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Doherty, Cook Depart as Pilots Retool
(Thursday, May 26 08:55 AM)
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) It looks like Shannen Doherty's first starring role in a sitcom will have to wait.
Only a week after being introduced to advertisers as the star of UPN's new comedy "Love, Inc." -- and telling advertisers how excited she was to be part of it -- Doherty has been let go from the show. She's not the only actress to be axed, either: Among others, Rachael Leigh Cook and Sarah Clarke have been dropped from shows at FOX and NBC.
"Shannen is a terrific actress. We simply decided to take the show in a different creative direction," a UPN rep tells The Hollywood Reporter about the decision on "Love, Inc." Holly Robinson Peete, the show's other lead, will continue with the series, scheduled for Thursday nights this fall.
UPN also says that Sara Foster ("D.E.B.S."), who co-starred in the pilot for the network's midseason drama "South Beach," won't continue her role into the series.
At FOX, Cook ("Into the West," "She's All That") has been let go from the dramedy "Head Cases." In the pilot, she played a troubled young woman who begins a relationship with a lawyer (Chris O'Donnell) who's suffered a nervous breakdown.
Clarke ("24") and Leonor Varela ("Blade II") will both exit NBC's Jerry Bruckheimer drama "E-Ring." Both of their characters -- the wife of star Benjamin Bratt (Clarke) and a lieutenant colonel at the Pentagon (Varela) -- will undergo some revamping before being recast.
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UPN applies the feminine touch
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
Thu May 19, 6:21 AM ET
Shannen Doherty, Vanessa L. Williams and Denise Richards join the lineup at UPN, which unveils its new tagline, "Where the girls are," in a presentation today to advertisers that emphasizes a female-friendly push.
But the biggest attention-getter probably will be Everybody Hates Chris, as in Rock, a new show produced by the comedian that's loosely based on his life as a teenager growing up in Brooklyn in the early 1980s. Rock narrates but does not appear in the show; newcomer Tyler Williams plays "Chris."
Among current series, Veronica Mars returns, but the status of Taye Diggs' Kevin Hill is uncertain. And another celebrity-produced comedy, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith's All of Us, appears unlikely to return.
Though UPN's ratings are down slightly this season, the network is in a dead heat with rival WB, which has had bigger declines. America's Next Top Model remains UPN's top show, and it has abandoned male-skewing action and sci-fi dramas (including Star Trek: Enterprise) to focus on female viewers.
New UPN series:
•Everybody Hates Chris, in which the title character is bused to a faraway, mostly white middle school and navigates his strict parents as the eldest of three children.
•Love, Inc, a comedy starring Shannen Doherty (Beverly Hills, 90210; Charmed) as a "wingwoman" who helps men find dates.
•Sex, Lies and Secrets, a drama about six twentysomething friends, starring Richards and set in L.A.'s hip Silver Lake area.
•South Beach, as in Miami, a midseason drama about two pals, one of whom pursues his model ex-girlfriend (Williams). Jennifer Lopez is credited as a producer.
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Doherty stirs up trouble in new role
By John Crook
Zap2it
November 2, 2004
As vengeful Beverly Hills businesswoman Alexandra Hudson, Shannen Doherty is having a ball making life miserable for most of the other characters on "North Shore," the nighttime soap that returns to the Fox lineup Thursday.
Make no mistake, though, the actress says she is determined to keep all the melodrama in front of the cameras and out of her personal life.
"We sort of take it three episodes at a time," Doherty says of her open-ended guest-starring role. "Obviously they have stories in mind for the character through the end of the season, so I may wind up here in Hawaii through the end of January.
"But I don't want to be anywhere I am not wanted. I am very big on that. Life is just too short. If I feel that is starting to happen here, then I want to make a quick but graceful exit, because I have a lot of other things happening in my career. I am just too old for drama."
Provides 'celebrity jolt'
But not too old to add some much-needed spice to a series that has struggled to find a clear identity since its premiere in June. Doherty's arrival two episodes ago immediately gave "North Shore" the same sort of bracing celebrity jolt that Joan Collins brought to "Dynasty" or Heather Locklear added to "Melrose Place," two earlier soaps that managed healthy runs.
"People feel very emotional and connected to Shannen," says Bert Salke, one of the show's executive producers.
"They have grown up very loyal and invested in her as an actress."
"Shannen has the ability to play vulnerability and manipulation very well," adds Chris Brancato, another executive producer. "These two qualities are perfect for her role as the head of the hotel, and she brings a lot of layers and levels to the character."
