Good-time Charlie

Okay, I admit it. I'm fascinated by Charlie Sheen's epic meltdown. It's rare to see someone destroy himself so completely and so publicly in so short a time.

In keeping with the rambling, semicoherent nature of Mr. Sheen's own rants, I have some disjointed, unorganized thoughts on this tempest in a tin can.

1. On another thread we've been talking about the ego. Sheen's behavior is a larger-than-life instance of the ego in action -- or in this case, out of control and running amok. I don't believe the delusional grandiosity and aggressive narcissism currently on display represent the ultimate truth about Charlie Sheen. His real self, his deepest self, is not this polluted self-aggrandizing wreck. And just imagine the hell of living eternally if this was the real Charlie. Extinction would be a much kinder fate.

2. Sheen is now threatening to sue CBS and Warner Bros. for $320 million on the grounds that they have unjustifiably deprived him of his livelihood. I'm not a lawyer, but in my layman's opinion this suit doesn't have a chance. For one thing, Sheen has a long track record of erratic and unstable behavior, which no employer can be required to countenance.

Moreover, Sheen agreed to enter rehab and demonstrate sobriety, and has not lived up to that agreement; curing his addictions "in a nanosecond" with his mind is not the same thing as going through a recognized rehabilitation program, and passing a single urine test is not the same thing as being clean and sober. (Update on March 2: I've now read that Sheen's employers had agreed to let him do his rehab at home, rather than in a recognized facility, so this point is not as strong as I'd believed.)  

Also -- and this is the kicker -- CBS and Warner Bros. can argue that allowing Sheen to resume work would pose a danger to his coworkers. After all, Sheen is on record as saying that he would like to pummel the show's creator with his "fire-breathing fists," and has challenged him to a cage match, while announcing that he has learned to "love with violence and hate with violence," and that he will "destroy" anyone who threatens his "family" (i.e., his entourage of porn stars, drug dealers, and assorted sycophants). That all this is not just talk is demonstrated by his documented history of violence. He shot his fiancée Kelly Preston in the arm; he reportedly beat up ex-wife Denise Richards; he reportedly beat up girlfriend Brittany Ashland and threatened to kill her; he reportedly beat up ex-wife Brooke Mueller and threatened to kill her; he reportedly choked girlfriend Capri Anderson. It is perfectly plausible to say that his threats should be taken seriously. CBS and Warner Bros. are already laying the groundwork for this defense by announcing that they have beefed up security at the Warners lot and will not let Sheen on the property under any circumstances. This is a sensible precaution, but also a shrewd legal move that will allow them to argue that Sheen represented a real danger to their employees.

3. Sheen, at 45, is five years younger than I am, and looks about 60 in recent interviews. How's that "total bitchin' rock star from Mars" lifestyle working out for ya?

4. Sheen is worth -- or should be worth -- an estimated $85 million, most of which he earned in the last eight years. Yet he implies that he is nearly broke and has a desperate need for new infusions of cash. As someone on the Internet quipped, "Hiring porn stars instead of financial planners was a smart move."

5. Is it possible that Sheen has been bipolar all along, and was using drugs and alcohol to self-medicate? Or is his current manic behavior some kind of withdrawal reaction? Or have years of substance abuse simply fried his brain? 

6. For a textbook example of a sycophantic enabler, look no further than the reprehensible Alex Jones, the radio interviewer who egged Sheen on, laughed at his inane jokes, praised him to the skies, and even compared him (for no conceivable reason) to Thomas Jefferson. Sheen is just a sad, sick man currently circling the drain; Jones is despicable.

7. I thought Two and a Half Men was funny in its early years, when it appeared that Sheen was doing an over-the-top parody of his pre-reformed self. For me, most of the humor went out of his character when I realized he was doing a considerably toned-down version of his contemporary self. I did still watch the show sometimes, though not regularly. Much of last season involved the Sheen character courting a beautiful and shockingly normal woman named Chelsea. I knew the show had lost my allegiance when I found myself actively rooting for Chelsea to run away from Sheen as fast as possible. I no longer found his character rakishly charming; I just thought he was sick, foul, and pitiable -- much like good-time Charlie himself.

