Two and half men,
Now, it’s a sin,
Old Charlie Sheen,
Screwin’ up a’gin!
(…and a’gin …and a’gin.)
I can honestly say that I’ve never watched a single episode of Sheen’s show. I also don’t watch much TV at all, but, lately I’ve seen far more of the pompous and erratic Mr. Sheen than I really ever wanted to.
However, I’m not really interested in writing about Sheen’s “situation.” To me, the real story is elsewhere.
The recent media and public attention has enabled his high profile professional self-destruction.
We’ve seen it over and over again where the problems and faults of a public personality have been more newsworthy than real world events – Tiger Woods, Linsay Lohan, Mel Gibson, Britney Spears, etc., etc., etc. Some stories flame out quickly and you don’t hear about them again until the celebrity screws up again. Others go on and on because of who the person is more than what the person has done. Then there are those like Sheen, who jumps on the media whoopla train and rides it to destruction.
The reason these things make it on air, online, and in print, of course, is because people pay attention when someone who has it made fails spectacularly – and, advertisers pay for what people tune in, go online, and read about.
Sheen has crashed, stories about it are are being watched and read everywhere – and his co-stars and all the support personnel for what was the most popular sitcom are now out of work.
I’ve seen more of it than I wanted to and I’m done paying much attention to it.
What about you?
