'90210' stars talk about sex, partner swapping & Tori Spelling at Paley 2009

Diablo Cody is a "90210" fangirl.

If you follow her on Twitter, you've probably seen her gushing about filming her cameo on the show alongside original series stars, Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling.

And on Saturday night in Beverly Hills, Diablo had no reservations about showing her "9-0" love and expressing her feelings about the show's storylines as she moderated The Paley Festival's panel honoring the drama.

After a screening of the Rob Estes-directed 20th episode (airing 4/21), Diablo declared that the couple who gets engaged in the closing minutes of the hour should not get married, she told Rob (Harry) that she gets "anxious" whenever Harry and Debbie fight, she asked Ryan Eggold (Ryan) if he felt his character belonged with Kelly, and she confessed that she was very invested in his answer. Plus, she corrected Shenae Grimes (Annie) on the proper pronunciation of Andrea Zuckerman's first name.

Love it.

And what did the stars of "90210" have to say that night?

Well, first things first, everyone was talking about Donna Martin's return to Beverly Hills, which happens this evening -- you have seen the preview clips, yes? -- and can I tell you how nice it will be to have Ms. Martin back in the neighborhood?

Watching the Kelly/Brenda dynamic was cool -- all my love to Shannen, always -- but Kel's connection with her BFF is different. I only wish that Donna's homecoming didn't spell trouble for her and the husband... yep, the Donna-David union is dealing with some serious problems at the moment.

Hey, 'member when Donna finally gave it up to him back on college graduation night in 1997? With the white lingerie and the candles everywhere?

I don't know why I just brought that up...

Anyway, moving on, the new guy in town, Matt Lanter (Liam), said he's of course heard all the comparisons between his character and Dylan McKay. Having just finished watching the first season of the original series on DVD, Lanter told me, "They're both independent guys. They don't put up with people's BS. [Dylan] was this bad boy character and I guess Liam is [a bad boy] of sorts."

And now that it's been confirmed that Liam will be back as a series regular next season, Lanter has many hopes for his character. "I'm looking forward to developing [Liam]," he admitted. "There are a lot of layers that haven't been peeled back yet and they need to be peeled back. I think we're going to learn a lot about Liam and what drives him, and his family life, and why he is the way he is. I'm anxious to get into that."

And what's next for Silver, whom we last saw breaking down like a total lunatic?

Post-hospitalization, Silver is going to struggle to get her life back on track, and there will be some drastic changes, including a transfer to a new school, which I told you about first last month.

"This is a lifelong thing, so it's so fresh," Jessica Stroup (Silver) said, referring to the bipolar disorder that her character will be diagnosed with this week. "It's so new for her, so for the rest of the season, it's all about finding the balance. It's about whether the friends she has at West Beverly will respect her again, if Dixon will stick by her with this [illness]. She is going to go through the ups and the downs of the recovery and, in the end, can she really come back to the Silver we all loved?"

One thing, however, that won't change in Silver's life is her tempestuous dynamic with Mr. Matthews. Ryan Eggold shared that he's a bit disappointed their relationship doesn't change tremendously, even after everything that's gone down between them. "It would have been interesting [if it had shifted]," he said. "They sort of have their moment together and then it's back to the grind."

And I agree with Eggold that that's sort of weird. I mean, the girl did break into his apartment, threaten him and smash a bunch of things...

But anyway, one person who will definitely be sticking close to Silver is Kelly. In tonight's episode, she spends a lot of time trying to help her little sister and get her back on solid ground, while Silver just rebels against that. "She doesn't want to go to bed at a certain time and take this certain [medicine]," Stroup revealed. "But [Silver ultimately] realizes that this is now her life."

What else? Oh, partner swapping.

"There's a lot of teasing coming up with Liam and Annie," Lanter shared. Shenae laughed when a possible Liam/Annie relationship was mentioned because the two apparently only share a couple scenes this season, but she did admit that she and Matt have discussed those scenes and think a romance might be coming.

That's not to say things won't be hot and heavy with Liam and Naomi in the coming weeks. In the 20th episode, Liam and Naomi have a pretty major make out session at the opening of Donna's new store (yep, she's opening a BH location). Naomi seems to have fallen quite fast for Liam, so it's definitely just a matter of time before she'll be wanting to claw Annie's eyes out over him.

Another possible love connection that will grow over the next batch of episodes? Silver and Ethan. While it might seem unlikely since Silver's still with Dixon, Jessica said she can understand why something might start between them. "The interesting thing with Ethan is that his character is going through a discovery of life all over again because he's been stuck in this bubble," she mused. "And Silver is definitely a different kind of girl [for him]. But whether or not he makes an advance, that is yet to be seen. Dixon and Silver are going to see some trouble though [either way]. It all kind of happens around the same time, so we'll see what goes down."

And back to the whole Ryan-Kelly thing that Diablo brought up, it seems the two will take their relationship to the next level in episode 20, but that does not mean they'll be a couple. "There's more love on the way," Eggold said with a laugh. "[Ryan]'s a little mixed up with the ladies. He's got some interesting issues I think. There's a lot of off-and-on, start-and-stop. He's got a thing with Kelly that is back and forth. There's a new female character that's introduced that is another romantic interest for him." That new love interest? Naomi's sister. Remember, I mentioned this a while back?

Anyway, Eggold -- whom I heart because he never censors himself -- also said that he would like for Ryan's multiple partners this season to be explained by something like sex addiction. Sadly for him, they probably won't go down that road...

Looking forward, there's of course Prom and the season finale right around the corner. The cast seemed really excited about the final episodes... though it doesn't sound like anyone is going to have a particularly pleasant time at the big school dance.

Shenae lamented that it won't be so great for Annie -- I was on set while they were filming that episode, and yeah, she accepts her date's invitation out of pity -- and according to Matt, Liam goes to the dance "kind of, in a way" with someone -- ahem, Naomi, ahem -- and that "there is some drama that happens in and around prom."

And the adults are not immune to the tension. Rob told us that Debbie and Harry will have some marital issues to contend with and said, "In the last episode, you find [Harry and Debbie] in a very, very compromising position. It's very interesting."

Hmmmm...

Of course, Brenda will be back, but don't expect a repeat of the Ryan/Brenda hook up situation. Said Eggold, "[Ryan] got burned pretty bad with Kelly the last time [when Kelly found out he slept with Brenda], so I don't think he would dare [go at it with Ms. Walsh again]."

Boo.

I think they should.

You?

-- Reporting by Marisa Roffman

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