Comments

[Matt Rouge]

Nice reference to the classic Danny O'Keefe song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjkUBrQjAOU&feature=related

[Kathleen]

I couldn't agree more with your thoughts on Charlie Sheen, his ego has completely run off with him, the "Little Me" has completely taken over. Last night I was reading the Dali Lamai's "My Spiritual Journey," and was struck by his words: "I am no one special." It was in such sharp contrast to Sheen's words. Another one whose ego has completely taken over is Col. Gaddafi, and he, sadly, has, and will do, lasting harm to many others before it is all over for him. At least egos such as Sheen's are limited in the number of people they can harm.

[Goonch]

Apparently Alex Jones was on The View. I couldn't believe that. They couldn't have done much research on the guy beforehand. They just invited him on because Sheen first transformed into Sheen-hulk on Jones' show.

I'm not sure I despise Alex Jones but he is the first person I think of when it someone references 'conspiracy'. He will believe anything as long as it rails against the powers that be.

[RabbitDawg]

Let's face it, without the ego, we couldn't survive in this world. People returning from full-blown NDE's are often vulnerable and naively trusting because of the stripping away of the ego that happens during the experience.

Sometimes I think that our whole purpose in life, other than to survive, is to appropriately shed the ego. But this can only be accomplished with experience and spiritual growth. It's an undefined process that is unique to each individual.
If the average person suddenly decided to become another Ghandi or Mother Teresa, they would fall on their face, because they wouldn't have the experience and insight to "see" what to do. Their ego would blind them.

Of course, spiritual growth implies free will, and many folks of the materalist mindset are so ego-driven that they can't acknowledge free will to begin with, much less recognize spirituality.
But then, maybe that's just my ego talkin' :-)

[Michael Prescott]

Apparently it's impossible to escape this consciousness stuff even in a post about Charlie Sheen. Just tonight Chuck Lorre, the producer Sheen has belittled and threatened, put out this statement:

"I understand that I'm under a lot of pressure to respond to certain statements made about me recently. The following are my uncensored thoughts. I hope this will put an end to any further speculation.

"I believe that consciousness creates the illusion of individuation, the false feeling of being separate. In other words, I am aware, ergo I am alone. I further believe that this existential misunderstanding is the prime motivating force for the neurotic compulsion to blot out consciousness. This explains the paradox of our culture, which celebrates the ego while simultaneously promoting its evisceration with drugs and alcohol. It also clarifies our deep-seated fear of monolithic, one-minded systems like communism, religious fundamentalism, zombies and invaders from Mars. Each one is a dark echo of an oceanic state of unifying transcendence from which consciousness must, by nature, flee. The Fall from Grace is, in fact, a Sprint from Grace. Or perhaps more accurately, 'Screw Grace, I am so outta here!'

"Questions?"

http://tinyurl.com/4t4889m

No doubt this metaphysical rumination will indeed lead to questions, as I'm sure Mr. Lorre intends.

[Matt Rouge]

Michael,

I thought you were joking until I looked at the link.

That's amazing!

It just shows how quickly people are tuning into this viewpoint and how ready they are now to share it.

Cheers,

Matt

[Jim Winn]

Michael ,

I too can't get enough of "good time Charlie".
I think sometimes people mistake talent for intelligence, I found Charlie Sheen on Pierce Morgan's show not all that witty or smart. And Pierce Morgan really kissed his butt.
Charlie Sheen is really just a coked up narcissist,its truly all about him.
I love the show and I think Charlie Sheen is very replaceable, if they replaced Chrissy (Suzanne Somers) from Three's company they can easily replace Charlie Sheen (remember she was suppose to be the . Despite of what Charlie Sheen thinks the rest of the cast is very good. Entertainment is littered with talent that thought they could not be replaced, I don't know what makes Charlie Sheen any different. I think the show would send out a big message to all the over extended egos out there if they replaced Charlie Sheen as quickly as possible.

