Shannen Doherty returns to '90210'

TCA -- Shannen Doherty will reprise her role of Brenda Walsh on the CW's "90210," returning to West Beverly Hills high school for a multi-episode arc.

Doherty's character was last seen on the original series leaving for London to study acting. In the new show, Walsh will be a successful theater director who returns to the school as a guest musical theater director.

She joins Tori Spelling (returning as Donna Martin, now owner of an upscale boutique), Jennie Garth (Kelly Taylor, a West Beverly guidance counselor) and Joe E. Tata (Nat, owner of the Peach Pit) as former cast members returning to the show. All will have multi-episode arcs, producers say.

Also:

-- The Peach Pit has been turned into a coffee house modeled after Urth Cafe. "But you won't have, like, 'hey look, there's Color Me Badd' and then they start playing," jokes executive producer Jeff Judah.

-- "We want to make show that there's other parents in Beverly Hills who give their kids money and no rules and we have a strong point of view that kids need more than that," Judah says.

-- Jessica Walter on "Arrested Development" movie chances: "All I know is that it's not officially from the horses mouth. [It looks like] it's going to happen next year ... I have heard a lot of positive things. My fingers are crossed."

-- "A lot of people are interested in the rich," Judah says. "Gas is nearly $5 a gallon, subp-rime mortgage crisis ... and want see them struggle  in their own way,"

-- On how teenagers have changed since original series: "Texting ... people are texting and they're right next to each other and IMing," says executive producer Gabe Sachs. "These are fun to put into stories. Broadcast standards and the FCC will always have issues... but i think we're able to show the advances in a creative way.

Adds Judah: "Truth is every generation talks about how teenagers are different. but you can go into 19th century novels and they say that kids are wearing their swords too high. that's something adults always complain about. But kids do seem to grow up in faster these days. A lot of times kids are experiencing in high school that we experienced in college. That's why parenting values come into play."

-- The show will be more diverse than the previous show and will include gay and lesbian characters.

-- With additional reporting by Richard Tinoco