On September 2, 2008, I found myself hopeful but cautious. My memories went back to college and grad school days; yet my current age is closer to 40 than 20. I was flooded with memories of drinking with friends while gathering around a TV set, but one that did not offer high definition. While I knew that what I was about to do could not possibly compare to the past, there was no stopping me as I watched the debut of the television show 90210 and fondly remembered the cheesy but beloved Beverly Hills 90210.

Sadly, the new 90210 bore no resemblance to the original series. It was mostly gloss and tried too hard. The characters were wilder, and the script was bad. Really bad. Just like me, I reckon, West Beverly High had also changed.

While the new 90210 did not at all resemble the show I loved so much, other than minor touches and short appearances by Shannen Doherty as Brenda and Jennie Garth as Kelly, it did do one thing for me -- it brought back a few treasured memories as I thought about Beverly Hills 90210, and that time of my life.

No, I will not revisit 90210, but I can take a moment more to revisit the REAL Beverly Hills 90210 and memories tied to it. So here are just a few, and for those of you who are brave enough to admit you also experienced this show, it would be great to hear some of the scenes you remember from it.

Somehow the Peach Pit was just a great place! Not only did the burgers look great, but you could always find the in crowd of West Beverly there, especially when it later became the Peach Pit After Dark.

Even better, you found Nat there. He was the owner, and he was like the cool adult yet not too cool. He still was to a degree a voice of reason, but not like the ever-steady Jim Walsh.

The Peach Pit reminds me of a place called The Grill in Athens, Georgia. It is open 24 hours and was a great place to go late night after drinking heavily at one of the nearby bars or hearing a live show, as Athens had no shortage of musicians. It provided a great combination of Mama's apple pie and late night edginess. Similar to the Peach Pit, except the kids on Beverly Hills 90210 supposedly had curfews, when still in highs school.

One of the things about Beverly Hills 90210 that kept you coming back for more was the tensions between nose-job, spoiled, homecoming queen-type Kelly and wannabe-and-then-was bad girl Brenda. Brenda had attitude. Kelly had charm. Brenda had dark hair. Kelly, blonde.

Long before we knew about Team Aniston or Team Jolie, folks were pulling for one of these two girls. Brenda was the girl you loved to hate, yet she was never boring. Kelly could hold her own but usually came out smelling like roses, even when she did something as scandalous as -- drum roll -- kiss Dylan while Donna was in Paris!

To this day, somehow I can still remember a scene in a pool when Dylan made his move on Kelly and gave her one of those great Bull-Durham kisses. My friends and I, a bit tipsy from several drinks, all cheered for her in unison. Guess at that point we were Team Kelly.

Back when watching this show, my friends and I smoked a lot of cigarettes. Fortunately most of us kicked that habit awhile back. I can still remember, though, how much fun we thought it was when Brenda returned from her trip to Paris, and had taken up smoking!

Switch to Team Brenda! She was even so silly as to try smoking while at home and blowing smoke out of the bathroom window. Nobody would notice that, right? And, if there is a knock on the door, well perfume or hair spray is the answer!

We all got laughed at those scenes, mostly because we could identify with getting caught at something. And, we still thought our parents had never done things like that. A nice bit of naivete to go with that smoke!

Something that really impressed me on Beverly Hills 90210 was David Silver's transformation from complete dork to Peach Pit After Dark DJ. That guy was the predecessor to the likes of DJ AM. What a guy!

He also sported the male earring early on, and managed to be a good boyfriend to the eternal virgin Donna, as played by Tori Spelling.

The great thing about David Silver was that he was, well, still David Silver down deep no matter how much his cool factor seemed to go up. It's a lesson to us all: do people really change? Let's give it to David. He had some stiff competition for the ladies with the likes of Dylan and Brandon, but it never got him down. Talk about a case study of decent self-esteem.

When reminiscing about Beverly Hills 90210, a special place in my heart goes out for Dylan, who was played by the actor Luke Perry. Critics compared him to James Dean. He was cool. He drank. A. Lot. And, he had gigantic hair and great sideburns. Really, what's not to love?

One thing that always perplexed my friends and me about Beverly Hills 90210 was the casting of Andrea. I mean, this girl not only did not fit based on her personality or sense of style, but she was also about 10 years older than the rest of the cast. She no more looked like a teenager than the cast of the film version of Grease. And, this character was annoyingly hopelessly devoted to Brandon.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. While my friends and I felt SO old while watching the graduation ceremonies of the West Beverly Class of '93 (and, note -- we were all about 22 at the time), this point in the television series was significant for other reasons. I truly believe that Beverly Hills 90210 jumped the shark when the gang went off to college and when the Walsh parents left town. It just never felt the same from that point on, as the characters, especially Kelly, were put into increasingly dramatic and far-fetched situations.

All in all, there is a time and place for everything. The time for Beverly Hills 90210 for me was in the early 90s. It has been a long time since I have thought about this show, its cast or what I was doing at the time, but I guess I have the cheesy-wannabe-and-nowhere-close new show 90210 to thank for taking me back. But only for a few nostalgic moments. After all, fall season is right around the corner!