[Art]

Perhaps they should replace Charlie with a baby boy? That way the show could start all over again? Courtney Thorne Smith could get pregnant by Jon Cryer and produce a baby boy. Jon Cryer and Angus Jones could then be the "Two Men" part of the show and the new baby boy the 1/2 part? Angus could play the goofball Uncle to the new baby boy and proceed to try and fill Charlie's old role the show. Getting into all kinds of shenanigans and predicaments. On the show Charlie could die from Liver failure or drunk driving accident and Jon Cryer and Angus inherit the house so both of them have to live in the house together - which would explain how they both end up in the house with neither one of them having the money to buy the other one out and because the real estate market is so bad "now" is not a good time to sell because of the real estate market so they both end up living in the house.

[Art]

Well actually if Jon Cryer and Courtney produced a baby boy I guess Angus would be the boy's half brother and not the goofball uncle but the same kind of dynamic could still exist.

[Michael Prescott]

I like that idea, Art. Actually I like any idea that involves seeing more of Courtney Thorne-Smith.

I also like the idea of killing off the Charlie character so the door is permanently closed to Sheen. The only risk would be that if Sheen actually does die, his character's death might seen as tasteless. Then again, the show is tasteless anyway.

"And Pierce Morgan really kissed his butt."

Disgusting, wasn't it? Morgan is just another enabler. Not that Larry King would have been any better.

Notice that Charlie isn't sitting down for any tough interviews. He's not going head to head with someone who might take him to school, like Nancy Grace or Bill O'Reilly or even Charlie Gibson.

"Despite what Charlie Sheen thinks the rest of the cast is very good."

I agree. It's a good ensemble, and many of the actors are underutilized. Ryan Stiles (Judith's husband) is hardly used at all, and he can be hilarious.

"I thought you were joking until I looked at the link."

Weird, huh? My take on it is that Lorre decided to "respond" in the most abstract way possible, which would baffle most people, while still being meaningful to some. I think he's serious about what he wrote, but amused at how it will be interpreted. That's my guess, anyhow. Or maybe he just figured that if his vanity cards have suddenly found a big audience, he might as well say something important.

[Art]

Charlie's house is supposedly in Malibu and we've never seen the beach out back of his house. I'd like to see some scenes shot on the beach. It seems weird to me that there hasn't been one single scene of them playing in the water or swimming or body surfing or anything? I've been to Malibu a couple of times and it is beautiful!

Jake (Angus Jones) is hilarious. I love the dynamic between him and Allan (Jon Cryer). Wasn't Judith supposed to be pregnant? She could pop out another boy and they'd be right back to Two and Half men again.

In order to keep all the character's together after Charlie's death they could say that in his will he left 25% of the house to his mother, 25% to Berta, 25% to Charlie, and 25% to Jake - and since the real estate market is so bad - they all decide to just sit on the house until the real estate market recovers - and so Berta, Jake, and Allan all live in Charlie's house together?

Or they could have Herb find out that Judith's baby is really Allan's after their little affair together and somehow Allan ends up with custody of the Judith's baby?

I can think of lots of ways to write Charlie out of the show!

[Kathleen]

I thought Michael was pulling our legs with that Lorre quote too, and had to confirm. I saw one site refer to it as "gibberish," but it seems quite appropriate, at least to me.

[Art]

Okay one more and I'll hush. How about Rose finding out she is pregnant after they announce that Charlie died in a drunk driving accident? And Rose gives birth to a male heir and he inherits Charlie's house and money?

[Cyrus]

You mean Alex Jones the radio conspiracist?

The same Alex Jones who believes everything David Icke says, and thinks president Bush is a clone created by lizardmen in underground labs?

Or is this a different Jones?

[Michael Prescott]

"You mean Alex Jones the radio conspiracist?"

Yup.

Speaking of all things Sheen, I thought the video at this site (from Jimmy Kimmel's show) was inspired:

http://tinyurl.com/4bovg3r

[Michael Prescott]

And whoever came up with this is a some kind of genius:

http://tinyurl.com/68ug28e

[Jim Winn]

I have another really tastless idea, how about Jake gets someone pregnant and they all can live together

[Bruce Siegel]

Since I got Netflix, I don't watch TV except for news and baseball. So I didn't know that Charlie Sheen was in a sitcom, much less who any of its producers might be.