Alexandra, Doherty's character, recently arrived in Hawaii with the stunning news that she is the half-sister of Nicole Booth (Brooke Burns). Their father, Walter (recurring guest star Christopher MacDonald), virtually abandoned Alexandra and her mother, now dead. The guileless Nicole was sympathetic at first, but with breathtaking speed Alexandra played her and Walter against each other and came out holding the controlling ownership in the posh Grand Waimea Hotel where the series is set.
Not stereotypical
In Thursday's episode, Alexandra moves to solidify her power base further, which includes breaking up Nicole and her handsome boyfriend, Jason (Kristoffer Polaha).
"When I agreed to play Alexandra, it was very important that the audience get to see where she was coming from," Doherty says. "She isn't a straight-out soap opera bitch.
"You have to be able to grasp the amount of pain she was in growing up without a father, and knowing that he didn't want her, and that her mother is now dead.
"Now, she's pretty much alone. She has struggled and achieved success on her own, but for Alexandra, that's not enough. She wants her dad, wants his approval. If that means doing what she has to do to get it, then she's gonna. But what she does comes from a lot of pain and vulnerability."
Doherty isn't just being coy when she says she can't commit to joining "North Shore" full time. She remains a producer on Sci-Fi Channel's hit prank show "Scare Tactics," although she was only too happy to relinquish the hosting chores to Stephen Baldwin after burning out on that gig.
She's also working with big-time mover-and-shaker Gavin Polone ("Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Gilmore Girls") on two series ideas, one of them a sitcom in which she would star.
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A note from an article on tvguide.com.
In other casting news, Shannen Doherty has agreed to do another three episodes of Fox's struggling sudser North Shore, upping her commitment to six episodes
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Doherty Delivers Drama to 'North Shore'
(Wednesday, September 15 05:05 PM)
By Daniel Fienberg
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) On Aug. 8, "North Shore" was a FOX summer soap trying desperately to find enough of an audience to stay afloat. On Aug. 9, FOX revealed that former "Beverly Hills, 90210" teen queen Shannen Doherty was joining the cast for at least three episodes with the possibility of a longer run. Just like magic, on Aug. 13 FOX announced that "North Shore" was getting a back-nine pick-up, the ultimate vote of confidence for a show whose fan base is devoted, if tiny.
Nobody is explicitly saying that "North Shore" is sticking around because of Doherty -- in fact, executive producer Bert Salke insists it was coming either way -- but even in discussions about the part, the actress knew what might be at stake.
"I think it had been casually mentioned to me," Doherty laughs.
The natural instinct, particularly if you're a wildly optimistic FOX executive, is to compare Doherty's arrival on "North Shore" to the moment Heather Locklear moved into "Melrose Place" and transformed what was a sluggish "90210" spin-off into brilliantly trashy institution. Certainly there appears to be some similarly bitchy DNA shared between Locklear's fiery Amanda Woodward and Doherty's Alexandra Hudson.
"We wanted what we sometimes call an 'engine' on these shows, to not only give an expected ratings jump and bringing more viewers to a show that has momentum, but also that is something that a story spins off on," Salke says. "She was just the perfect for people to spin around.
On Monday, Sept. 20, Alexandra arrives on the North Shore to surprise everybody with the revelation that she's Walter Booth's (Christopher McDonald) daughter and therefore Nicole's (Brooke Burns) sister. One can only imagine that this deeply buried secret will set off a few fireworks. But is Doherty comfortable with assuming the Locklear mantle as show-saver?
"No, I'm not. It's a huge amount of pressure," Doherty says nervously. "Heather Locklear is amazing and what she does for shows is terrific and it's big footsteps to follow in. I'm very comfortable with the fact that I have an amazing fan base that is just so loyal."
Although Salke and fellow showrunner Chris Brancato were aware of Doherty's reputation for being occasionally difficult, he praises Doherty's professionalism and says that the only concern was the delicate ecosystem of a new show.
"Chris and I have done a lot of shows and we learned long ago not to judge somebody on what you hear, but on what you know," he says. "Frankly the fear is not about somebody's reputation, but the fact of a 'star' coming on to a show that's getting its legs, where a group of people have been together, somewhat clustered in Hawaii, for four months and you add someone new who's probably a big personality to that dynamic. That's the fear."
The experiment seems to be working so far. In addition to snagging its back-nine order, "North Shore" has already signed Doherty for three additional episodes, bringing her run to six and counting.z
"I don't think they looked at it like me being a savior and I certainly don't look at it that way," she says. "My attitude is that I can't do this by myself. I cannot single-handedly pump up the ratings for this show. I realize that some people think I may be able to, but I can't. It takes a team."
