I find the idea of Shannon Doherty utterly terrifying. I mean just looking at her face makes me feel a little ill. Considerably more so when she smiles. The woman was never much of a looker, and being a legendary bitch didn’t exactly help her cause much. Doherty was fired from the first version of 90210 after her diva behavior became intolerable – she was consistently late to work, hung over, etc. Basically she was the Lindsay Lohan of her day.

She and Jennie Garth supposedly butted heads more than any other cast mates, which once resulted in a fistfight. So the idea of the two pairing up again had Garth understandably nervous. And while she didn’t exactly sing Shannon’s praises, she did say that it wasn’t as terrible as it could have been. It wasn’t as bad as war, death, or terminal illness. So when compared to those things, it was alright.

Jennie Garth admits she was initially uneasy about working with Shannen Doherty again… But when she reunited with Doherty to shoot CW’s 90210 spin-off, she tells TV Guide, “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

“I’m not much of a small talker, and I don’t think she is either. I was a little nervous because I hadn’t seen or talked to her in 14 years,” she goes on. “Everyone was making it out to be such a big deal that I think we both fell prey to having that affect us.” With their squabbles behind them, Garth says, “I think it will be OK. We’re both grown women, both professionals. Once we were working, it felt like a good fit.”

Co-star Ryan Eggold, who plays Kelly’s new beau on the series, admits “everybody was on pins and needles and sort of waiting to see how they’d react. They started off kind of tentative, but by the time we were five takes in, they were giggling and seemed to be reconnecting,” he says.

Garth says she wishes she could reconnect with Tori Spelling, who recently quit the show over salary disputes. Fighting back tears, Garth tells TV Guide, “I know Shannen probably doesn’t share the feelings that I have for Tori, but I love Tori like my sister.” She says she is encouraging fans to launch a “Bring Back Donna Martin” campaign.

[From Us Weekly]

Tears? Really? Okay to be fair it’s not all that cheesy – I often find myself tearing up at the mention of Tori Spelling. Although that’s mostly because I’ve seen some recent pictures of Tori over-sharing her boobs and I have nightmares about what years of silicone implants combined with pregnancy can do to an otherwise lovely body part.

In other 90210 news, rumors are that the new show sucks. This is based wholly on the news that the CW network won’t be sending out any screeners of the show, thus leading everyone to believe it must be because it absolutely blows. Though there’s an equal likelihood it’s just because they don’t want the show all over the internet before it even airs. Because it’ll probably suck.

Here’s Jennie Garth at the 2008 CW Network Upfronts on May 13th. Images thanks to PR Photos.

I am probably the one person on the planet who is dreading the return of that awful teen soap “Beverly Hills 90210.” That show was a flaming pile of garbage the first time around. Don’t believe me? Watch one of the re-runs on Soapnet - I dare you to sit through an entire episode without feeling like you’ve permanently lost I.Q. points. It looks like the remake, or spin-off, has hit a snag. Tori Spelling, daughter of the original show’s producer, was supposed to reprise her dry-heave-inducing role as the troll-faced virgin, Donna Martin, alongside Shannen Doherty (quite possibly the worst actress in the world) as Brenda and Jennie Garth as Kelly. But when Tori found out her co-stars would be getting more money, she backed out, citing “timing reasons” as her excuse.

Insiders tell me that Tori was hired to reprise her role as fashion boutique owner Donna Martin for just “$10,000-$20,000″ per episode.

But then Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty were signed for “$35,000-$50,000″ a show. When Tori found out her former co-stars were getting paid way more than she was, she got pissed and demanded equal pay. But the network suits have refused. So now my sources tell me that Tori has pulled out of the series, which premieres with a 2-hour special on September 2nd. “She thought she deserved parity, and she’s got a point,” an insider explained to me.

That’s because, for some bizarre reason, Tori is a reality show ratings hit by Oxygen’s low standards. (Last Tuesday’s Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood was the most watched telecast in the history of that execrable women’s cable channel as 1.4 million viewers saw the episode where Tori gave birth to her 2nd child — which actually took place 5 months ago.) And Spelling wrote a bestselling book besides. Showing once again that it doesn’t pay to underestimate the terrible taste of the American public…

As for Tori, she has told the media only that the timing didn’t work out for her to appear in the 90210 pilot because she was giving birth. “So we’ll see what happens later in the season,” she said last week on CBS’ The Early Show. One insider tells me it wouldn’t be surprising if Tori and the show eventually agree to bring her onto 90210 as a November sweeps stunt. Hmm.

[From Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood]

What kind of world are we living in where having Tori Spelling appear on any show would be considered a sweeps stunt? I truly hope that nobody watches this show. But I am sure I’ll be proven wrong and nostalgic Gen-Xers hoping to recapture their 90s glory days of big sideburns, flannel shirts and bodysuits will flock to this crapfest. Not me- I’ll be watching “Mad Men.”

