The Brief

Shannen Doherty could narrow her eyes and set her jaw with the best of the legendary divas. She could end a confrontation scene with the line, "I hate you both! Never talk to me again!" and storm off, and it made you want to throw your hands in the air and yell, "YEAH! GET 'EM!" She could also cry over a broken heart, nervously flirt, or defiantly pop off on adults who just didn't understand.

Man, she was so much fun.

Doherty, who died at 53, almost ten years after she was first diagnosed with breast cancer, was a child actor, most notably on Little House on the Prairie. She was in Heathers in 1988, which is a bright spot on any résumé. But she became an icon as Brenda Walsh on Beverly Hills, 90210, one of the biggest hits of the early '90s and the spark for many teen soaps that came later.*

The show debuted in 1990 when Shannen Doherty was 19. Its premise was that Brenda and her twin brother Brandon (Jason Priestley) moved out to Beverly Hills from Minnesota (apparently the most not-California state the writers could think of) to attend high school with the wealthy and beautiful. Brenda was our heroine and did all the heroine things: falling in love with "bad boy" Dylan McKay (Luke Perry), learning to fit in with rich blonde friends Kelly (Jennie Garth) and Donna (Tori Spelling), surviving a robbery, losing her virginity, being scared she was pregnant. The usual.

The show ran for ten seasons, but Brenda only stayed for four. As Doherty and 90210 both became popular, stories circulated about her being difficult on set, and Brenda's own sometimes obnoxious behavior (the creation of writers!) began to curdle. The line between Brenda and Shannen blurred, and a noisy population of people decided to hate them both. In fact, they began to treat the two as one person. By the time Doherty was 22, there was an entire article in the L.A. Times about the anti-fan club for people who hated Doherty/Brenda, and their newsletter, and the telephone tip line they set up to collect any nasty gossip about her that anybody cared to dump out. (Sad that the phrase "touch grass" was not invented early enough for people who set up telephone tip lines about celebrities they disliked.) She had reported feuds on set, the stories escalated, and she left.

Brian Austin Green, Shannen Doherty and Ian Ziering of BH 90210 speak during the Fox segment of the 2019 Summer TCA Press Tour at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 7, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California.

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The show, while sometimes fun, was never as good without her. Never. Love you, Val, but no.

A few years later, she was cast in the sister-witches show Charmed, also from Aaron Spelling, the megaproducer behind 90210. (Apparently, whatever people may not have liked about her, they were okay with her helping them make money.) The cycle repeated: she was popular, then there were reports of difficulties on set, then she left. Doherty kept working, but she was never the big deal she had been during those years in the early '90s.

367898 Alyssa Milano, Holly Marie Combs, Shannen Doherty from the tv show "Charmed".

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She announced her breast cancer diagnosis in 2015. And in November of last year, almost four years after she announced that her cancer had reached stage 4, she started a podcast called Let's Be Clear with Shannen Doherty. She talked about cancer. Jason Priestley came on. Tori Spelling came on. Holly Marie Combs from Charmed came on. Kevin Smith -- who directed her in Mallrats -- came on. Less than a month ago, she ran a conversation with Katherine Heigl, who is another famous supposedly "difficult on set" actress, and perhaps one of only a few people who could understand the existence of an "I hate you" club. Doherty just did not quit, did not go away, did not become quiet.

It's hard to talk about her impact because the kind of TV star Shannen Doherty was really doesn't exist anymore. To capitalize on 90210's popularity, Fox ran 22 episodes in the first season, then 28 in the second, 30 in the third, and 32 in the fourth. There was just so much work in those years. Brenda wanted to become an actress. She went to Mexico with Dylan against her parents' wishes. She moved back to Minnesota and then back to Beverly Hills. She got involved in animal rights activism -- which was Doherty's passion as well. She almost got married in Vegas! She won the lead in the college production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof! She pretended to be French! She pretended to be a Brooklyn diner waitress! This is part of how actors become admired and indelible: from the sheer volume of exposure. Imagine a live-action prime-time hour-long drama series in 2024 that has a new episode for more than 60 percent of the weeks in a given year. (They stayed on that 32-episode pace for several seasons after she left.) It was just a different universe.

The line between a firecracker and an arsonist can be razor-thin in the public imagination. Between "outspoken" and "difficult," between "feisty" and other words that haunt practically every woman who's ever said no to anybody about anything in a situation where it really mattered. I don't know what it was like to work with her -- or any of her colleagues, for that matter. Was it worse than lots of other college-aged kids would have been with hundreds of people relying on them week after week after week? I don't know. I just know what it was like to watch her work, and it was very, very good.

