TV Flash
All episodes Season 5 S05E01 1994-09-07 60 min 1990s Fox

Beverly Hills, 90210

What I Did on My Summer Vacation and Other Stories

TV Flash files “What I Did on My Summer Vacation and Other Stories” as a desk essential hour — Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990–2000) on Fox, season 5, episode 1, aired 1994-09-07, 60 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S05E01: listed hour 113 of 293 in the Beverly Hills, 90210 guide, first listed hour of season 5. It aired 1994-09-07 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Mr. Walsh Goes to Washington (2)” (S04E32). Next is “Under the Influence” (S05E02).

Essential hour

Essential hour: “What I Did on My Summer Vacation and Other Stories”. Vacation as Very Special Topics season — issue-of-the-week youth drama now treating college like a courtyard sequel.

Beverly Hills, 90210 — What I Did on My Summer Vacation and Other Stories (S05E01)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

After enjoying a successful summer in London, Brenda decides to stay in England and pursue her stage career. With her room vacant, the Walsh family agrees to take in Valerie Malone, the college-age daughter of a family friend who has committed suicide. Valerie appears charming and likable, but she is actually cynical and manipulative and plots to get involved with Steve for his money. Donna returns from her summer stay in Texas and claims that she's over with David, who's doing a video for his film class, with a little help from Nat, about his summer of working with Babyface, dating and being dumped by both a girlfriend and the tour, and having some good luck near the end of the season. But that evening, Donna has an emotional meltdown when she runs into David at a nightclub. Meanwhile, Dylan breezes back into town after a binge-filled summer in Mexico while he tries to process the loss of his entire fortune, and Kelly and Brandon take their relationship public. Also, Jesse and Andrea take their premature baby daughter, Hannah, home from the hospital after Andrea details how her maternal instinct was the reason Hannah is still alive.

Viewer FAQ

Where does What I Did on My Summer Vacation and Other Stories sit in the Beverly Hills, 90210 guide?

S05E01 is listed hour 113 of 293 — first listed hour of season 5, season 5 episode 1.

When did Beverly Hills, 90210 S05E01 air?

What I Did on My Summer Vacation and Other Stories aired 1994-09-07 and is listed at 60 minutes.

Where should I start?

The original 1990–2000 run, from high school into adult career and family arcs — later 90210 reboot attempts are a separate brand lap.

In the series

Why this series still plays

Filed by Tessa Quinn · Spoiler-Free (Mostly) · Show package

Minnesota twins drop into Beverly Hills High and teach Fox that teens will show up weekly. Darren Star and Aaron Spelling built zip-code soap from peach-pit romance, Luke Perry heartthrob mythology, and Very Special Topics — then aged the courtyard into adulthood without ever leaving the brand. The teen-drama industrial complex starts here, spinoffs included.

So about the ZIP code. Minnesota twins Brandon and Brenda Walsh land at Beverly Hills High and Fox learns, in public, that teens will show up every week for peach-pit romance, pool-party lighting, and a curriculum of Very Special Topics. Darren Star created it; Aaron Spelling produced it (1990–2000). Luke Perry's Dylan, Shannen Doherty's Brenda, Jason Priestley's Brandon, Jennie Garth's Kelly, Tori Spelling's Donna — the original ensemble that made appointment TV out of adolescent melodrama. (I said spoiler-free.…

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Also in season 5

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