Look, I am old enuff to tell you that the original Beverly Hills 90210 was a cultural phenomenon. It was just the worst/best night-time soap opera in the world. And a big reason for that was Shannen Doherty.
By the way, the photo above looks nothing like Brenda Walsh of 90210 fame – I just thought it was cheap, compelling marketing.
Oh, I know, I know, she was a misbehaved youth who messed up her life by marrying young and being a bitch. Yes, we all know that Jennie Garth was the good girl and Shannen , with her mismatched Modigliani face was the bad girl.
We have all heard the Tori Spelling-fueled rumors about how Jenni and Shannen came to blows on set. Yes, yes, eventually Shannen left – just as she left Charmed. But was any TV show seriously the better for it? I loved that Jenni Garth as Kelly Taylor went for Dylan — because after all, wasn’t Brenda, at the end of the day, just a big pain in the ass? But that’s the whole point. Good television isn’t based on niceness – but conflict. And Shannen does conflict.
Shannen isn’t a great actress or a great beauty. She can kinda rub you the wrong way. But she has that sumpin-sumpin that makes her immensely watchable. And if the new 90210 is gonna be about real issues and the real teenagers today and the real people who make a difference in their lives — then I guess Shannen as the guest director in their school play makes sense. I love her, even if it’s a guilty pleasure.
