Shannen Doherty Movies

One of the definitive, landmark shows of the 1990s, "90210" quickly became an important fixture on the FOX and in the popular discourse of adolescents and young adults. The first season's main characters, Dylan, Kelly, Donna, Steve, David, Andrea and twins Brandon and Brenda all attended West Beverly Hills High School. Brandon and Brenda Walsh and their parents, transplants from Minneapolis, were the stable nuclear family with strong values; their home was a safe haven for the whole gang and the center of much of the drama. The show dealt with a steady stream of love triangles and other romantic entanglements and occasionally touched on more serious issues as well.

One of the definitive shows of the 1990s, Aaron Spelling's Beverly Hills, 90210 joined the elite TV club in 1992, spinning off the slightly more grown up ensemble soap Melrose Place. The series focus remains on the lives of the teenage Walsh twins -- Brenda (Shannen Doherty) and Brandon (Jason Priestly) -- who move with their parents from rural Minnesota to drama-rich Beverly Hills. Season 3 marks senior year for Brenda, Brandon, and their high school friends: Kelly (Jennie Garth), Donna (Tori Spelling), Steve (Ian Ziering), Andrea (Gabrielle Carteris), David (Brian Austin Green), and bad boy heartthrob Dylan (Luke Perry). Naturally, they all get closer together as they make the high-stakes decisions for their post-graduation lives. Every juicy moment from 1992-93's Season 3 is highlighted on this 8-disc set, including the prom, overseas travels, addictions, summer jobs, secret liaisons, and of course, graduation.

Several cast and production crew members of the long-running (1990-2000) FOX teen-drama series Beverly Hills 90210 were gathered together in this retrospective special, which is staged in the form of a high-school reunion (including badges with class photos and name tags). Taking place in a mockup of the Walsh family's suburban living room, the special provides the participants with ample opportunity to catch up, compare notes, reminisce, and even open a few old wounds. Thanks to FOX's extensive pre-show publicity, it is no surprise to the viewers that the much-maligned Shannen Doherty shows up to face the actors with whom she'd once been on the "outs." What is surprising is the handful of no-shows, including three prominent actors who ostensibly had no axes to grind with anyone (where, for example, is cast member Tori Spelling, daughter of series producer Aaron Spelling?). In order to create the aura of spontaneity, the camera crew assigned to Beverly Hills 90210: Ten Year High School Reunion not only recorded the events occurring on-stage, but also the activity backstage, before, during, and after each commercial break. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three of the most gorgeous TV witches since the days of Elizabeth Montgomery were the heroines of the hour-long WB fantasy series Charmed, which first materialized on October 7, 1998. Reunited in their ancestral San Francisco mansion, the Halliwell sisters -- Prudence (aka Prue, played by Shannen Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Combs), and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), and came upon a dusty tome titled the "Book of Shadows," which by and by revealed a secret that had long been withheld from them: the sisters were witches known as the "Charmed Ones," blessed with extraordinary powers which they were expected to use in the never-ending fight of good against evil. Prue, the oldest, had the gift of telekinesis, enabling her to move objects at will; middle child Piper was able to stop time; and Phoebe, the baby of the family, was able to see the future. The ritual enabling them to combine their powers involved the linking of hands and chanting in unison, "The power of three will set us free." Of course, now that the girls knew they were witches, they were immediately targeted for destruction by all manner of warlocks, sorceresses, and malevolent spirits, many of these hoping to steal the Halliwells' powers for themselves. Also, in their efforts to lead "normal" lives and not give away their secrets, the ladies encountered a great deal of difficulty in the romance department -- not to mention the holding and maintaining of regular employment.

