Teen drama has been a big winner for the networks over the last few years. The last time we had this long a run of teen shows was in the days of “Beverly Hills, 90210″. The new spin-off , penned by Veronica Mars‘ Rob Thomas, it moving along briskly. This weeks Ask Ausiello has a scoop:

Question: What is up with the 90210 spin-off rumor? I heard “Meet the Mills” is the name and that none of the original characters are coming back. Why don’t they just call it The O.C. 2.0? — Fenster

Ausiello: Fenster, you don’t hear so good. As far as I know, the show is still untitled, but I’d be very surprised if producers didn’t go with… Beverly Hills, 90210. A glance at Rob Thomas’ script for the pilot tells me that Hannah Zuckerman-Vasquez (the spawn of Andrea and Jesse) now helms the news desk at the “West Beverly Blaze,” which is now apparently a TV show. Also roaming the halls of West Bev is Kelly Taylor, who teaches fashion design. (Wait, wasn’t Donna the fashion designer? Oh right, she’s now the proprietress of Bao Thai.) Whether or not Jennie Garth would ever sign on to be this show’s “Nat” is unclear. The pilot also reveals that one of the protagonists is David Silver’s niece (but wasn’t David an only child before the arrival of little Erin?). And if Kelly Bishop isn’t cast as the show’s hard-drinkin’, faded, ’70s-movie-star grandma, it will drive me to drink. Fun fact! Navid, the Persian guy who runs the TV station, says he doesn’t drink because of his religion: Scientology.

Ausiello always has a comic slant on his posts, but you can read through the lines to get the info. I have to honestly say that the only reason I am interested in this is because of the involvement of Rob Thomas. He is a great writer, and I crave anything written by him. I have hope that he can make a sequel better than the original…something I’ll want to watch ’til the end.

Who is looking forward to this new series? Why? Were you a fan of the original?