90210 – Is Ryan really interesting enough for a spin-off?

Ryan Eggold, who plays hot and inappropriate English teacher Ryan Matthews on 90210, started off with potential. He was scruffy, didn’t look too much older than the kids he was teaching, and had the hots for Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth). However, between Kelly blowing him off and his falling for 21 Jumpstreet and then not showing up for several episodes, he’s faded into the background. This week he came back, and I’m not sure we really needed him to.

If you haven’t heard, Eggold is going to be joining the cast of the new Melrose Place reboot that CW is planning for next season. The idea is that he will stay on 90210 as “the hot English teacher,” but we’ll see him on Melrose Place as “the struggling novelist just looking for love.” To that end, we saw him taking Kelly and a six pack back to his apartment last week, and this week, he pointed his scruff at Naomi’s sister and a couple of bottles of wine. They devoted a good chunk to the episode to it, and man, what a snoozefest.

While it was cool to get a glimpse of the old Melrose Place pool, the rest of it could have just been completely cut. Do I care that Mr. Matthews is an English teacher who really just wants to be a writer? Not really, and I definitely don’t feel bad for him — in fact, he came off as kind of a douchebag. Not only is he only teaching because he hasn’t been able to get his writing career off the ground, but he sucks as a writer too.

Now I’m not someone who thinks that people who use big words or whatever are “putting on airs,” but come on. He used the word “Vermilion” in the title of the book. The Vermilion Steed? Seriously, Ryan? Who are you, Eli Cash? Is the steed going to gallop away in the friscalating dusklight? I couldn’t handle 15 minutes of this; I don’t know how I’m supposed to handle 15 minutes on 90210 and an hour on Melrose Place.

Let’s be honest: the most interesting thing about Mr. Matthews is his “relationship” with Kelly. Since Jenny Garth has said definitively that she’s not going to be making any appearances on Melrose Place, do we really care enough about Ryan on his own to follow him over to Melrose Place? Or does the fact that someone is crossing over from 90210 just add more awareness of the new show, and not necessarily a reason to watch? I’m still up in the air about whether or not I’m going to watch the show at all, and Ryan isn’t exactly pushing me over to MP‘s side. How about you?

Clacked by Kona Gallagher
on May 08, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT