Tread Perilously is a podcast in which hosts Erik Amaya and author Justin Robinson watch the “worst” episodes of popular TV shows, attempting to determine if they would continue to watch the series based on the most off-key moments.

This Week: Beverly Hills, 90210′s “The Nature of Nurture”

Tread Perilously makes a course-correction to the 1990s with the Fox prime-time soap, Beverly Hills, 90210, and its latter-day episode, “The Nature of Nurture.”

Kelly (Jennie Garth) looses her cool when the semi-orphaned child she brought to child protective services gets placed with a gay couple. Is she a bigot like the child’s mother, or will the series excuse her homophobic tendencies? Brandon (Jason Priestley) tries to stop Steve (Sharknado‘s Ian Ziering) from placing cigarette ads in their newspaper. David (Brian Austin Green) bonds with his new next-door neighbor who happens to be a former guitar god. Valerie’s (Tiffani Thiesen) mother starts dating Kelly’s father, only freshly out of prison. Meanwhile, Steve pretends to be another man to woo a woman he met via mail fraud. It’s as terrible as it sounds. Also, Lindsay Price appears in this episode.

Erik and Justin immediately get lost in a discussion of The CW, The Clone Wars, and Justin’s interest in the Disney+ streaming service. Erik tries to define the difference between a prime-time drama and a prime-time soap. He also makes a pitch to become a professor of television at an accredited university, but then slams his alma mater. Both discuss the problem of TV shows set in college and high school shows attempting to pivot to college settings. Also, Erik and Justin try to pitch the perfect Paul Rudd sitcom for 1998.

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