Doherty is enjoying her Hawaiian vacation enough that she's already put her next project, a comedy in development with Gavin Polone ("Gilmore Girls"), on hold until 2006. After spending years playing characters like the oppressively angsty Brenda Walsh and the reliably responsible Pru Halliwell, Doherty relishes exploring Alexandra's dark motives.
"I've always had a father in my life and a mother in my life," she says. "I've never been what Alexandra is, a little bit of an orphan. I've always felt that love and support system around me and to play a character that didn't have it is such a departure from myself that it fascinated me."
How long Doherty will stay with the series remains open and having already left two successful shows in the midst of their runs, she acknowledges that she finds the TV schedule "a grind." She may ultimately leave that choice to others.
"I want everybody to be happy," Doherty says. "I want the network to be happy. I want the cast to be happy. I want everybody to want me here. I don't want to be someplace where I'm not wanted."
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Doherty Spices Up 'North Shore'
(Monday, August 09 02:43 PM)
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Hoping to borrow a successful move from the network's old playbook, FOX is welcoming back former "Beverly Hills, 90210" good girl Shannen Doherty as a "North Shore" bad girl.
Doherty, who recently left her gig hosting Sci Fi's "Scare Tactics," will begin a multi-episode story arc on Monday, Sept. 20. The former "Charmed" star will play Alexandra Hudson, the illegitimate daughter of hotel magnate Walter Booth (Christopher McDonald). Alexandra is sure to stir up tons of trouble with new-found sister Nicole (Brooke Burns) as soon as she hits the beaches at the Grand Waimea.
FOX obviously hopes that Doherty's arrival will goose the somewhat stagnant ratings for the sun-soaked summer soap opera, following in the footsteps of Heather Locklear's successful addition during the lackluster early days of "Melrose Place."
Certainly the show could use a boost. Through its first six episodes, "North Shore" is pulling in an average of 4.63 million viewers per week. FOX has ordered extra scripts beyond the show's initial 13-episode order, but the network isn't ready to commit to additional episodes. The possibility of Doherty's continued role on the show could provide incentive for FOX to extend the "North Shore" run.
However, for every successful Locklear Injection, there have been at least as many fizzled experiments, like The WB's unsuccessful attempt to welcome Carmen Electra to "Hyperion Bay" in 1999.
FOX already had mixed results earlier this year when "Beverly Hills, 90210" good guy Jason Priestley became a "Tru Calling" bad boy. Priestley's arrival had little impact on that show's ratings, but his presence reportedly gave the show a creative boost and helped to score a second season renewal.
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Doherty Lightens Up for New Sitcom
by Josh Grossberg www.eonline.com
Oct 7, 2003, 10:35 AM PT
We always knew deep down inside that Shannen Doherty was a good girl. Now she gets the chance to prove it--with her own TV show.
Looking to shed the "bad girl" persona that's dogged her since her Beverly Hills, 90210 days, Doherty has clinced a contract to produce and star in a sitcom, playing a young woman with a reputation for being stubborn and wicked, but who is really just a softie at heart, if a little misuderstood. Really.
Doherty's publicist, Leslie Sloan, says the untitled project is being developed by NBC-based production company Pariah TV, which is mining material from the actress' real-life exploits.
"The idea has some reference to her own life and her own reputation about a girl who's known for being tough and bad but actually is a lot softer and maybe smarter and nicer than people realize," Pariah co-head of production Jessika Borsickzky told the Hollywood Reporter.
Doherty's bad rap dates back to some diva-like behavior during her stint in the 90210. Stories of her wild off-screen behavior played out in the tabloids, and feuds with fellow castmates and producer Aaron Spelling led to her parting ways with Fox's hit prime-time soap after four seasons.
Doherty eventually smoothed things over with Spelling, and he offered her a starring role as one of three witchy women on the WB's Charmed. But tensions with costar Alyssa Milano resulted in Doherty exiting that series after three years.
Borsickzky, however, says she saw a different side to Doherty when she guest starred on The Ortegas, which Pariah is producing for Fox.
"She was very funny," Borsiczky told the Reporter. "We think that her charisma comes across a lot more with comedy than anything else. We think it's a great way to showcase her."
Since leaving Charmed, Doherty's passed the time hosting the Sci Fi Channel's candid camera-style reality series Scare Tactics and getting her personal life in order.
Doherty pleaded no contest to charges stemming from a December 2000 drunken-driving arrest and was sentenced to three years' probation, fined $1,500 and ordered to complete a work-release program.
