I'm certainly not saying that I've given up on the new series -- in fact, I'm excited about it. Brenda in town for a month to help with the play? Brandon is in Belize? (Of course he is.) And Kelly is totally going to have an affair with the principal -- how rude! In full disclosure, I've been reunited with my childhood crush as well -- Lori Loughlin a.k.a. Aunt Becky from "Full House" -- not to mention my all-time favorite actress, Jessica Walter, who was brilliant and true to form. Another highlight was Hannah Zuckerman-Vasquez, about whom sexy teacher and lacrosse coach Mr. Matthews commented, "Wait, is that girl 30?!" -- a fantastic and hilarious reference to Gabrielle Carteris' character on the old series, Andrea Zuckerman.

What I could do without so far:

» The frighteningly jarring new opening and theme song, which was preceded and followed by Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" and MGMT's "Time to Pretend, respectively.

» All of those celeb mentions. I mean, we get it -- they're in Beverly Hills.

» Putting Brenda Walsh in less than half the episode -- what a tease!

Perhaps I need to let go of the original Bev, but I'm not ready to yet. Until then, I'll be watching the new series for sporadic references to the old characters and trying desperately to resist comparing everyone to Dylan McKay, because, well, that's just depressing.