Picture note by Celebitchy: The new cast of 90210 is shown below at the “CBS TCA Summer 08 Party” on 7/18/08.
Credit: Nikki Nelson/ WENN. Tori Spelling is shown in the header when she was hosting at “Christian Audigier The Nightclub” at Treasure Island Hotel in Vegas on 8/1/08. She just had a baby so go easy on her. Credit: PRN/ PR Photos

Either this 90210 spinoff is going to be so legendarily awesome that the original cast members are just aching to get on the show, or the original cast members’ careers are in such abysmal shape that they’ll do anything to get on the spinoff. When Jennie Garth signed on, I thought it could go either way. But yesterday it was confirmed that Tori Spelling is also on board, and I think that makes it pretty clear exactly what kind of show this is going to be: the kind filled with desperate stunt casting.

Looks like Jennie Garth isn’t the only Beverly Hills, 90210 alum returning to her old zip code. Tori Spelling – who played Donna Martin – has been tapped to co-star in the new spin-off version of the ’90s hit teen drama, a source confirms to Usmagazine.com.

“She will be a recurring character,” the source adds. DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com first reported the news. “I am excited about it,” Spelling told Us in April when asked about the new version. “In some way, every show that followed 90210 was a remake of 90210,” she added. “For the fans’ sake, I am really happy for them.”

Spelling’s father Aaron created and produced the original series. Former Full House star Lori Loughlin has also signed on and The CW has also hinted that other original 90210 stars could be reprising their roles.

[From Us Magazine]

Just when I thought Tori Spelling couldn’t be more dumb and useless. Every show that followed 90210 was a remake in some way? So NYPD Blue, Friends, and Antique Roadshow then? I’m going to assume Tori’s as dumb as the characters she plays, and meant to say that every show of the self-indulgent teenage drama variety was a remake of 90210.

Apparently the original storylines are being drawn upon but updated a bit. I really hope they redo that episode where Brandon Walsh defies the school and daringly invites all the back kids from the inner city school to the Fall dance. At first there’s tension, but then they all mix it up to Brian Austin Green’s raps, and everything is A-OK. Oh, and whenever some outsider teases one of the gang for being over-privileged and going to Beverly Hills High, the character needs to reply – really indignantly – “Hey, I go to WEST Beverly.” And then walk away like he just proved his point.

Picture note by Celebitchy: A pregnant Tori Spelling is shown signing copies of “sTori Telling” on 3/14/08. Jennie Garth is shown at the PRISM Awards on 4/24/08. Thanks to PRPhotos.

I live in Europe, so I don’t watch American television yet, (although I’m trying to get JayBird to install one of those Slingbox devices so I can.) Right now I’m on “vacation” in the states, though, and my mother loves Dancing with the Stars and we watched a couple of episodes, fast forwarding through the results episode because they just drag that shit out as long as possible.

The show is quite entertaining, and it’s easy to see how people get hooked. When excellent dancer and Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan was eliminated in an upset last week, I suspected that she was involved with her partner, because of the way he was clinging to her and she called him “baby” all romantic-like. Sabrina and her partner, Mark Ballas, are indeed dating, with Sabrina confirming their romance to TVGuide, saying that “I always call him ‘Baby Marky.’ I absolutely love and adore him.” She also said they were going out on a date the next day. Sabrina and Mark were spotted out at Hollywood hotspot Hyde, and TMZ has video of a photographer asking them when they’re getting married, with Sabrina answering “August of 08.”

With all the attention and fame that comes with competing on the dance show, many c and d-listers are vying for a place. Tori Spelling is said to be anxious to appear next season, and to follow her 90210 cast mates, Jennie Garth and Ian Ziering’s, lead. The thing is, she’s also gunning for her husband, Dean McDermott, to be on the show, and since he’s only known as Mr. Tori Spelling, producers don’t want to take him on:

[Tori Spelling] is campaigning to be on next season’s Dancing with the Stars after seeing how it helped Beverly Hills 90210 pals Jennie Garth and Ian Ziering. “She is hoping it will open doors,” says an insider. “At the very least, she can earn some money from touring with the dancers after the show. She’s the breadwinner in her family and needs to keep her career alive.” There’s just one hitch - Tori has hinted that she wants her husband, Dean McDermott, on the show. The show’s producers “don’t want Dean at all,” adds the source.

[From Star Magazine, print edition, November 12, 2007]

I can see Tori appearing on the show, but she seems so gawky to me that you wouldn’t expect her to get the hang of it. Maybe it’s just her um, features, that give you that impression and she could be a surprisingly good dancer.

Jane Seymour and her partner were eliminated from last night’s Dancing with The Stars, with Jennie Garth also in the bottom two. Four couples remain on the show, Melanie B and Makshim, Helio Castroneves and Julianne, Jennie Garth and Derek, Marie Osmond and Jonathan, and Cameron Mathison and Edyta. Marie Osmond was absent from last night’s results show due to the death of her father. Jane Seymour also missed a results show in week two due to her mother’s death that day.

Nearly 50 million people watched the premiere of Dancing With The Stars this season, so you can see how the show appeals to minor celebrities like Tori.

Tori and Dean are shown on 9/28/07 in Vegas before Tori’s appearance with The Pussycat Dolls.