There is a very plausible argument that without Shannen Doherty, I would not be in this job. She made 90210 work, 90210 and its recap culture begat Dawson's Creek and its recap culture, and that begat Television Without Pity, where I first wrote for money.

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From demogorgons clasping onto a white truck to a decibel reader device, much of the props in Stranger Things were designed with the intention to feel vintage and authentic.

Much of that is thanks to Shane Dzicek, a special effects designer based out of Burbank. Beyond Stranger Things, Dzicek worked on the Faztalker device in the most recent Five Nights at Freddy’s film, the jets on Top Gun: Maverick and the Roomba-esque vacuum cleaner shoes in Hocus Pocus 2.

LAist’s Julia Paskin talked with Dzicek about working on this latest season of Stranger Things and what it’s like to design special effects in the age of AI.

The process of designing the props in “Stranger Things”

Julia Paskin: What can you share on this date in terms of anything that you worked on in the new season?

Shane Dzicek:  One of the things that I was excited to work on was a device that Steve actually has in the squawk van. It's this great device that counts from zero to 99.

 I put in an alpha numerical display. Back in the ‘80s, they might have used different tech…And the original one weighed like 35, 40 pounds. So I hollowed the ones that we remade from scratch. So that way, Steve [Harrington] could have this thing with him and not have to worry about the weight.

A screengrab from the "Stranger Things" season 5 trailer. Special effects designer Shane Dzicek created the decibel system device to the right of Joe Keery's character Steve Harrington.

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Julia Paskin: In the trailer, there's the truck with demogorgons on top of it. And you did some work on that. Can you tell us about that as well?

Shane Dzicek:  Murray [Bauman] was driving the truck. [The actors inside] need to be able to act. They need to have cameras right there, so you can't always have this all strapped on a big truck or on a process trailer moving down the road. So we built rigs that we can move the trucks around [and] be able to do any type of heavy riding, if there's big bumps they gotta go over, if you gotta move and flip the truck over any of that type.

A screengrab from the trailer for "Stranger Things" Season 5. Special effects designer Shane Dzicek rigged the truck to withstand heavy riding.

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The impact of AI on the SFX industry

Two years ago, actors and writers in Hollywood went on strike, demanding protections from AI in TV and film writing. Last year, those same fears creeped into labor negotiations between the Animation Guild and studios and streaming companies, with the Guild calling generative AI a top concern.

But when it comes to special effects, Dzicek is optimistic about his field withstanding AI’s threats to job security.

Julia Paskin:  Are you dealing with the same kind of AI anxiety that other industries are fearful of, including myself?

Shane Dzicek: [AI] is a powerful tool. I'll probably end up seeing directors and producers and creative people that might be using it as references, being like: "Hey, I AI generated a thing now. I need you to make this come to life and be physical and practical." So I don't see AI necessarily taking that practical part of making this a real thing. That takes a lot of just ingenuity and years of education on how to fabricate and build things and bring all these elements together to create a working prop.

The other thing is you gotta train AI on the knowledge that we have. And [this] kind of knowledge is all handed by word of mouth. It's not written down anywhere. So good luck trying to protect that. Good luck trying to get the information out of all of us.

These excerpts have been condensed and edited for clarity. Watch the full interview below.

We have a winner in the bidding war for Warner Bros-Discovery.

Netflix is in final talks to buy Warner's film and TV studios, plus its streaming assets and some debt, in a deal worth nearly $83 billion.

In a statement Friday, Netflix said the two entertainment giants had "entered into a definitive agreement under which Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO." The announcement caps what had been a closely watched bidding war in Hollywood that involved top competitor Paramount.

The deal would be valued at $82.7 billion, or an "equity value of $72.0 billion," the streaming giant said.

“Our mission has always been to entertain the world,” Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, said in a statement. “By combining Warner Bros.’ incredible library of shows and movies — from timeless classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane to modern favorites like Harry Potter and Friends — with our culture-defining titles like Stranger Things, KPop Demon Hunters and Squid Game, we'll be able to do that even better. Together, we can give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling.”

The deal would give Netflix one of Hollywood's most valuable libraries, including the Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and the DC Comics properties.

The Directors Guild of America told Variety that the deal "raises significant concerns."

