Saturday, February 26, 2011

Chicken and Egg Question

Another lightening post in the hopes that it can get me into the blogging habit...

So which came first - the chicken or the egg? Or is this just a case of a bad game of chicken? Who is the bad boy in the "war" between Charlie Sheen and Chuck Lorre?

And why is America so willing to forgive Charlie Sheen for his blatant disregard of the law?

I think it's that age-old fascination of watching a train wreck - or a public hanging. Sadly, we just love to watch others suffer - certainly helps to explain why torture-porn really is unlikely to fall out of public favour completely any time soon.

We don't care that Charlie pulled a knife on his ex-wife. That he's obviously a boozehound and possibly a drug addict. That he hangs out with prostitutes. That he spends money like it's merely sand pouring through his fingers...

And I have to admit that up until this week, I felt bad for him - that he was obviously so troubled that he had to self-medicate. And then he attacked Chuck Lorre. Not cool. But then I heard about Chuck Lorre's vanity cards this week. Both of which were pretty much attacks on Sheen. I think both public displays are simply indicative of that part of the iceberg that we, the public, are not privvy too.

The question now is whether Charlie Sheen has managed to at least commit career suicide even if he hasn't managed full-on suicide just yet. The question of whether any production could ever get insurance to cover the liability he represents had already occured to me. Now one has to wonder if the studio is faced to choose between Sheen and Lorre, who would they choose? The employee who is on the verge of imploding anyway but represents a huge financial check - for one show OR the employee who just keeps on delivering successful show after successful show.

Me. I'm hoping for a miracle. I'm hoping that something brings Charlie Sheen to his senses before he actually does kill himself. I can't imagine what that could be at this point. I can easily foresee a Two and a Half Men that found another man...

At the end of the day, I think that Sheen's bad behaviour can be explained by his problems - maybe not excused, but at least explained. Lorre, I'm sure, has been driven to distraction by Sheen's behaviour - always waiting for the day he couldn't show up to work - and having two other shows to worry about on top of that.

And then there's the adoring public who is happy to sit back and watch ALL the shows - both the scripted and unscripted ones.... For me? I'd like to see less egg slinging.....

Here are links to three pertinent vanity cards:
http://www.chucklorre.com/index-mnm.php?p=330
http://www.chucklorre.com/index-2hm.php?p=329
http://www.chucklorre.com/index-mnm.php?p=332

There is, of course, another issue here. One you've heard me talk about a lot.
Free speech - which is never without a price.
I'll be interested to see who ends up with more bacon at the end of this one....

4 comments:

  1. Who is Chuck Lorre? I've never seen this show and don't care about Charlie Sheen anymore. Haven't for years and feel sort of bad about that, but...maybe not.

    I do care about guys who have screwed up and then gotten themselves fixed to go on and get something done...Robert Downey, JR. for instance.

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  2. Chuck Lorre is the producer of Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, and Mike and Molly. He's kind of a big deal in the biz...

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  3. Of course Chuck Lorre is ticked at Charlie Sheen's behaviour: no one wants to be held hostage like that, and now they've canceled the rest of this season (at the very least). However, and this doesn't mean I'm on the side of the 'bad boy' by any means, one would hope that the sober, less troubled of the two would be the bigger man and not start behaving like the clearly troubled bad boy.

    I have to disagree with you about one thing though: I can't see Two and a Half Men without Charlie Sheen. The show really isn't strong enough without him. The other characters aren't a lot more than foils.

    Another chicken and egg question for you: which came first, the star Charlie or the character Charlie? Does it not ever give you pause that the character is eerily similar to Charlie Sheen (and really always has been)?

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  4. Well, no one saw Eight Simple Rules continuing without John Ritter, or Alias Smith and Jones without Pete Duel, or Cheers without Shelley Long and yet they all went on. In this case, the studio could just let Chuck Lorre create yet another hit.... As you point out, Charlie Sheen has really simply been playing himself - the only other place he can really do that is celebrity re-hab...

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