A favorite of the tabloids for her tumultuous love life--including a quickie marriage to Ashley Hamilton, son of preternaturally tanned actor George Hamilton--Doherty tied the knot last year with movie producer Rick Solomon after another whirlwind romance. The couple split soon after, when Doherty discovered Solomon had taken up with party girl Paris Hilton. Neither Doherty nor Solomon filed for divorce, however, and, according to one tab report, have tried to patch things up.
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RUMOR!!! NOT SURE IF TRUE YET...
will check and update soon (October 2003) In talks to allow her image to be use on "Charmed" including the making of a Prue Halliwell doll and a picture to be placed on the set of the show and old footage of her to be used in flashback espiodes. Info from IMDB.com
It's Doherty for the defense
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Zap2it.com
Shannen Doherty has returned as host of the second season of Sci Fi Channel's Scare Tactics, a hidden-camera show that puts unsuspecting participants -- who have been nominated by friends or family -- in the middle of elaborate re-creations of scenes from horror and science-fiction films. Since her show's premiere earlier this year, Doherty has heard criticisms that it's cruel to subject folk to fake aliens, monsters and rampaging killers. "Despite what some people may think about it being mean," Doherty says, "we, in editing, make it look much worse than it actually is. It's the power of TV. "And we're not picking random people. It started as friends of the producers, friends of mine, now it's grown. Those people we pull pranks on, they're like, 'We had such a good time. We want to set up our friends.' " Beside, she wonders, why hasn't the hammer also fallen on Ashton Kutcher, who's hosting the second season of MTV's Punk'd, another hidden-camera prank show? "I keep getting asked about Ashton Kutcher," Doherty says. "How come his show's not getting as much controversy as mine? Those skits are gnarly. Justin Timberlake looked like he was about to die." In an early Punk'd episode, Timberlake thought the IRS was descending on him and taking away everything he owned -- including his dog -- because of tax-fraud allegations. "I was disgusted," says Alyssa Milano, Doherty's former Charmed co-star, who was once romantically linked to Timberlake. "I knew that they were going to do that to him, and I wanted to call him and ruin it so bad. My brother and I were saying, 'We should call him and tell him.' It's horrible. "He was crying. He was like, 'You're taking my dog?' You can totally see his face -- horrible." Doherty has a theory about why Punk'd doesn't get the same criticism as Scare Tactics -- one picks on celebs and the other doesn't. "Does that make it OK, if it's celebrities?" Doherty says. "Does the general public go, 'Oh, it's a celebrity, so it's no big deal.' It's really strange to me."
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'90210' Cast Returns to West Beverly
Tue, Apr 22, 2003 04:32 PM PDT
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Almost 10 years to the day they walked out of class shouting "Donna Martin graduates!," the cast of "Beverly Hills, 90210" is coming back to FOX for a reunion special.
Alas, Donna herself, Tori Spelling, isn't scheduled to take part.
Several other members of the original cast, including prodigal daughter Shannen Doherty, will be part of the special, which has the working title of "Beverly Hills, 90210: 10-Year High School Reunion." The special is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET Sunday, May 11.
While it would be good, campy fun to see a fictional episode about what Brandon, Dylan, Brenda and the rest of the West Beverly kids are up to, "Reunion" will instead be an interview special. In addition to Doherty, Jason Priestley, Luke Perry, Jennie Garth and Gabrielle Carteris -- all of the West Beverly Class of '93 -- and James Eckhouse and Carol Potter, who played Brandon and Brenda's parents, are scheduled to appear.
The teen characters graduated from high school in May 1993, hence the special's title.
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Doherty Embraces Her Reputation
Mon, Mar 31, 2003 02:13 PM PDT
by Jay Bobbin
Zap2it
She isn't living the "Charmed" life any longer, but Shannen Doherty is still involved in scary stuff.
The actress returns to weekly TV as host of -- and occasional participant in -- "Scare Tactics," a half-hour series debuting Friday, April 4, on Sci-Fi Channel. The show sets up unwitting people in elaborately staged situations fully intended to panic them, until they find out the joke is on them. In one segment, Doherty supposedly is kidnapped from a hotel room while interviewing a woman to be her new assistant; in another, a man at a firing range accidentally "kills" Doherty's uncle, played by an actor.
While most hosts of this type of show don't take an active role in the action, Doherty relishes it. "Originally," she explains, "I was hired to do just the wraparounds. The more we did and the more we watched the segments, everyone started thinking, 'This could be really interesting if Shannen got more involved.' They asked me if I would, and I said, 'Yeah.' With the firing range, it was set up that I was an investor in it. Of course, I was thinking, 'There is no way this is what I'd ever spend my money on' -- but hey, it's TV. Whatever."
