Why Beverly Hills, 90210s Most Controversial Episode Is No Longer Streaming

The Big Picture

• Beverly Hills, 90210 pushed the envelope in the 90s by tackling weighty issues like teen sex, alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence, and rape.
• Episode "The Next Fifty Years" addressed the senseless death of a teenager due to gun access, sparking a conversation about gun control laws.
• The removal of the episode from streaming may be due to its naive portrayal of gun violence compared to the current reality of school shootings, as well as the ongoing heated gun control debate.

It isn't difficult to understand why Beverly Hills, 90210's had such a massive impact on teens in the '90s. It was a revolutionary series for American teens because the show actually attempted to depict the real struggles facing high schoolers. Today, there are dozens of teen dramas pushing societal boundaries, but in 1990, there weren't a lot of shows trying to give an honest depiction of teen life. Beverly Hills, 90210 wasn't some cheesy teen sitcom with problems like too much homework, getting a bad grade on a test, or not having the right dress for the school dance. There were definitely moments that were light-hearted and silly, but 90210 made it clear from its inception that it was different. Beverly Hills, 90210 wanted to push the envelope and open up the conversation to fundamental topics like teen sex, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, domestic violence, and rape, to name just a few of the more weighty themes 90210 embraced. But perhaps the most controversial episode of 90210 is the one that isn't even available to stream. Seriously. All Beverly Hills, 90210 episodes are available to stream on Prime Video, but Season 2, Episode 14, "The Next Fifty Years," is missing.

So, what made this episode so controversial that it was hidden away in the streaming cloud vault? "The Next Fifty Years" opens with the West Beverly High School choir singing "This is My Country." The school is celebrating the opening of a time capsule from fifty years prior. David Silver (Brian Austin Green) is filming the scene for his AV class, and Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestly) and Andrea Zuckerman (Gabrielle Carteris) are taking note of the festivities for the school newspaper. Everything seems like a typical episode, and when David gets roped into planning a birthday for his ex-best friend, it seems like the episode will be about the challenges of teen friendship. However, the episode takes a severe turn when David's friend Scott Scanlon (Doug Emerson) accidentally shoots himself with his father's gun, in front of David, and dies on his sixteenth birthday.

Beverly Hills, 90210

'Beverly Hills, 90210' Brought Up Gun Control

In today's world, gun violence is everywhere, sadly. Mass shootings are so prevalent that they are almost commonplace. Since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, which killed 13 people, there have been 392 school shootings. Not only that but according to the Gun Violence Archive, there were 647 mass shootings in 2022, meaning 647 separate instances where four or more people were killed or injured in a residence or public place. Gun violence has become so pervasive in schools that, along with fire drills, students also have "active shooter" or "lockdown" drills. This starts in pre-school.

When "The Next Fifty Years" premiered in 1991, people did not worry about school shootings. There had been mass shootings in the past, and even a few school shootings, but the Columbine shooting changed everything. The idea for this episode of 90210 came when co-writer and executive producer Charles Rosin heard a news story about a teenager being accidentally shot and killed in a hotel near Disneyland on his graduation night. Rosin decided then that he wanted to use the popularity of 90210 to have an honest conversation about gun laws in America and, through that dialogue, create real and lasting change.

90210's "The Next Fifty Years" wasn't about school shootings or mass shootings at all. It was about the senseless and preventable death of a sixteen-year-old kid who died because he had access to a gun. The episode included a scene where Brandon and Andrea are debating what their news story should be about. Andrea wants to use Scott's death to highlight the need for gun control, and Brandon doesn't want to go in that direction with their story. They discuss how a loaded gun should never have been accessible in a house with children. If Scott hadn't been able to access his father's gun, he wouldn't have died.

Why Delete '90210's "The Next Fifty Years?"

School shootings are a part of life now. It's a terrible reality, but it is reality nonetheless. So, why remove an episode of a show that depicts one boy's accidental death by firearm? The answer to this question is complicated. With so many shootings, many now perpetrated against children, no one wants to be reminded of the dark realities facing America's youth. 90210's "The Next Fifty Years" also depicted a very naive view of gun violence - at least compared to current times. The shooting was an accident, as while it was a commentary on the necessity of gun control laws, it's not the kind of gun violence people are worried about anymore. Yes, parents are still concerned about gun safety at home, whether in their own home or someone else's home, but the real threat now is external. In 1991, kids weren't worried that someone was going to come to their school and shoot the place up. That's an ACTUAL reality now. That is something kids today actually have to think about. Let that sink in for a moment.

We train our military in war tactics, and even with training, many soldiers have trouble processing their trauma. Yet, we expect our children to face the possibility of violence against them every. single. day. with no thought to the aftermath of that kind of trauma. Even if most school children are lucky enough never to encounter that kind of violence, the fact that they are training for it with school drills is traumatizing enough. How do you tell a five-year-old they must participate in a lockdown drill? "Just in case a bad person comes to the school who wants to hurt you and your classmates, we must practice our response." Seriously? But I guess that's preferable to the alternative...?

So, why remove this 90210 episode from streaming? It's a naive view of teen gun violence; it's a reminder of the nearly 400 school shootings since Columbine, but is there something else? Perhaps with the gun control debate still raging, now more heated than ever, Prime Video decided they didn't want to stream an episode whose stance on gun control was so clear. The episode was written as a direct response to a child's accidental death by firearm. Co-writer Rosin was clearly saying this boy's death could have been prevented if the country had stricter gun laws. He passionately championed gun reform, and perhaps that's what makes this episode so divisive. Whatever the reason the episode is gone, one thing is for sure: the gun control debate will continue, and children across the country will keep on paying the ultimate price of our indecision.

Beverly Hills, 90210 is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video

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