Why We’re Rooting for Tori & Dean

By Heather Huntington on August 9th, 2009

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I admit it: I hated Tori Spelling. I had no real reason to feel this way, I suppose. I watched 90210 like all the rest of the Gen Xers, and like many of my contemporaries probably developed a dislike for her there. But life went on, time marched forward, and ultimately the show went off the air (well, before it was revived in the remake). And Tori Spelling faded into the background for me.

Periodically she would show up on Perez Hilton for something or other–a scandal with her mother, a garage sale, what have you, but by and large my life was Tori-less. And that was just fine by me.

Then a couple of years ago she was back. Oxygen had put her and her second husband (actor Dean McDermott, for whom she’d left her first hubsand) on the air with a reality show about how they were running a B&B in San Diego County. I don’t know what it was that drove me to watch the show, but I did. And something happened. My entire attitude changed.

It’s true: I’m a Tori Spelling convert. Within one episode years of disliking her were completely washed away. She and Dean seemed like a real couple who were really trying to make a go of it. There was the interesting twist of the problems her famous family and previous personal stardom imposed on her life, but the thing that kept – and keeps – me watching is weekly being surprised at how not horrible she is.

It’s been a few years now and Tori & Dean have moved back to Hollywood, but the show still remains. And I still watch. It has been successful, and that success has changed them a little–for the worse, I’d say. At least, it’s changed the show a little. Whereas the first season was them scraping by to make it and waiting on the weirdos that came to stay at the B&B, now they’ve traded up houses a bunch of times (although in their defense, that was probably a smart financial move and there is a level of privacy they need as a result of the paparazzi) and they throw increasingly extravagant parties and take up increasingly extravagant hobbies.

Nonetheless, there are a few things from this show that are clear: they really love each other, they really love having their kids, and they love their friends. But mostly they just seem…nice. Given how fleeting career success and money is in Hollywood, I personally can’t blame them for busting their asses to take advantage of it while it lasts.