Doherty got into the spirit of "Scare Tactics" fully by making one of her best friends a victim of the show. "That went tremendously," she reports gleefully. "My friend is a burly guy, very manly. In this particular case, he was the only one who was calm at the start; by the end, he was hysterically screaming, 'Get me out of this car. Let me out.' I showed him the tape recently, and he said, 'I can't believe this is going to air. I'm not going to tell anyone when it's on.'"
As with anyone who sets up somebody for "Scare Tactics," Doherty knows there's a risk of earning the person's wrath once the scare is over. "In all the segments I've been involved in, once everybody realizes what's gone on, they think it's hysterical," she says. "They're really happy to have been brought into it."
One notable exception is a woman who is suing the show's creator-producers, two actors and Sci-Fi Channel over a prank meant to convince her she was under alien attack. According to Doherty, the segment was taped a long time ago, and she thinks filing a suit just weeks before the show's premiere is a bit curious.
"I wasn't there for that one," she says, "but that's a little sad to me. Also, everybody signs releases. This is supposed to be all in good fun, but we're not going to air that segment, which to me is unfortunate. It was by far one of the best pranks we did, but I think we do have to respect a person's privacy when all is said and done."
Doherty calls her "Scare Tactics" role "the easiest, best job anybody could ever have." She finds it an ideal way to be a regular TV presence again without many of the demands she faced on hourlong dramas such as "Charmed" and "Beverly Hills, 90210."
"I didn't necessarily want to do another TV show," she says, "but if I did, it had to be something I could feel connected to really powerfully. At the same time, you want a paycheck coming in. 'Scare Tactics' came up, and I only have to work six days out of the year on it. That's just for the hosting, then I have the option to be involved in the pranks. It leaves me plenty of time to do other things."
Doherty realizes her image of being unpredictable works for "Scare Tactics," but she admits she's not particularly a fan of unscripted shows. "I'm pretty disappointed with network TV right now," she says. "I was flipping through the channels recently, and I came across that show 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here' During it, there were commercials for two other reality shows, and all I could think was, 'What is happening here?' Either there is going to be a huge backlash, or everybody's going to start watching channels like HBO and Showtime and TNT."
"I don't really think of 'Scare Tactics' as a reality show," she adds, "in the same way I don't put 'The Jamie Kennedy Experiment' in the reality-show category. Because he's on a network, he can't get away with as much as we can. We're sort of the extreme side of that. As long as nobody's getting hurt and everybody's having a good time doing it, it's something to be proud of. It's also fun to watch."
Since her friends now know what she's up to with "Scare Tactics," Doherty notices many of them being a lot more cautious around her. "I love to go to Las Vegas," she says, "so whenever I say, 'Hey, I'm going to Vegas, anybody want to come?' they're all like, 'No. Absolutely not.' I tell them we're not filming anything, but they still won't go."
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Sci Fi's 'Scare Tactics' Faces Lawsuit
Mon, Feb 17, 2003 04:44 PM PDT
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - A hidden-camera show called "Scare Tactics," scheduled to premiere in the spring on the Sci Fi Channel, is facing a lawsuit.
And no, it doesn't involve host Shannen Doherty.
A Los Angeles woman named Kara Blanc is suing the cable channel, "Scare Tactics" creators Scott Hallock and Kevin Healey and two actors who took part in the stunt in which Blanc was unwittingly involved, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Blanc claims she suffered physical and psychological trauma as the result of witnessing a violent encounter with a "space alien" -- one of the performers on the show -- that she believed to be real.
"Scare Tactics" puts a supernatural twist on the "Candid Camera" premise by staging events like alien abductions or hauntings and films the reactions of the people who aren't in on what's happening. Hidden-camera shows typically film a stunt, then get permission from the "marks" after the fact; if someone refuses to be shown on camera, the footage is scrapped.
In her lawsuit, filed Friday (Feb. 14), Blanc alleges she was told she'd won an invitation to a party at a desert resort. On the ride there, however, the car broke down and she was told by the people with her -- actors on the show -- to run away from an alien who was about to attack them.
Blanc says she suffered injuries and psychological trauma that hospitalized her several times and caused her to miss work. She's asking for damages and an injunction that would stop the show's producers from "surreptitiously recording the traumatized reactions of any other persons in the future."
Sci Fi Channel representatives couldn't be reached for comment.