“The news that Netflix had secured exclusive rights to negotiate for WBD raises significant concerns for the DGA,” the guild said. “We believe that a vibrant, competitive industry — one that fosters creativity and encourages genuine competition for talent — is essential to safeguarding the careers and creative rights of directors and their teams."

For its part, Netflix said in it's statement that it "expects to maintain Warner Bros.’ current operations and build on its strengths, including theatrical releases for films."

The deal still has to clear regulatory and other hurdles, and would likely take around a year to close.

Breezy conditions will linger today for L.A. County mountains, but otherwise, expect a mild weather day. Come Sunday, temperatures will rise significantly continuing into next week.

Temperatures in the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley will range from 67 to 73 degrees.

In Orange County, inland and coastal areas will stay in the 64- to 70-degree range.

For the L.A. County coast, expect highs from 64 to 72 degrees. For the valley communities, highs there will range from 68 to 74 degrees. In the Antelope Valley, highs will range from 60 to 65 degrees, but foothill communities will still see daytime highs in the upper 50s to around low 60s.

Beach hazards

High surf has come and gone, but now look out for high tides that could lead to pooling of water around walkways, parking lots or other low-lying areas near the ocean. These conditions will last until Saturday morning.

Eleven months after the January fires, childcare providers — especially those who operated businesses out of their homes — still are struggling to open up their doors.

“There were no state or federal funds provided to support families or providers connected to childcare,” said Cristina Alvarado, executive director of the Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles, at a recent legislative hearing. “Sadly, we will experience another disaster, another fire, another loss.”

The California Department of Social Services said as of this summer, 50 of 280 impacted childcare facilities remained closed. They stopped tracking the data in August.

Providers told lawmakers in October that they needed more support to survive in an already fragile childcare industry. Preschools have been closing in L.A. County. There also are not enough childcare providers, and those who are in business are chronically underpaid. A recent study out of Stanford found that most childcare workers struggle to afford basic needs.

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At least 280 childcare spaces were affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires in January. LAist reporter Libby Rainey and early childhood senior reporter Elly Yu followed two women who ran childcare businesses out of their homes until the Eaton Fire destroyed them. In this episode of Imperfect Paradise, they look at how these two childcare providers are rebuilding their lives and businesses, the catch-22 they found themselves in around government assistance, and the state of the child care industry at large.

Altadena childcare providers' struggle to rebuild raises questions about government disaster response

At least 280 childcare spaces were affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires in January. LAist reporter Libby Rainey and early childhood senior reporter Elly Yu followed two women who ran childcare businesses out of their homes until the Eaton Fire destroyed them. In this episode of Imperfect Paradise, they look at how these two childcare providers are rebuilding their lives and businesses, the catch-22 they found themselves in around government assistance, and the state of the child care industry at large.

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This means those childcare providers and the system as a whole are particularly vulnerable when a disaster strikes, like January's fires.

“ I lost my only source of income without a place to operate. I cannot work. I still had to pay my rent and my mortgage payment, as well as our living expenses such as food,” said Francisca Gunawardena, who lost her house and childcare business in the Eaton Fire. Nearly a year later, she still hasn't been able to re-open.

What was available for providers? 

Unlike during COVID, childcare providers didn’t receive dedicated relief money to recover from the fires. That left them to piece together federal support, state unemployment and private grants.

Providers who took care of children from low-income families and received state subsidies did receive payments from the state for 30 days after the fire. But that didn't get them very far. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office then directed childcare workers to an unemployment phone line.

Providers who looked for help from FEMA and other agencies sometimes found a bureaucratic maze. Felisa Wright, a childcare provider who lost her home and business in the Eaton Fire, spent months trying to get the agency's support. She encountered a series of catch-22s. She was rejected when applying for a small business loan because she didn't make enough money. But to start making money again, she needed to reopen her childcare center.

In a statement, the agency said, “FEMA makes every effort to ensure that everyone eligible for assistance receives the help they need to recover,” and its program for assisting individuals has provided over $150 million to about 35,000 households.

The office of state Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, who co-chairs the select committee on childcare costs, said this fall that the committee will look at identifying legislation to help the childcare industry in times of natural disasters.

Providers say some kind of relief is necessary.

Hear the stories of two providers — Francisca Gunawardena and Felisa Wright — who both lost their homes and what their journeys reveal about recovery overall after the L.A. fires on the latest episode of Imperfect Paradise.