I was going to save this rant for Where is My Remote but I feel I must strike this issue while it's hot. And the issue is...Charlie Sheen.
Before Sheen's outburst, Two and a Half Men was one of the most top ten watched television shows this season. And amidst the drunken and domestic violence at home, it looked like CBS was going to stand by one of their top ratings contenders no matter what. Much like how WWE chairman Vince McMahon would stand by any wrestler caught with steroids...as long as they were a top drawer for the company. It was the same with Sheen, the guy could have gone on and slept with hookers left and right and he'd still have a home with CBS.
But...things obviously changed when Sheen turned on creator Chuck Lorre. He showed anti-Semitic views as he referred to Lorre as Chiam and Hymie. Then, had the nerve to say that he was the show.
No no no no...Charlie Sheen...let's get facts straight. Without Chuck Lorre's comedic genius...you would not even have a show. Turn back the clock before Two and a Half Men...you had just ruined Spin City for everyone, and your movie career was far removed from your prime time in the 1980s. You were a Mighty Ducks movie away from becoming like your brother, Emilio Estevez.
But, just to keep score, let's skim through Mr. Sheen's career over the years, shall we?
1984...'Red Dawn'...a pop culture icon where high school students repel a Soviet Invasion of America. Sheen played the younger brother of Patrick Swayze. It also starred C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey. Trivial Pursuit players should always remember 'WOLVERINES!!!'
1986...a quick reunion with Jennifer Grey at the police station scene in 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'. But, in the same year, he would star in the eventual Academy Award winning movie about Vietnam, 'Platoon'. It was his first lead role and evidence in time that the man could act. He was also in a personal favorite of mine, 'The Wraith' where he played a vengeful spirit killing street racers in his super turbo charged car.
1987...Sheen would star in the movie that flat out defined the greediness and veneer of 1980s's Corporate America...'Wall Street'.
1988...He played in 'Eight Men Out', about the 1919 Chicago Black Sox Scandal, along with John Cusack and John Mahoney. Afterwards, he was in a young ensemble cast alongside his brother, Emilio Estevez, Keifer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips, as the movie put a spin on the legend of Billy the Kid. Despite being #1 at the box office, historians slammed it as being the most historically inaccurate Billy the Kid movie.
1989...After being incriminated in Eight Men and dying in Young Guns, Sheen took a comedic turn with 'Major League', as Ricky 'Wild Thing' Vaughn. Tom Berenger, Wesley Snipes and Corbin Bernsen co-starred.
1990...He once again played in a movie alongside Emilio, as an oddball garbage pick-up crew in 'Men at Work'. Then, he played opposite Clint Eastwood in the police movie, "The Rookie". One would think it would have been a success...except it opened in the wake of 'Home Alone'.
1991...Sheen was in the action movie spoof 'Hot Shots'.
1993...He was in the sequel to Hot Shots and The Three Musketeers.
1994...Skydiving with a Ferrari was the only part I can recall in 'Terminal Velocity', as well as kidnapping Kristy Swanson with a candy bar in 'The Chase'. And finally, he wrapped up the year in 'Major League II', which lost to D2: The Mighty Ducks at the box office.
1996...a mediocre alien movie, 'The Arrival'.
1997...he played opposite Chris Tucker in 'Money Talks', which had its moments.
1999...he played himself in 'Being John Malkovich'.
2002...he killed Spin City.
2003...Scary Movie 3...
So, an appearance in a God awful parody franchise was where his career was at before Two and A Half Men hit its stride and saved his career. He is no longer the young upstart actor he was in the 1980s...and I really do not see anymore Academy Award material headed his way...Two and a Half Men was all this man really had. I imagine much of the show's success fuels his hooker and drug addictions.
So, what happens to the show?
Honestly, Chuck Lorre and CBS have every right to pull the plug and cancel the show entirely. I would understand if Lorre said 'I do not want to work with this man, ever again!"
However, if these are the final weeks of the show, I would hope that after nearly a decade...CBS, Lorre and Sheen can agree to terms to give the audience a proper send off. Nearly a decade, it's almost expected. Because I feel if this story abruptly ends without closure...it'll have as much syndication expectations as Shasta McNasty. Okay, that was a little rough...but, after Roseanne won the lottery, the show lost its credibility with me and I can no longer enjoy the reruns of Roseanne because of how crappy the show ended. And the same will go for Two and a Half Men if it comes down to that.
As for Sheen...a message...Don't ever think you make the show. You might be out there on the screen, you might be pulling in the ratings...but without the writers, without the creator...You'll find yourself sitting next to Emlio, thinking 'What the Hell happened?:
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