Expert: Carmen Curtis - 8/22/2008

Question
Hello Carmen, I hope you can help me with this. I'm currently watching the reruns of the show in my country, and I'm trying to understand why the character of Brenda was so unpopular back then. I guess it has to do with Shannen's behaviour issues but that doesn't excuse all the hate about the character. I mean Brenda wasn't the typical soap opera bitch. She was kind of rebellious against their parents but you can't call her evil or manipulative. She was betrayed by the people she trusted most and yet she was cosidered as the bad girl.In my opinion she was one of the best-written characters and definitely more interesting than her boring and predictable brother and her pretentious best friend. After her departure the show started to fade out.
I know all this is subjective but any help would be nice.
Thanks.

Answer
Hi Billy,
This is a great question! I never really understood the Brenda hatred either. Yes, Shannen Doherty as a person had several attitude problems on the set, but as you point out, that is not the same as the character. Brenda was definitely blunt with a lot of the other characters and always stood up for herself, calling Kelly a "bimbo" and being very sharp with Dylan on numerous occasions. I think some viewers thought she was whiny and didn't like how she handled the Dylan breakups. She definitely was not like a Donna, always trying to be nice and please everyone. However, Brenda usually was only mean in response to being hurt by her so-called friends, which seemed justified. I suppose somehow Shannen's reputation got intertwined with Brenda and viewers got confused. So, I guess there's no easy answer to your question.

I hope this little insight helps! Have fun watching the reruns.
Carmen