Early-comers to Go Fug Yourself might remember that, in our FAQ — a relic of Blogs From Another Time — we used photos of Joan Collins/Alexis Colby for me and Shannen Doherty/Brenda Walsh for Jessica. (Actually, that FAQ still lives. Why mess with a classic?) Somebody once commented angrily that I looked OLD and that Jessica’s bangs looked STUCK IN THE 90s. Such is the power of Brenda Walsh: Even a person who didn’t know who she even was could correctly identify her era.
As Tara Ariano eloquently wrote for Decider, most generations now have a formative TV show and clearly Beverly Hills, 90210, was one of ours. We’ve written at least three books powered by daily reruns of that show, which premiered right when I moved back to the States. That first year, my health teacher made us watch the episode where Brandon drives drunk, and as a soap fiend I was totally hooked and never missed another hour — which was easy, because eventually Aaron Spelling teed up summertime episodes to fuel our hunger. We essentially finished our growing up alongside them. Jessica even graduated the same year they (eventually) did. The central cog of it all was the melodramatic and self-righteous and occasionally bratty foot-stomping heroine Brenda, who never hesitated to turn on her heel and flounce.
Shannen was more than Brenda — she was a staunch animal-rights activist, she was Heather Duke, she was Prue from Charmed, she was on Little House on the Prairie — but 90210 made her megafamous and hit her and her costars with an unflinching spotlight. One could argue the days of the Brat Pack made the tabloids hungry for a new group, and they dined out on the West Beverly gang’s off-set and on-set shenanigans and hookups and travails. Shannen left both 90210 and Charmed under a cloud of rumors and under the “difficult” label. I liked, again, what Tara said:
“If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that stories about why women’s careers in show business didn’t go the way we may have hoped for them might be more complicated than we can ever know. Some people who are angry have good reason.”
Much of this, Shannen addressed late in her life on her frank podcast, Let’s Be Clear, which felt when she started it like an urgent desire to leave it all said and done on her own terms; to tell her story before the obituaries beat her to it. So she took the mic and she poured it out for as long as she had left. Brenda would have been proud.
So in honor of Brenda and Shannen, may we all stick up for ourselves and make a little noise today. Cross your arms indignantly, suffer no fools, flounce if you need to, and fake a French accent. Glower at your enemies knowing Brenda would have your back. And then, if you like, cry a little with her co-stars. It’s unfathomable that she and Luke Perry are both gone so early. Hopefully they’re taking a joyride in his Porsche to the Peach Pit of the Beyond.
