On March 4, Luke Perry tragically passed away at the age of 52 due to complications from a massive stroke. For many who were born in the late 90’s – early 2000’s, he was probably best known as Fred Andrews, i.e. Archie’s dad on Riverdale. However, for a generation of women who grew up in the ’90s, Perry was and always will be, Dylan McKay – the heartthrob rebel of Beverly Hills 90210.

Social media was quickly flooded in the wake of the news with messages of condolence and comments by a number of women, about Perry being one of their first celebrity crushes. Because for the generation of individuals whose teenage years were spent following the exploits of the Beverly Hills High gang, they understood the cultural significance the show had.

BH 90210 was for a period of time, simply a phenomenon. The show helped catapult FOX into a legitimate counterpart to the big three networks – ABC, NBC, and CBS – with ratings, that at the height of its success, averaged 15-20 million viewers a week. More than this and what truly made the show a phenomenon and cemented its status in pop culture history, is that it set the precedent for every teen high school drama that followed. Put simply, without BH 90210, there likely would not have been a Dawson’s Creek, The O.C., One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl and well today, Riverdale.

The show’s massive success helped usher in a new genre of television that is still to this day duplicated in many ways. It’s not that entertainment had never focused on the teenage high school struggle prior to BH 90210. After all, John Hughes made a career of doing that very thing in a number of his hit movies, which helped make Molly Ringwald a star and an icon for teenage girls around the world.

However, pre-BH 90210, the teenage drama of high school angst was less of a focus for television shows. Although the ground-breaking cult favorite Degrassi already existed, it didn’t have as big of an audience or the global cultural impact that BH 90210 would later have. The introduction of BH 90210 ushered in a new type of television drama. One where teenagers were the focus, parents were virtually invisible and the real issues high school kids dealt with was no longer relegated to after-school specials.

The show tackled everything from bullying, suicide, slut shaming, date rape, drug use, addiction, abstinence, gun violence and so much more. It’s hard to think of a major social issue the show didn’t touch upon in some capacity. Think about some of the current social issues being debated today – gun control, slut shaming, sexual harassment, racism, etc. and guaranteed, if you search, you will find an episode or two of BH 90210 that dealt with it. And this was almost 30 years ago.

Interestingly, the show wasn’t a success right out of the gate. In fact, the ratings for the first half of the first season were fair to poor and the show struggled to get an audience. Then the producers and FOX executives got the brilliant idea to air the second half of the first season during the summer, when their target audience, i.e. teenagers, were likely to be home, hanging around and watching television. And more importantly, when competition from other networks would not be as fierce.

The gamble paid off. Teens watched and the show became an overnight success. Almost twenty years later, FOX would repeat this same model for a little show called The O.C., which rather than a fall premiere which was typical of many shows, premiered in August.

But perhaps the most compelling evidence of the show’s immense cultural impact was the creation of the WB Network (this would later become what is today The CW Network – a merger of WB and UPN). The WB Network, which brought audiences Dawson’s Creek, Buffy The Vampire Slayer (ironically Luke Perry played the love interest in the original film version), One Tree Hill, Felicity, etc. was essentially created and marketed specifically for the type of teen audience BH 90210 helped usher in.

That was the power of the show. Others saw just how huge a drama about teenagers, marketed towards teenagers could be and that model has not stopped. The teen drama is still alive and well today and likely will be for years to come. And like it or not that was because of the impact BH 90210. So rest in peace Luke and long live Dylan McKay and the Beverly Hills High gang.