During season one, Prue worked for the Buckland Auction House, whose owner turned out to be a warlock; she also lost her policeman boyfriend, Andy Trudeau (T.W. King), who was killed in an effort to save the Halliwells from a demon. Phoebe's private life was not quite so tempestuous, though she had a bad habit of losing jobs due to the bad things happening around her. The impressionable Piper, who managed to find work as a caterer and later as the owner of the "P3 Club" nightspot, thought she had found true love in the form of hunky handyman Leo Wyatt (Brian Krause), until learning that Leo was a "Whitelighter," a guardian angel fated to protect all good witches from harm -- and as such, was off limits. In later seasons, however, Leo was demoted to "mortality" and was able to marry Piper, with whom he had a "bewitched" son named Wyatt. By the time Leo's powers were back to full steam in season five, he'd been appointed an "Elder" Whitelighter; his former job of protecting the sisters was taken over by another Whitelighter named Chris Perry (Drew Fuller), who turned out to have a hidden agenda.

Season three saw quite a few upheavals in the lives of the sisters, with Phoebe falling for Assistant DA Cole Turner (Julian McMahon) -- who turned out to be the demon Belthazor, and whose mission was to kill the sisters. Cole managed to purge himself of evil, only to revert to wickedness -- a cycle that continued to repeat itself until, in season four, the "bad" Cole married and impregnated Phoebe with his evil seed. Eventually the baby was stolen by a demon called The Seer (Debbi Morgan), and poor, mixed-up Cole wound up trapped in another dimension before being "vanquished" permanently. (At least Phoebe landed a permanent job as a newspaper advice columnist once the dust had settled!) As for Prue, season three of Charmed turned out to be her last when she was killed during a "demon assault." Her place in the Halliwell household was taken in season four by the girls' half sister, Paige Matthews (Rose McGowan), who like the late Prue possessed telekinetic powers. Paige would eventually find "civilian" employment as a social worker, enabling her to emulate the other girls by applying her powers for the forces of good on a full-time basis.

There were scores of additional plot complications and story arcs occurring in and out of the "real world" and back and forth in time (at one point, for example, the heroines were converted into Greek goddesses). "Charmed" though the Halliwell girls may have been, it didn't mean that they exactly led charmed lives. Perhaps it was the unstable nature of the world in which our heroines dwelled that made Charmed one of the WB's most successful offerings; viewers literally never knew what to expect from one week to the next! ~ All Movie Guide

