TCA-Shannen Doherty's Oxygenated Tears

The critics were treated to real Shannon Doherty tears at Oxygen’s panel. Shannon’s got a new show on the women’s network called Breaking Up With Shannon Doherty, in which she helps unhappy couples (daters, friends, coworkers, etc.) put the kibosh on their relationships.

So of course the critics swooped in with the obligatory "are you really a bitch" questions. Shannon was calm at first, explaining that even though "everyone thinks I’m a really, really strong woman who would have no problem breaking up with someone," it’s not true. Welling up with tears, she went on to say that it "hurts a lot to read" the stuff that’s written about her. And it not only hurts her but it also hurts her mom, she says, who was there with her today.

"Do I think there’s a misconception out there? Yes, 100%," she said, allowing, "Did I play into that in the beginning? Yes."

Pauvre Shannon. Her show actually looks decent. Well, I do tend to favor umm…low-brow reality, so maybe I’m the demo they’re going after, but the look on the face of the schmuck Shannon dumped in the three-minute clip they showed us? Classic. Dude turned beet-red for two seconds…before going ahead and asking Shannon out on a date.

After soldiering through question after question about whether she actually gives two hoots about the subjects she breaks up for ("yes") and why, of all people, she’s qualified to host a relationship show ("I think it’s kind of obvious"), Shannon walked out in a huff saying she knew from the beginning that the panel was going in the wrong direction. "This happens every time," she huffed.

By Anne Becker