Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Pixabay and Disney+
For a Gen X teen, there are two TV parents who loom larger than any others: Jim and Cindy Walsh of Beverly Hills, 90210. Particularly in the show’s early high school years, Jim (James Eckhouse) and Cindy (Carol Potter) were, in fact, the only decent parents we ever saw.
Having relocated from Minneapolis when their twins Brenda (Shannen Doherty) and Brandon (Jason Priestley) were midway through high school, Cindy and Jim were living rebukes to what we were to read as the dubious values of peers in their titular adopted city. Whereas the Walsh kids’ friends dealt with the fallout of their parents’ divorces, substance use issues, and unsecured firearms (R.I.P. Scott Scanlon), the Walsh parents never had a slip—extramarital flirtation, questionable business deal, elitist Little League coaching—outlast the episode that introduced it.
These are Boomer parents: they have certainty on their side. Now, my fellow Gen X teens are playing TV parents themselves; and in the case of Doogie Kamealoha, M.D., their Gen X self-doubt is a huge part of their charm.