Her latest heist having gone horribly awry, a professional thief heads back to her quiet hometown in order to maintain a low profile, only to find herself recruited to watch after her young nephew and nice when her sister is stranded in a tropical storm and unable to make it home for Christmas. Cate Dove (Shannen Doherty) isn't exactly the kind of woman most folks would hire to watch after their kids. In fact, the only reason she's come returned to her hometown of Comfort, Connecticut is to avoid the authorities after botching an elaborate jewel heist and getting stabbed in the back by Clive (Conrad Coates), her once-faithful partner-in-crime. Upon receiving word that her sister is stuck on an island in a tropical storm and won't be able to catch a flight out for days, Cate reluctantly agrees to look after her nephew Parker and her niece Annie. But familial responsibilities quickly take a back seat to criminal scheming when Cate realizes that her sister's quaint little neighborhood is a virtual treasure trove just waiting to be mined by such a resourceful criminal as herself. But just as Cate begins to craft the perfect plan to take the locals for all they're worth something strange begins to happen. Could it be that the thief who once thrived on the chaos of the city is finally growing accustomed to small town life? As Cate reconnects with her friends and family while developing a playful relationship with handsome local sheriff Hank (Ty Olsson), she begins to wonder if it's finally time to give up her life of crime and as herself what really matters most in life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Some critics pigeonholed the made-for-TV melodrama Friends 'Til the End as a junior version of such theatrical features as All About Eve and Single White Female. A plain-looking, delusional college girl who calls herself Zanne Armstrong (Jennifer Blanc) goes to great lengths to befriend beautiful, popular coed Heather Romley (Shannen Doherty). Heather graciously allows the girl to enter her circle of friends, little suspecting that Zanne obsessed with "becoming" Heather, literally taking over her life and personality. The scheme is set in motion when Zanne joins Heather's campus band Dead Pink, and reaches a peak of sorts when the deranged girl manages to bed Heather's boyfriend--but the worst is still to come. Friends 'Til the End premiered January 20, 1997 on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Were it not based on a true story, this two-part TV movie could well have been dismissed as a grotesque nightmare. The story begins in 1988, when the Chicago home of Cindi and David Dowaliby (Shannen Doherty, Kevin Dillon) is invaded by person or persons unknown, who kidnap and murder their daughter Jacklyn while the couple sleeps. Once the crime is reported, the grief-stricken Dowalibys find themselves accused of their daughter's murder. The authorities are cruel and relentless, public opinion is hostile, the media is doggedly one-sided, and the family's very expensive lawyers more interested in their fee than in justice. Ultimately, Cindi is "cleared", but David is sentenced to a 45-year prison term--and both the couple's surviving child and Cindi's newborn baby are taken away from them. The rest of the film concerns Cindi's tireless and apparently futile battle to win back her children, secure her husband's release and restore the family's mud-splattered reputation. Originally telecast by CBS on February 25 and 27, 1996, Gone in the Night may indeed end on a small note of triumph, but by no means is the tragic situation completely resolved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this broadly satirical TV biopic, Shirley MacLaine pulls out all the stops as legendary cosmetics queen Mary Kay Ash. In Citizen Kane fashion, Mary Kay relates her rise to the top of the home-beauty industry to an inquiring reporter (Rachel Crawford), never allowing an opportunity pass to emphasize how many doors she has opened for the working women of America. Ultimately, however, Mary Kay's predominance is threatened by a much younger (and shriller) rival, Jinger Heath (Parker Posey), whose BeautiControl company takes an enormous bite out of Mary Kay's share of the market. Caught in the middle is a slightly off-center beauty named Lexi Wilcox (Shannen Doherty). Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay originally aired on October 6, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The frequently recurring title characters, employed by writer and director Kevin Smith as supporting players in several of his films, are put to rest with this comedy that focuses on them exclusively. Jay (Jason Mews) and Silent Bob (Smith) are a pair of stoned New Jersey slackers who have long been used as the templates for a pair of popular comic book heroes, Bluntman and Chronic. When they learn that their alter egos are to be turned into a major motion picture without their consent or compensation, the pair sets off for Hollywood to sabotage the production. Along the way, they encounter an ape, a nun (Carrie Fisher), the cast of Scooby-Doo, a Charlie's Angels-style band of sexy women who use them as stool pigeons in a diamond heist, and an unhinged wildlife ranger (Will Ferrell). They also meet up with some regulars from the Smith canon, including Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams), Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks, Jason Lee as Banky Edwards, Alanis Morissette as God, and actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in dual roles as themselves and two other familiar characters. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back co-stars numerous other recognizable performers in roles of various sizes, including Shannen Doherty, Jason Biggs, James Van Der Beek, Shannon Elizabeth, Tracy Morgan, Judd Nelson, Chris Rock, and George Carlin, among others. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

A baby kidnapping strikes the Ingalls family in this made-for-television movie which was based on the popular series Little House on the Prairie. In this story, Laura (Melissa Gilbert) and her husband Almanzo's (Dean Butler) baby, Rose, is kidnapped during the Christmas holiday season. The family goes in search of the child and finds a woman who stole the baby because she wanted a child of her own. In keeping with the show's family-values tone, they try to help the woman find a needy child at an orphanage. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

Owing his life to washed-up pugilist Leon Platt (Denny Miller), T.C. (Roger E. Mosley) enters a bare-knuckle boxing match, intending to use the prize money to save Leon and his daughter Ima (a pre-Beverly Hills 90210 Shannen Doherty) from being tossed into the street. Figuring that T.C. hasn't got a chance, Higgins summons aid from Magnum--who happens to be several thousand miles away on assignment in his home town of Detroit. Even so, Magnum is able to save the day with the eleventh-hour assistance of two celebrity benefactors. And wait until you see what sweet little Ima Platt does to Higgins' prize dobermans Zeus and Apollo! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide