Bubble Gum Flavors Classic ‘Eve’ Remake

Given her tumultuous and rebellious off-screen past, Shannen Doherty might appear well cast as the lead vocalist of a supposedly alternative rock group called Dead Pink.

But neither Doherty nor her fictional band exhibits much of a rock ‘n’ roll heart in the NBC thriller “Friends ‘Til the End,” which airs tonight. Dead Pink sounds less like an edgy alternative outfit than like a bland, ‘70s era bubble gum pop concoction.

Allowing the former “Beverly Hills, 90210” teen idol and “Party of Five’s” Jennifer Blanc to handle their own singing chores also does little to give the film hip credibility. Both have rather thin, colorless voices that subvert any suggestion that the two actresses and the characters they play are in any way budding vocal talents.

In “Friends ‘Til the End,” Doherty’s Heather Romley and Blanc’s Zanne Armstrong are bandmates and college classmates. Zanne is the manipulative and deranged student who plots to take over the identity of the popular and benevolent Heather. Whacked-out Zanne sets out to steal Heather’s bass-playing boyfriend as well as her positions as sorority sweetheart and focal point of the ascending Dead Pink.

Basically, “Friends ‘Til the End” is intended to be a contemporary rock ‘n’ roll remake of the 1950 film “All About Eve,” which finds the life of an aging actress gradually being appropriated by a crafty and ruthless up-and-comer. But unlike the superbly written and crafted Joseph Mankiewicz classic, this clunky TV movie tends to inspire viewer skepticism rather than viewer involvement.

Too much emphasis is placed on an upcoming battle of the bands contest at Los Angeles’ Billboard Live. The members of Dead Pink treat the competition as an almost once-in-a-lifetime chance for the group to impress record industry talent scouts. It’s an unrealistic simplification of how new bands rise in the rock ranks.

“Friends ‘Til the End” would have been better suited as a kitschy satire a la “Heathers” (another film in which Doherty played a girl named Heather). Instead, this is a flat and humorless work without much of a brain.

* “Friends ‘Til the End” airs at 9 tonight on NBC (Channel 4).