television's favorite bad girl, returns with a new series on Oxygen tonight: "Breaking Up With Shannen Doherty."
The actress ("Beverly Hills, 90210," "Charmed") is notorious for her own busted relationships and on-set behavior, and now she's trying to help others who are perhaps more reticent than her public persona would suggest. Wanna dump that barnacle of a boyfriend? Just call Shannen! She'll do it for you.
Oxygen actually sneaked the series premiere on the air last week after the season finale of "The Janice Dickson Modeling Agency" and will air a new episode tonight at 10, repeating the "Breaking Up" premiere at 10:30.
In that episode, a nice TV journalist named Tamara wanted to dump boyfriend of a year Steven. Shannen watches them dine together and is appalled when he calls another woman "hot" in front of Tamara ("Oh, you are rude!" Shannen says while watching a hidden camera, closed circuit feed of the dinner from a nearby room).
Tamara excuses herself to go to the bathroom and Shannen swoops in, presenting Stephen with a pre-recorded breakup message Tamara has taped.
"Yeah, you're really done," Shannen says, a smile on her face.
"You're a lot hotter in person than you are on TV," Stephen replies.
Doherty said she doesn't really like reality shows, but "Breaking Up" seemed different.
"It felt kind of organic," she said after a press conference in Pasadena, Calif., last month. "Of course, I'm going to go and help women and give them an honest, objective opinion."
Her own dating life has been in a bit of a drought lately.
"I've had one date in the last year-and-a-half, and it didn't go so well," she said. "I'm not a casual dater. I go from relationship to relationship. It's not really a big deal to be without a guy. I've set the bar higher."



And now for something completely different... "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fans should check out this "Buffy"-"Facts of Life" mash up.
First Published: August 22, 2006, 4:00 a.m.