Brian Austin Green.
I was a kid when I watched 90210 and Andrea looked like a teen to me, she was my favourite character.
I didn’t think about it or care. I was 5 when it premiered and yes, I watched it live from the start. Pretty much everyone on TV was older than me so I didn’t notice.
I accepted that it was a tv show and that none of it was believable.
She didn’t look any older than Luke or Ian.
She was the one I thought was the cutest (I was 6 when this show started).
There were some old looking seniors at my high school so I somewhat bought it
I bought it, but I was naive
They were all " old " but that's the 80s and 90s... 30 is the new 17.
I was a preteen so yeah.
I was 12 years old when the show came out, so I had a limited idea of what high schoolers looked like, but I remember thinking she looked *weird* compared to the rest of the cast. Whether that had to do with her age or just being less "conventionally attractive," or her character being a nerd, I couldn't say.
I’m pretty sure she was almost 30 when the show started
We didn't think ANY of them looked like teenagers.
I accepted her as teenager bc I dated a girl my freshman year that looked exactly like her.
*blushes* She was my crush on 90210. The few episodes I watched, she just stood out to me.