Beverly Hills Teens
Wealthy teens navigate school, romance, and rivalry in Beverly Hills.
Beverly Hills Teens, a 65-episode animated series from DIC Animation City, aired in syndication from September 21 to December 18, 1987. The show, which earned a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Animated Series, followed wealthy teenagers in Beverly Hills dealing with school, friendships, and romance.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Jack Olesker
- Michael Maliani
- Barry O'Brien
- Director
- Craig Zukowski
- Composer
- Haim Saban; Shuki Levy
- Country
- United States; Canada
- Language
- English
- Seasons
- 1
- Episodes
- 65
- Executive producers
- Andy Heyward
Facts from the source article.
Development
In January 1987, wire services reported that Access Syndication, partnered with DIC Enterprises and Coca-Cola Telecommunications, had three new animated children's series in development for fall of that year: Tiffany Blake, Starcom: The U.S. Space Force, and Beverly Hills Teens. While Starcom and Teens were produced, Tiffany Blake never advanced past development. One columnist described the series as featuring spoiled rich kids who attend classes equipped with Louis XIV antique desks. Producers touted the show as a response to more violent children's series, maintaining it would be less action-based and more character driven, providing wholesome role models for kids. Access Syndicate president Ritch Colbert lamented that children's entertainment was dominated by neo-militaristic, boy-toy animation, citing SilverHawks, ThunderCats, and G.I. Joe as examples, and noted there were no animated shows like Tom and Jerry or The Flintstones with which children could identify. When questioned about money-happy teens as role models, Colbert said they may be wealthier than most teenagers but have typical problems and are fully realized personalities. Early development names for the four lead characters were Troy, Chrissie, Raven, and Pierce; the boys' names remained, but Chrissie became Larke and Raven became Bianca.
Premise
The show is set in Beverly Hills, California, and centers on a group of rich teenagers around sixteen years old who belong to a fictional Teen Club. They spend their time at a lavish high school, a country club, a salon and spa, and on Rodeo Drive. The main character is Larke, a kind and generous blonde, blue-eyed fashion model and student. Her love interest is Troy, a friendly and popular heartthrob whom many other girls pursue. The primary source of drama is Bianca, a raven-haired girl who sees Larke as her competition for the school play lead, Homecoming Queen, and Troy. She is joined by Pierce, an effeminate and vain boy who acts like a ladies' man but dislikes Troy's relationship with Larke. Plots often involve Bianca or Pierce, or both, scheming to ruin Larke and Troy's romance and other relationships. The other girls include rocker Jett, cowgirl Blaze, actress Nikki, southern belle Tara, Teen Club President Shanelle, and gossip columnist Switchboard. The other boys are rocker Gig, surfer Radley, self-promoter Buck Huckster, and Bianca's chauffeur Wilshire. Two younger kids, genius Chester and Pierce's sister Jillian, often tag along, while Larke's cat Tiara and Bianca's poodle Empress provide slapstick humor.
Reception
In the 21st century, Beverly Hills Teens gained renewed attention from entertainment websites and newspaper columnists reminiscing about 1980s childhoods. BuzzFeed writer Brian Galindo touted the cartoon's camp appeal as embodying 1980s decadence, calling it the original Beverly Hills, 90210 but way more ridiculous. Dilshan Boange, a columnist for the Sri Lankan newspaper The Nation, cited the series and its theme song for exporting American epicurean ideals, writing that the Beverly Hills Teens sing out the status quo of monopoly over style and how it is done right, sending a message about what is in and what is not. In Bulgaria, the show first broadcast in 2002 on bTV as part of the FoxKids block alongside other 1980s and 1990s shows such as Masked Rider and Inspector Gadget. This introduced the series to a younger audience of teens born from the late 1980s to children born in the 1990s, including both Millennials and Generation Z members.
Home media
During the series' lifespan, select episodes were released on NTSC VHS by Golden Book Video. In 1990, Celebrity Home Entertainment released select episodes on single-episode VHS tapes as part of their Just for Kids Mini Features line. In April 2007, Déclic Images released a Volume 1 DVD box set featuring the first 23 French-dubbed episodes (known as Bécé Bégé in France) in Region 2 format. Volumes 2 and 3, containing 20 and 22 episodes respectively, followed on November 28, 2007. All three volumes were sold as a 3-box set of the entire series in May 2010. Mill Creek Entertainment released a Volume 1 DVD set in February 2013 with the first 32 episodes in Region 1 format, including a bonus episode of Heathcliff. Volume 2, with the remaining 33 episodes, was released in October 2013.
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