Am I Stuck in a Time Vortex?

I was watching the premiere of 90210 and during one of the commercial breaks, a news promo was about the New Kids on the Block. Can someone tell me what year it is?

As for the new series, I can't compare it to its predecessor. I wasn't allowed to watch Beverly Hills, 90210 when I was younger and by the time I could, it was already on its way out. No one watched it--we were watching Dawson's Creek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer by that time. However, this looks promising and I'd watch it if I hadn't aged out of high school dramas when I, well, graduated from high school.

I grew up on Full House episode and it is great to see Lori Laughlin ("Aunt Becky") back on television. She has good chemistry with Rob Estes, who plays her husband and new principal of West Beverly High. The actors playing their children (Shenae Grimes as Annie and Tristan Wilds as Dixon) were good and look as if they can carry the new show. It is nice to see a normal family but considering this is a high school drama, I guess we can start the countdown now. Especially since we've already had the revelation that dad has a son out there that was given up for adoption by his high school sweetheart--now the mother of his daughter's nemesis.

Said nemesis is Naomi (AnnaLynne McCord), who physically reminds me of Elizabeth Berkley in her Saved by the Bell days. Naomi and Annie start out as friends but it is ruined before the premiere is up when Naomi steals one of Annie's old book reports and is busted for it. She is dating Ethan (Dustin Milligan), who Annie had a fling with a few summers back while visiting her grandmother (Jessica Walter). However, their relationship ends quickly as Ethan was caught cheating. Meanwhile, Annie becomes friends with Erin Silver, who prefers to only go by her last name, played by Jessica Stroup. She runs her own YouTube series where she takes down her enemies. She is also Kelly Taylor's half-sister and yes, Kelly (Jennie Garth) is back as West Beverly's guidance counselor. Dixon meanwhile befriend Ethan as they are both on the lacrosse team as well as Navid (Michael Steger), who works on the school news and is the son of porn producer.

Besides Kelly, Nat (Joe E. Tata) is still running The Peach Pit and it is still the main meeting place. Also, Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty) drops by to visit her old friend and to do some babysitting while Kelly goes on a date with the English teacher (Ryan Eggold). All in all, the series premiere set everything up pretty well, establishing relationships and characters very well. There was a good mixture of humor and drama with the script reflecting teenagers better than Secret Life of the American Teenager does. It does try to be relative with the inclusion of Spring Awakening, this decade's Rent. I'm sure the show is glad to get the publicity but I do remind people to make sure the rights are out to perform the show or don't expect to be playing Wendla in your school's production.

Well, now it's time to wait to see how the ratings come back and if 90210 has the same success as it's predecessor.