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Some Tidbits From Ted Casablanca's column on eonline.com
10-31-02 ---- Shannen Doherty, seated up front in the packed place(Spanish Kitchen on La Cienega). Proving you can keep a fab figure and still ingest, S.D. shoveled in the calorific chow with gusto. Enjoying a girls night out with two friends, the rumored single sass-pot simply did not seem to want any attention as she munched and gabbed with her purty head down. Dressed in a classy black jacket, Ms. D. appeared miles from heartbroken, trust me.
11-21-02 -----Shannen Doherty, scowling in a booth at the Palms' eatery Little Buddha. Joined by a few pals, none of whom was her newest b-whatever, S.D. sported a dark tank and a matching mood. Killer bod, mind you. As the group gabbed, S.D. sat sullenly, displaying little interest in both the food on her plate and the conversation. Bad night with lady luck, I'm sure.
10-24-02 ---- (At Carousel of Hope Ball, which benefits the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes) More up to the goblin theme at hand was the usually mum Shannen Doherty, who dwelled a bit on the negative side of fame. Flushed from the chilly night bit looking hot in a subtly sequined Badgley Mischka gown, Hell-Ay's quick-tempered honey filled me in on what really creeps her out: working the red carpet.
"This was, like, an insane [press] line," S.D. muttered with a long sigh. "People were yelling my name so aggressively and kind of in a rude way. I felt like a deer caught in headlights."
Darlin', aren't you used to this nuttiness?
"It's really overwhelming, because you don't want to just stand there for five minutes, and that's what they want," Ms. D. explained with a hint of shiver. "I get, like, the shakes and nervous. I'm still sick to my stomach. It's frightening."
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Shirley MacLaine Stars As May Kay
Fri Oct 4, 1:58 PM ET
By FRAZIER MOORE, AP Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - In "Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay," Shirley MacLaine stars as the real-life, larger-than-life cosmetics queen Mary Kay Ash, who 40 years ago brought a revivalist's zeal to direct marketing while giving her saleswomen a self-esteem makeover.
Part of what fired them up were the 30-room pink house, the pink Cadillacs and other flashy symbols of Mary Kay's success. But even after building her billion-dollar Dallas-based empire from scratch as a middle-age single mother, she hit a few rough spots.
"Hell on Heels" catches up to Mary Kay late in life, when she faces a challenge from a direct-sales cosmetics upstart, BeautiControl, run by younger, hipper Jinger Heath (played by Parker Posey).
Will Mary Kay and her housewife disciples (including rising saleswoman Lexy Wilcox, played by Shannen Doherty) get their makeup smeared by BeautiControl? This rollicking portrait, airing on CBS Sunday at 9 p.m. EDT, tracks the battle royal with humor and affection.
Mary Kay is a role MacLaine seems born for (or, considering her belief in reincarnation, would "reborn" be the better word?).
"I guess I like playing those Texas women," says MacLaine, chatting with a reporter at her hotel on Wednesday. "For me, Mary Kay is right up there with Aurora Greenway" ? her Oscar-winning role in the 1983 hit "Terms of Endearment."
But until she was approached to star in "Hell on Heels," MacLaine had never heard of Mary Kay Ash.
Then she read Mary Kay's motivational books and screened films of her rousing appearances at company seminars.
"I thought: `I've got to play this woman!'"
She shot the film in July, savoring Mary Kay's taken-from-life declarations such as: "P-and-L means more than Profit and Loss ? it also means People and Love."
"Spiritualism and materialism ? she put them together," MacLaine says admiringly. "She honestly believed, and said so, that God was working through her. She would have these seminars and they would all bow their heads in prayer and she would say, `Lord, help us find our territory!'"
As Mary Kay claimed to channel the Lord, so MacLaine apparently channeled Mary Kay.
She underwent a physical transformation to embody Mary Kay's "dress mah best" creed. Her own red hair vanished under Mary Kay's huge white-blond wigs while, still the gamine at 68, she was masked by Mary Kay's makeup regimen.
"I can't sit in the (makeup) chair for longer than 12 minutes," says MacLaine with a wry smile. "But for Mary Kay, I sat there a half-hour. And they still had to hurry.
"But that's not what it's about. It's about being true to the character. And I think she liked what I was doing."
Chances are, MacLaine is right, but it won't be easy to determine for sure. The 83-year-old Ash died Thanksgiving Day 2001.
"She died last November and I played her eight months later. I felt her soul still hovering around," says MacLaine, a sort of matter-of-fact mystic. "It was almost as though she knew the film was being made and that she was being played by me. So I kind of got out of my own way and let her play herself through me.
"You know how actors say, `I like to inhabit the character'? Well, I like the characters to inhabit me."
