Shannen Doherty on Mari-Kari, 'Annoying' Optimists and Schoolgirl Violence

How conscious are you of the possibility that the show could be picked up for a full season on television? Is that the ultimate goal when you make a Web series?

For me, I am pretty happy with it just being on the Web. I certainly hope that it does a couple more seasons because telling the story of Kari -- I actually want to know what happens to her. Is Kari going to turn on her sister? You just don't know. I am definitely

curious to see where they would go with it.

I did not recognize that you were also voicing Mari the first time I watched. Her character is so upbeat and child-like. She sounds nothing like you or any of the characters you've ever played. Did a lot of work go into finding that register?

No, I tried not to practice Mari at all because I thought that I would get too self-conscious and it would not sound good. So I waited until the day we recorded, and I kind of threw out a couple of different voices, and they loved the first one that I did for Mari. I just had to try and go to a higher register with my voice and be as bubbly as I could possibly be. It actually gave me a headache! Like halfway though, my head started hurting from trying to be such an optimistic and saccharin-sweet person.

That has to be draining.

It was, and after awhile, I just started thinking, "Mari is so annoying!"

Did you record all of those episodes in one session?

All in one day. We did Mari and Kari in one short day. I think we recorded from 11 to 2. It's one of the best gigs I've had, that's for sure.

Let's talk about another gig of yours: Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty. In terms of celebrities offering relationship advice to couples on television, you were ahead of the curve. Now, NBC has The Marriage Ref, Lifetime is developing a similarly formatted show for Heidi Klum and her husband but you've been there, done that already. And unlike the couples on The Marriage Ref, it seemed like you really cared about the couples you were counseling. I know you executive produced that show -- where did the concept come from?

Thank you! I developed it with the guys that I worked on Scare Tactics with [Hallock Healey Entertainment]. We wanted to work on another show together and I remember that we were tossing around different ideas in Calabasas one day and we got to talking about relationships. I was in the middle of a break-up and it was like, "Oh, this is really hard and I wish that someone could do this for me." We started playing around with the idea and came up with the concept and went for it. You hope that the show comes off the right way, you hope that people take it for what it is. You hope that it's a show that teaches women and men the tools to break up and that you don't have to drag something on. You don't have to hurt someone. You can just sort of end it because that is what is best for both of you.

While we're on the subject of moving on, what do you think about the fact that all of the original cast members have left 90210?

I think it's kind of appropriate, right? We went in, we helped however we could help and we all sort of got the opportunity to do it again for our fans that really missed the show and missed our characters. Now, it's about the new characters and them establishing relationships amongst themselves. They are doing a great job. It's kind of, "out with the old and in with the new."

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