Time determines who our cultural touchstones are, and right now, time would like you to welcome back Shannen Doherty.
That she never really went away is beside the point. Because tonight, on the series premiere of the CW's "90210," viewers will see Doherty, 37, as Brenda Walsh for the first time since the actress' acrimonious departure from the original show in 1994. And this resurrection of Shannen / Brenda -- within the second coming of "90210" as a whole -- has brought about an almost profound catharsis among television fans that has overshadowed the rest of the fall season.
"Finally, My Side" reads the headline of the Doherty interview on the most recent US Weekly cover. "Jennie & Shannen: Reunited at Last!" is atop the Entertainment Weekly cover this week, above a photograph of Doherty and Jennie Garth, her once and again "Beverly Hills, 90210" costar. And Perez Hilton, the influential gossip blogger, who has been obsessed with Doherty's return to Brenda-ness before it even seemed possible, enthusiastically posted both magazine covers on his site.
In other words: In our fickle, you-want-a-piece-of-me, celebrity-fixated world, which is more interested in destruction than renewal, Doherty is riding high on a wave of sudden -- and unexpected -- good will.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel it," she said last week in her trailer on the "90210" set. "It definitely feels good. It also feels scary."
Why scary?
"Because of interviews like this."
Really. Why?
"Because who wants to talk about stuff they did 15 years ago?"
Some of us never get asked about stuff we did 15 years ago.
"Exactly."
The tempest template
The Shannen Doherty of the early '90s was the hot mess of Generation X, the archetype of famous girlie wreck. Hell-raising at clubs despite being underage; marrying the wrong guy after a five-minute courtship; fighting with her "90210" colleagues, and strangers too. Her spectacular behavior was memorably doled out by the pre-Internet celebrity press -- and a one-off 'zine, as well -- that created a template for a now familiar character in the gossip world.
While her predecessors' sins might have been relegated to the supermarket tabloid ghetto, Doherty's notoriety occurred at the moment when our relationship to celebrities -- particularly young ones -- was evolving into a sport where we follow continuous narratives. And, as a result, that relationship was becoming a lot more personal, opinionated, mean.