MacLaine, a career multi-hyphenate, counts among her many pursuits that of author, and, in books like the best-selling "Out On a Limb," she has written about her spiritual quest ? and her belief that she has lived many lives before this one.
Small wonder, then, that her New Age explorations would serve her as an acting tool.
"Sometimes even accomplished actors are asked to play a part but don't think they can," she says. "They go to an acting teacher who puts them in a meditation, and they bring up some personal experience that's commensurate with the script they think they don't know how to do. Then they realize they've drawn that script to THEM!"
Isn't that what actors call "sense memory"?
"Yeah," she replies, "but how far back do the senses go?" Way before this life, is what she believes.
In this life, at least, MacLaine broke into show business as a dancer. Her first films, in the mid-1950s, include Hitchcock's "The Trouble with Harry" and the all-star spectacle "Around the World in 80 Days."
Even then, while lacking words to verbalize it, "I understood there was another dimension besides the one that you could prove in scientific terms." (Not so for younger brother Warren Beatty, whose attitude she sums up this way: "Thump on it" ? she raps on the coffee table in front of her ? "and if I can hear it, I believe it.")
These days, MacLaine runs a Web site to explore spiritual issues. She's writing screenplays and stars in a CBS miniseries, "Salem Witch Trials," which will likely air this season.
And though her health is "very good," she reports, "I'm looking forward to what's on the other side." She smiles her pixyish smile. "But it isn't gonna happen for a long time, I don't think ? somewhere just this side or the other of 100.
"I think I've still got a lot to do."
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FROM MEDIAWEEK.COM
On the WB, the return of Shannen Doherty in 2002 movie Portrait of Murder scored a 2.5/ 4 -- 19 percent ahead of UPN's repeat combination of Enterprise (#6, 2.2/ 4) and WWE Divas (#6, 2.0/ 3). Over at PAX, repeats of Candid Camera (0.8/ 1), Touched by an Angel ( news - Y! TV) (1.4/ 2) and Diagnosis Murder (1.6/ 3) were all at typical overnight levels.
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Shannen did a wonderful job, hopefully all of u have seen the movie and loved it as much as I did, great ending :-) I won't give anything away so u will have to watch it to find out what happened. The movie is listed on IMDB as The Rendering if u are wondering why it isn't on her list there. I sent them an update to what it said when it was on tv as the title.
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Sci Fi Channel 'Scares' Doherty for reality show
Thu Jun 27, 4:01 AM ET
Jim McConville
NEW YORK (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Sci Fi Channel is getting into TV's hidden-camera reality game show buisness with "Scare Tactics," a half-hour show hosted by "Beverly Hills, 90210" alumna Shannen Doherty to launch in the fall.
Sci Fi has placed a 13-episode order with producer Hallock Healey Entertainment for the show, which will launch in October as a weekly primetime weekday series.
Created by Scott Hallock and Kevin Healey, who served as executive producers of NBC's summer series "Spy TV," the show is billed as a sci-fi version of "Candid Camera." The show will secretly film pranks inspired by sci-fi movies with setups that will run the gamut from haunted houses to alien abductions.
"Scare," which hasn't yet been given a time slot, is part of Sci Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer's strategy to broaden the network ( news - external web site) audience with shows that will also appeal to the non-sci-fi junkie.
"It's to throw out a wider net," Hammer said. "To bring in those people who are interested in reality shows but are willing to suspend belief and to have fun."
Hammer said "Scare" is one of the first fruits of its two-year development plan to come up with what she describes as "alternative reality" series.
"We're finally getting some of these series on the air," Hammer said.
Other broad-based sci-fi series in development include "Starport Authority," a scripted comedy that's a sendup to reality TV about the day-to-day grind of futuristic Starport authority beat cops.
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And don't those dangerous curves ahead belong to one of my all-time-fave party-pretties, Shannen Doherty? Darlin', indeed they do.
The recently wed Ms. D. slipped into the soiree in more ways than one. In a skimpy black job, S.D. propped her 7-Up-and-something-empowered puss royally upon a tuffet. Hollywood's bad gal was surrounded by a friendly bunch of White House reporters as she passed the night ordering up shots for her newfound print pals.
While Doherty's entourage whispered nervously in the background, the festive S.D. bummed cigs and gabbed about G.B.'s "amazing comic timing" (yes, Shannen votes Republican). Even more interesting were the gal's latest career musings:
"I wouldn't go back to Charmed for a million dollars an episode," she boldly proclaimed while brandishing her newly acquired diamond ring (quite the dazzler).
The twice-married lady continued to tell her newfound confidantes that she's taking a break from acting, especially now that she's with a "normal, non-acting type of person."
