The original central characters were twin siblings Brandon (played by Jason Priestley) and Brenda Walsh (played by Shannen Doherty), who moved with their family from the Twin Cities to Beverly Hills.

Although during the first season ratings were low, Fox stuck by the show, even re-launching it with an innovative summer mini-season. During the summer of 1991, viewers tuned in in droves. Cast members Priestley and Luke Perry became teen idols overnight.

The show's characters and their problems included:

• Brandon Walsh (Played by Priestley, drinking, gambling, unknowingly took Euphoria drug, friend was killed in a car accident.)
• Brenda Walsh (Played by Doherty, car accident, leaves for Mexico with Dylan and gets caught, smokes, gets involved in a love triangle, almost dies in a plane crash, gets arrested for raiding an animal test lab.)
• Kelly Taylor (Played by Jennie Garth, involved in love triangle with Dylan and Brenda, diet pill abuser, was stuck in a fire at Steve's house, became involved in a cult, uses cocaine, is date-raped and has a miscarriage. May never be able to have children.)
• Steve Sanders (Played by Ian Ziering, steals tests, falsely accused of date rape, searches for roots, finds out mother was killed in car crash, steroids, hacker, his house caught fire, steals Brandon's tests, pot user.)
• Andrea Zuckerman (played by Gabrielle Carteris, attends out of district school, breaks legs in car crash, unplanned pregnancy, marital problems.)
• Dylan McKay (Played by Perry, surfing accident, alcohol, school dropout, wrongly accused of cheating on SAT tests, father dies in car bombing right in front of his eyes, involved in triangle with Brenda and Kelly, gets into coke and heroin, has car accident, marries daughter of the reputed mob figure who arranged his father's murder, wife gets killed by gunmen hired by her father in an attempt to kill him.)
• David Silver (Played by Brian Austin Green, takes Steve's car without a license and crashes it, friend dies in accidental shooting, psychologically unstable mother, uses speed and crack, gambling.)
• Donna Martin (Played by Tori Spelling, low SAT score, learning disability, drinking, gets expelled from school, almost raped and pushed down stairs by abusive boyfriend, held at gun point on TV station, has memory blockage and walks out during college final exam, grandmother and father die of heart attacks, drugs, frequently stalked.)
• Valerie Malone (Played by Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, pot smoker, tries to steal $100,000 dollars, tries to commit suicide.)