Stars Lament Milligan's Exit From Show

Source:

ustin Milligan was conspicuously missing from Saturday's 90210 event at PaleyFest '09, but the actor -- who was recently handed his walking papers -- was on the forefront of his co-stars' minds.

"I'm going to miss him terribly," confessed Milligan's leading lady, Shenae Grimes. "He is an amazing guy and an amazing actor. We would bounce ideas off each other and we could be straight up with each other. We could be like, 'Chill with the mouth thing.' It was nice to have that on-set camaraderie. But we will keep in touch."

Ryan Eggold, who only just learned of Milligan's exit, echoed those sentiments. "It will be a bummer not to see him on set," he said. "It's sad, but that stuff happerns. Shows end, they go in different directions... I was loving doing Dirt and then the writers strike buried us and we all got let go. You just have to accept that this will happen from time to time. TV is a cruel mistress."

Adding potential insult to injury for Milligan is the fact that Milligan's character may not even get a proper send-off; Grimes confirms that the season's final episodes fail to provide closure for Ethan. "I don't know exactly how they will explain it [next season]." However, Milligan's pseudo-replacement, Matt Lanter, hints that his bad-boy alter ego will start to bring out Ethan's dark side as the season winds down. "[Liam] is going to start influencing the other kids -- specifically Ethan -- and not in a good way," he revealed. "We have a Habitat for Humanity episode [coming up] and I take Ethan on a camping trip and Liam gets Ethan into some trouble."

Dustin Milligan (Ethan) OUT! Big Changes Ahead!

From ew.com

90210's new boss lady, Rebecca Rand Kirshner Sinclair, recently told me that the soap's second season would be "significantly" different than the first, and, man, she wasn't kidding.

Sources confirm to me exclusively that Dustin Milligan, who plays affable jock (and one half of 90210's central super couple) Ethan, won't be returning to the show in the fall -- at least not full time.

Reps for The CW and producer Paramount declined comment, but a 90210 insider confirms that Milligan's contract option is not being picked up for next season. The source adds that the door is being left open for the actor to briefly appear in the fall to wrap up Ethan's story.

All indications are that Milligan's exit was strictly a creative decision. "Everyone loves Dustin," maintains the insider. "There was just a feeling that the character had run its course." (Curiously, the news comes just days after Milligan's newbie co-star, Matt Lanter -- a.k.a. bad boy Liam -- confirmed that he was being promoted to a series regular next season.)

The departure of one the show's most high profile leading men is the clearest indication yet that Sinclair's ongoing reboot of the reboot will be anything but minor. Viewers will get their first taste of the Gilmore Girl alum's new vision when 90210 returns from its winter hiatus this Wednesday with a hilariously campy outing that features the primetime soap trifecta: stalkers, street-racing, and scenery-chewing!

Looking ahead to season 2, Sinclair said last month that she wants to "reconceive things visually. There are opportunities to embrace California culture visually in terms of fashion and style; I want it to be more contemporary.

"If Gossip Girl is about youth in New York," she elaborated, "I want to [make 90210] about youth in L.A. and Beverly Hills."

The writer-producer also plans to rely less on 90210 vets such as Jennie Garth, Shannen Doherty, and Tori Spelling to boost ratings. "The show tried to be a lot of things to a lot of people in its first season," she conceded. "I think the center lies with the generation of kids that are in high school now. I'm not interested in casting people for stunt value."

Sinclair, who replaces original show-runners Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs, said the show will benefit from having a singular vision. "The advantage of having one person -- me -- [in charge] is that scripts, what happens on the set, casting... it all speaks in one voice."

Thoughts on Sinclair's new 90210? Waiting to pass judgment until you see this season's remaining episodes? Is the loss of cute-but-boring Ethan a step in the right or wrong direction? Sound off below!

Launch

So, after starting and maintaining a blog for the CW's Melrose Place, I've decided to start up a blog for 90210 as well. Right now though, I'll post my current thoughts on the show, what I think is working and what I think isn't working.

And just a reminder, the last 8 episodes of the season start Tuesday 3/31, but it's not until the following week when Tori Spelling returns as Donna.

Debbie and Harry
They aren't working. I don't buy them as parents. I don't think they have chemistry with each other and I think Lori Loughlin's talents are being wasted, as she comes across as a terrible actress, and I don't think she is. Rob Estes, I've never liked his style of acting. Both come across as cold and again, they lack chemistry. IMO? Kill off Harry, bring Tabitha back, and have us get more of Tabitha vs. Debbie.

Annie
She's annoying. She's grating. And honestly, she's not Brenda and never will be. She's more similar to Donna, the whiny, saccharine sweet girl who's very annoying. But I'd rather watch Donna anyday than Annie.

Ethan
Ethan's okay. He has redeeming qualities but frankly, if the show did away with him, he wouldn't be missed. I'd rather see them dump Ethan and develop George (Kellan Lutz) more.

Silver
If I had to compare her with anyone, it'd be Emily Valentine, or Valerie, just without the severe manipulative tendencies. She stands on her own, and that's definitely a good thing.

Navid
He's not as developed as I would like him to be, but he's hands down the male Andrea. I think he's a keeper on the show, for sure, but I don't like how he's already tied down with Adrianna and he doesn't really stand on his own anymore.

Naomi
Definitely the Kelly, for sure (the early version, just a little more self-centered and bitchy). Naomi's a little shrill at times but the character is another keeper. I also like the promise of her relationship with Liam.

Dixon
He's definitely the Brandon, although not nearly as defined. I also don't like how they pretty much pushed aside anything that defined him and his whole story is now just centered around Silver. It appears they're actually bringing on his birth mother, so that should be good. And the whole Christina arc? It was not needed. It was a shoddy attempt at developing him and to me, it failed.

Adrianna
She's definitely the Brenda. She's by far the lead of this show and it's becoming more and more apparent. She's the most fleshed out and most dimensional of them all.

Liam
A Dylan wannabe that I kind of buy as a Dylan wannabe. I think they found an actor, that, on paper looks great, but he appears to be able to actually act. That's always a plus.

Kelly-Brenda-Donna
I do like the fact that they've used BH90210 characters. Kelly's a welcome anchor on the show. I love that Brenda was brought back and still has an edge that won't die. While I don't think her storyline is overly lame, I think it's a little contrived and a lot of aspects happened off-screen (such as the fling with Ryan) and it was as if they're more of just an afterthought. Donna will at least have a few episodes of what seems to be a solid arc to re-introduce the character. I'm also kind of pissed that they neglected to use Hannah Zuckerman-Vasquez and that we haven't see Nat since Episode 4. Why can't Nat be seen every once in a while at the new Pit, instead of some random day-player pointing out to character a where character b is.

With a new show-runner though, I think Rebecca Rand Kirshner will do a good job. If the last half of the season lives up to what looks to be a much more fleshed out series than I think it's in good hands and will turn out. The first half? One big hot mess.