Mr. Normie, for the record, just happens to be Rick Solomon, indie producer and middleweight boxer. Okay. I thought Shannen-doll meant an accountant type, but I guess that would have been pushing it.
The outspoken performer certainly was in a mood to push the partying, such the surprise. Tiring of the Ministry's officious surrounds, the 31-year-old babe invited her fellow frolickers to a suite at the Washington Hilton across the street (so say the invitees), where Ms. D. was staying.
From Ted Casablanca's E!Online section dish, dirt & juicy bits May 9, 2002
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Our fave party gal, dressed in a mucho revealing vintage crocheted dress, started shimmying down as soon as Summer took the stage. And it wasn't long before T.R.'s tablemate Shannen Doherty joined the hip-shaking display with her delish 'n' fresh hub-unit, Rick Solomon, whose hard bod didn't leave Ms. D.'s side for a sec.
From Ted Casablanca's E!Online section dish, dirt & juicy bits May 16, 2002
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Guess who came to dinner
Mon May 6, 8:57 AM ET
Ann Oldenburg USA TODAY
WASHINGTON -- Security guards pushed back the crazed throng of black-tie guests who had suddenly turned into drooling fans.
Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne had arrived.
Saturday's annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner was a dressed-up Ozzfest with everyone from Sam Donaldson to Donald Rumsfeld to Dr. Ruth Westheimer caught up in the buzz about the hot MTV show star and rocker.
''It's a bit overwhelming,'' said Sharon, laughing. Said Ozzy of life these days, ''It's a whole new world to me.''
The stars of The Osbournes were the guests of Fox News' Greta Van Susteren.
President Bush (news - web sites) (or at least his speechwriters) knew he couldn't ignore the phenomenon at table 168. In opening his remarks, he addressed the 2,000 guests: ''Washington power brokers, celebrities, Hollywood stars, Ozzy Osbourne.'' At that point, Ozzy stood on his chair, arms raised, fists high to wild applause.
''Might have been a mistake,'' added Bush, shaking his head and smiling.
Bush moved on from Osbourne to a slide show of silly photos of himself and his dogs in the White House. There also was one of Vice President Cheney, who appeared to be urinating on the door of the Oval Office.
''Dick, I hope you're not doing what it looks like you're doing,'' Bush quipped.
Drew Carey, the official entertainment of the night, followed Bush and mentioned Osbourne, too. ''Ozzy, what's up, bro?'' Then he said, ''Ozzy and the president have a lot in common: Both are family men, both partied too hard when they were younger (Bush smiled), half the time you can't understand a word they're saying, and they can't make a move without their wife's approval.''
Carey, who recently had laser surgery on his eyes and was almost unrecognizable without his trademark black-rim glasses, continued with cracks about Earth Day and patriotism, then said, ''Ozzy. $20 million, man. That's barely gonna pay for your kids' therapy!''
After the dinner, the elite chosen walked to next door's exclusive party thrown by Bloomberg News. Sally Field, Apolo Ohno, Dana Delany, Glenn Close, Christie Brinkley, Shannen Doherty and Harrison Ford mingled with Wolf Blitzer, Connie Chung, Paula Zahn and other journalists.
Close's right arm was thickly wrapped in an Ace bandage; she said it was the result of falling off her horse during a jumping accident. But she seemed to be having a great time. ''I think it's wild, not the usual crowd.''
Osbourne was still the most sought-after guest. Close chatted with him and giggled afterward. ''He wanted my Percocet!'' and held up her hurt arm.
Ford shook hands with him. What does he make of all the hoopla surrounding the Osbournes? ''I think what everybody else thinks. It's goofy.''
How did Ozzy feel about the night?
''It's (bleep) blowing my mind!'' he said in classic Ozzy form. And he said about Bush's remarks: ''I'm honored.''
Said Sharon: ''What can you say? It's the most incredible thing that he would even mention Ozzy.''
And Ozzy, when asked if he was ready for another season of the show, said, ''Yeah!''
Then he turned to Sharon, ''Can I have a drink? Please?''
''Just one,'' she said. ''You're going to fall down.''
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Shannen will be 31 on April 12th HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHANNEN!!!
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Ted Casablanca's column on eonline.com February 7, 2002
Shannen Doherty, showing her softer side at the happiest place on earth, Disneyland. Along for the ride were a seven-year-old cutie and (fully grown) new hottie-hubby Rick Solomon in a black sock hat. S.D. threw a little weight around, and her group jumped to the front of the line for Pirates of the Caribbean. Yep, ex-90210 status still comes with perks.
