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AaronMichaelGordon.com: Voice of Degeneration
On "The Return of Brenda Walsh & A Better Next Move For Shannen Doherty."
Let's get this right out of the way from the start. I'm a ShanDo fan.

Seriously.

There are many reasons why, but I think it all boils down to the theme of survival. Shannen Doherty is a survivor in show business. Moreover, she's not a 'survivor' like people with the last name 'Spelling' or 'Sheen' are. She's a kid from nowhere who's been shot to the moon, shot by the press, shot down by the press, and keeps on tickin'.

That's worth an extraordinary amount of respect.

Along the way, she's been idolized, demonized, glamorized and villified. She's done some brilliant work, some very popular work, some so-bad-its-awesome work...and some utter crap.
 
She's been written off so many times, the inkwell has run dry on snarky sarcasm.

And yet, like the awesome Stephen Sondheim song, Shannen Doherty can gloat and smile and sing, "I'm Still Here."

Heck, look at her resume. She never went away. There's a continuous block of work from 1981-2008. That's damn astonishing, for any actor, let alone Shannen Doherty.

So why do I have mixed feelings about her five-episode 'iconic' return to her old zipcode?
 
On the one hand, you can't blame the CW here. The original 90210 basically became utter crap (instead of angsty, enjoyable crap,) when ShanDo left the building. The buzz on their remake launched into the stratosphere when she signed up.

...but this needs to be a limited engagement for Shannen. We need to see Brenda, love her, and move on. Let's leave the past in the past, shall we? 

And give Shannen Doherty a damn series already! Seriously. Clearly, we're all waiting for the next series that ShanDo can rock out.  Alas, it wasn't "North Shore." 

Yet, whether or not she stays on 90210 or moves on to her next movie-of-the-week...or in fact, gets her deserved series (and career vindication,) Shannen's a survivor. And that's why we're all tuning in, really. To see this chick survive, against all odds, Garths and Milanos. 

You go, girl.  

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Posted by Aaron Michael Gordon at
8/26/2008 4:47 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
On "Seeing A Modern Classic: Body Heat."
You know, when I was in Vermont, one of my friends fessed up to not seeing the utterly brilliant film, Body Heat. From a ...
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Posted by Aaron Michael Gordon at
6/3/2008 2:22 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
On "How Even The Perfect Day Can Be Ruined By Michina Saeta."
It was a wonderful Sunday afternoon in the District. I had tumbled out of bed around 12:00, still groggy from the effects of the previous ...
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6/2/2008 12:04 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
On "Apples & Oranges: How Time Magazine Attempted To Clump Carter and Bush Together."
You know, normally I love Time Magazine. It's a nice, unbiased slice of life I can digest as I move my bowels each and ...
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6/2/2008 9:47 AM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
On "Becoming A Vermonter."
OK, so I journeyed back to Vermont for my second time as an adult (went skiing as a child in Killington.) And now I can ...
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5/28/2008 4:21 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
On "Peak Oil, Peaks Melting, And Putting Our Heads In The Sand."
You know, I have to give it up to America.

We, the people, held out on curbing gas use until it hit around $3.61 a ...
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Posted by Aaron Michael Gordon at
5/8/2008 11:14 AM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
On "Being Four Minutes to 50."
I have to get this right out of the way. I abhore the new Madonna song, "Four Minutes." Having said that, I adore her new ...
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4/23/2008 1:11 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
On The Trippy Badness of 'Event Horizon.'
Ever since Ridley Scott's "Alien," movie studios have been trying to capture the intensity and brilliance of that particular haunted house in space. Most of ...
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Posted by Aaron Michael Gordon at
3/29/2008 5:34 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
On "Bringing Your Child To Work."
OK...at some point in the recent past, we, the people, decided that it would be great if parents could bring their children to work. Shit, ...
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Posted by Aaron Michael Gordon at
3/21/2008 7:01 PM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
On "The Missing Storyline of Project Runway."
For me, "Project Runway" is the gold standard of reality television. To celebrate the creative impulse through people who must possess basic skills to begin ...
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Posted by Aaron Michael Gordon at
2/19/2008 4:09 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)