I am embarrassed to admit that I have been and am fascinated by the Charlie Sheen saga that has been unfolding this week.
I admit, I do not watch Two and a Half Men. When it first came on my husband and I watched a few times but decided that while it was funny, having Charlie hop in bed with different women almost every episode wasn't. I liked the tension between the brothers, but having the son/nephew there in the midst of such ribald humor wasn't our cup of tea. Clearly a LOT of people disagreed, since it has some of the highest ratings, if not the highest ratings on television.
We went to California on vacation this past summer and visited Warner Brothers Studios. One of the sets they took us to was Two and a Half Men. No shooting was going on (it was July), but it was interesting to see and the tour guide showed us the door frame where Angus (the young man who plays the son/nephew) had his height markings just like our kids at home. One big happy family. We still didn't watch it when we got back home.
Over the past few months we have watched Charlie Sheen have an embarrassing scene in a New York hotel room, go to the hospital, commit himself to "in-home" re-hab, and start dissing CBS and the show's creator.
This week's saga contained multiple interviews where he said he was: clean (drug tests don't lie), a bi-winner (as opposed to bi-polar), tired of acting like he wasn't something special because he is, thinks it's great to raise his 2 year old twin boys with "The Goddesses" (his two live-in girlfriends), and multiple other statements that I sit and shake my head in amazement at.
My husband told me that on a local radio talk show callers were calling in and they were overwhelmingly in support of Charlie Sheen. Charlie opened a Twitter account and had a million followers by day's end.
I think he's going off the deep end and fear he will meet a tragic end. And yet, I find myself following the story. Each morning this week I've turned on the news wondering, "what's Charlie going to say today". Why is that? He's not an actor I like to watch (I do like his father Martin however). Maybe it's because there are children involved. Maybe I'm just a voyeur. Maybe I want to fix it. Maybe I'm the crazy one. Maybe I subconsciously think Charlie Sheen represents something bigger than himself. Maybe this is what happens when we pay entertainers 2 million dollars for every half hour episode they make, and let them have different rules than the rest of us. Maybe we're seeing the product of the elevation of celebrities.
I don't know. But I plan to watch the news this morning.Labels: Charlie Sheen, embarrassed, Sheila Siler
