On TV last night: '90210'

So I kind of love The CW’s “90210,” which aired its two-hour pilot Tuesday night.

And not just because it reunited former rivals Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty as, well, former rivals Kelly Taylor and Brenda Walsh.

The new crop of characters quickly grew on me, especially fish-out-of-water Annie Wilson, who moved to Beverly Hills with her parents and adopted brother, Dixon, to live with their boozy grandmother, Tabitha (a hilarious Julie Walters).

Walters is definitely the best part of the show and had me rewinding her one-liners over and over again.

Other than Tabitha, the Wilsons are a pretty normal family, just like the Walshes were in the original. And can I just say that I also love me some Rob Estes, who plays Harry, Annie and Dixon’s dad and West Beverly High School’s new principal?

The show’s central triangle — the Brenda, Dylan and Kelly, if you will — revolves around wholesome Annie, jock Ethan and his snotty girlfriend Naomi. Annie and Ethan shared a smooch a few summers ago, when she was visiting grandma. But he’s changed a lot since their innocent summer and is kind of a jerk, at least in the beginning.

It definitely took me a little while to warm up to Ethan. But by the end of the second hour — after he’d dumped Naomi and showed up at Annie’s just as she was kissing the too-perfect Ty — I was totally on-board for an Annie/Ethan coupling.

Talk about a great ending!

Here are some other thoughts I had while watching the episode:

-- I realize that I’ve now reached the age where I’m lusting after the adult characters, like hot English teacher Mr. Matthews and Principal Wilson, instead of the teen ones. I’m only slightly weirded out by this fact.

-- There’s something not quite right about Ty, the theater hottie who flew Annie to San Francisco for an impromptu dinner date. He looks too old for her, and all that wining and dining made me suspicious.

-- When Naomi’s mother told Harry she gave birth to their baby way back when, I feared he’d keep it a secret from his wife, Debbie. But, showing how well adjusted he is, Harry told her.

Color me relieved — I thought writers would drop that bombshell on poor Debbie during sweeps. And now that we know Harry’s got a grown-up son, what are the chances it’s Mr. Matthews? I’m not sure if the math is right, and it’s probably a long shot. But I've got a feeling about it.

-- How great was it to see Nat still manning the Peach Pit after all these years?

-- Love Silver (little sis of Kelly and David Silver) and Navid. Hate Naomi and her mother.

-- When the first hour ended with Kelly on the phone with a mystery man, presumably her baby daddy, I was hoping it was Brandon. I’ve never been a big Kelly/Dylan fan — blasphemous, I know.

-- As Tabitha, Julie Walters got all the best lines. But it looked like the rest of the cast, especially Rob Estes, had fun reacting to her antics.

-- So Silver and Naomi used to be BFF, with the matching tattoos to prove it. But Silver told Annie their friendship ended back in eighth grade. I know Beverly Hills kids are advanced and everything, but tattoos at 13 or 14? I'm not buying it.

You can say that again, or the episode's best quotes

“You got me. Iced tea before noon. OK, maybe a little Long Island Iced Tea. Somebody get Betty Ford on the line.” – Tabitha

“What is that girl, like 30?” – Mr. Matthews, in a cute in-joke about West Bev’s morning news anchor, Hannah Zuckerman-Vasquez (daughter of Andrea Zuckerman and Jesse Vasquez, characters on the original series)

“I need to finish my memoirs before my friend Virginia does. We’ve slept with all the same people.” – Tabitha
“Wow, if I woulda walked in five seconds later, I wouldn’t have had to hear that.” – Dixon, in another great reaction to Tabitha’s kooky antics

“It’s like ‘Pretty Woman,’ but I’m not a whore.” – Annie after Ty flies her to San Francisco on his private jet

“Is that like a ‘I’m just not that into you’ I don’t know or more of a ‘I’m gonna play coy and make him sweat’ I don’t know?” – Mr. Matthews after asking Kelly out on a date

“Dude, my dad only has two rules: no watching porn until I’m 21 and, um, we always eat dinner together.” – Navid about his adult film producer father