SOAPnet Backs 90210 Launch

SOAPnet is driving a pair of promotions in support of its Jan. 21 premiere of Beverly Hills, 90210.

The network -- which will strip the 1990s teen soap weekdays at 5 p.m. -- will run the “Passport to Privilege” sweepstakes Jan. 7-21. Entrants can register at SOAPnet.com (soapnet.go.com/home.html) for a grand-prize package to live like the series’ characters for a weekend.

The winner will stay at the Wyndham Bel Age Hotel, where Dylan (Luke Perry) lived, and receive a gift certificate to Fred Segal, Donna’s (Tori Spelling) favorite store. Additionally, the winner will do brunch at the Beverly Hill Beach Club, where Brandon (Jason Priestly) and Andrea (Gabrielle Carteris) both toiled.

The winner will also receive a chauffeured limousine tour of 90210 show locations including the “Walsh’s” house and the diner that was The Peach Pit.

Speaking of the latter, SOAPnet will host “Peach Pit After-Dark” parties featuring 90210-themed weeks and trivia questions. Additionally, party-goers can act out scenes from 90210 in karaoke style with the show playing on video screens.

The first of these parties is slated to take place at Club Ice in Los Angeles Jan. 21. Other stops are scheduled for clubs in Houston, Cincinnati, Detroit and Kansas City. SOAPnet executives said the network will work with cable affiliates in each market to determine their participation in these events.

“The Beverly Hills90210 launch campaign provides us with a tremendous opportunity to reconnect viewers with the people, places and things they loved about the series,” SOAPnet vice president of marketing Sherri York said in a prepared statement.

“It also gives us the opportunity to reach our fans locally and demonstrate the incredible consumer demand for the network,” she added.