Charlie Sheen has been in the news a lot as of late. It started out with his routine misdeamnors, escalating with holding up production, his public insults to the production staff, his show going on hiatus, and finally, with Sheen being fired. As a result, Sheen has probably become more ubiquitous as a media than ever. Notably quoting his bizarre stream-of-conscious terms like "fire-breathing fists", "tiger blood", and "ninja warlock assassins" I've tweeted a few jokes about him here and there, but I do have to say, the media storm kind of veers into pet peeve territory for me.
It is, on a few levels, an interesting story. Even kind of relevant, at least relative to the sphere of showbiz, which is this blog's intended purview. The highest-paid star on television was fired from his juggernaut of a show. CBS is going to have to either cancel or heavily revamp their tentpole. In the money-driven ecosystem of Hollywood, this time capitol just wasn't enough. This has very rarely, and on this scale actually never, happened before. Chuck Lorre and the network do have other successes going on for them, but if the CBS dynasty that has ruled the 2000s falters in the next couple of years, this will probably be looked at as a turning point. But I think Sheen-fever is still a bit unwarranted.
I'm an entertainment aficionado, but I've never really cottoned to the tabloid aspect of popular culture, for several reasons. One is I for one am I a private person, and thus am often averse to seeing dirty laundry being hung over the clothes-lines of society. Secondly, because...it's one thing for a mediocre star to be successful, but there's something about this decade's fascination with people falling upwards into stardom. I mean, it's one thing that many of the best in their field struggle for recognition, but that the one thing they're doing wrong is not sucking enough?
Thirdly, because it's hypocritical. As an industry and a pastime. There's always a sense of moral judgment from those who write and read the tabloids but...all this does is escalate the presence of the famewhores and human trainwrecks. "Tsk tsk, I can't believe [crazy star here]"
Plus, to be honest, I don't find Sheen's ramblings to be that quotable. It's the same kind of word-salads that I think Adam McKay got the ball rolling with, and that Diablo Cody won an Oscar then later incurred backlash for. I mean, yes, there's something a little surreal about Charlie Sheen of all people pulling jargon from a Dungeons and Dragons manual, but is it really tat unique? "I'm going to bear-murder you with my celestial kitana of of excellence. Winning." Wow, I just talked like Charlie Sheen, and it only took me thirty seconds to think of how to do it. Because just about every comedian this decade has been doing it.
Also very troubling is people who seriously idolize the guy now. I mean, let's not forget, he does beat women. He does a massive amount of drugs he can't quite handle. And his getting fired from the show has very little do with creative differences. He didn't try to steer Two and Half Men into a direction of substance. He just whined a lot. People seem to appreciate when stars break down false civility that exists in Hollywood, (I do think that was the unpardonable sin with Sheen as far as his producers were concerned, too) but he comes across less like a rebel than a diva. How is he "telling it like it is", though? Yes, the show isn't very good, but do we see Sheen with a show on par with Community in the wings?
It's just really weird seeing a news cycle with a very obvious built-in obsolescence.
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