But I was intrigued by that metaphysical passage Michael quoted, so I just tracked it back to Chuck Lorre's page. What we're reading is one in a series of what Lorre calls his "vanity cards". Here's another:

My Soul's Journey

To let go of the fear and anger which imprisons my heart,

To relinquish all childish expectations and live joyfully in the world as it is -- not as I wish or imagine it to be,

To be free of the always craven and ever-craving ego,

To be released from the endless hungers of the body,

To see God in others,

To see God in everything,

To die without death and merge my consciousness into the cosmic sea of bliss from which I came,

To crank out two sitcoms a week that can compete with a deaf chick dancing her ass off...

This is my soul's journey.

[J9]

I was just watching "Mike & Molly" which i taped last night and at the end of the credits, Chuck Lorre's usual sitcom ending statement was the quote Michael put up earlier. Funny, i read it online and here, but I didn't realize he had actually responded at the end of one of his shows in his usual way. (Mike & Molly is on before Charlie's show and is one of the shows he is saying will end without his audience to keep them interested in the station)

[jbstfw5645]

Everyone has problems in their life. If they didn't they'd be wasting their time incarnating here.

Fameous people have their problems exposed to the world. How would you like your personal problems smeared all over creation -with little nobodys smarmily commenting on them?

I think you should walk a mile in his shoes before you judge him. Have you led a perfect egoless life? Success has a habit of going to people's heads. Have you had to deal with that type of success?

What does it say about your ego that you feel the need to attract attention to yourself by blogging this way about someone you don't know?

[Michael Prescott]

"What does it say about your ego that you feel the need to attract attention to yourself by blogging this way about someone you don't know?"

I doubt I'm attracting attention. Everybody is talking/blogging/tweeting about Charlie Sheen.

What fascinates me about this episode is seeing how quickly and completely the wheels can come off when the unbridled ego is in control.

I see it as an object lesson. Maybe that's Sheen's purpose in life - to serve as a warning to others.

[Art]

or just simply "I am not you." Charlie and I are two separate, unique, individuals. Another lesson in separation.

[j9]

"with little nobodys smarmily commenting on them?" ... "What does it say about your ego that you feel the need to attract attention to yourself by blogging this way about someone you don't know?"

Um, didn't you just do the same thing to Michael that you are accusing him of doing to Charlie?

Charlie Sheen has gone to great lengths to appear on any media venue that will air him. I seriously doubt he is worried about we nobodies who "smarmily" blog about him.
As he said "Newsflash: I am special, and I will never be one of you"

So, is it a little bit like rubber necking or watching a train wreck?... shame on us. But he isn't doing it privately. At the most, Charlie deserves our hope that the obvious damage the drugs and fame have done to his brain is possibly reversible. Otherwise, he is going to end up either dead, or a walking vegetable.

Walk in his shoes if you wish. He wouldn't dream of buying ours, let alone walking in them.

[Art]

Oh I honestly believe if Charlie ends up dead it was his time to go. He learned what he came here to learn and it was "graduation day." I'm a big believer that everyone becomes enlightened when they enter that light. That's what the life review is for. It's a tool of enlightenment. I know some of ya'll don't believe that but I do. It's a holographic universe - oneness & connectedness thing. That's what enlightenment is - knowing. What it was like to be the other person, their feelings, thoughts, etc.

[Kathleen]

I think our purpose is enlightenment, that it's inevitable, even if we do have to come back time and time again. Even though I'm a little nobody, and never watched the television series, my first thought was that give him a little time, maybe a few years, and he'll be over all of this. I don't know why I thought this almost immediately (and not really caring much either way), but I did.

[Michael Prescott]

Best line on Sheen I've read so far, from a commenter on the Entertainment Weekly site:

"He's so awful that a train wreck slowed down to look at him."

[Cyrus]

Hi Art,

When your life is reviewed, it can turn a soul (a human individual) mad. I have no doubt about this.

This is why again and again they talk about there existing a "hell". Imagine if you live a life of cruelty and suddenly you have to experience it all from another person's perspective. It will plunge you down, down, down.

So, I agree 'the light' will enlighten all people. But sometimes enlightenment is not a good thing. Especially if you become enlightened to what a terrible person you are. The consequences are enormous.

[Kathleen]

Interesting thoughts, Cyrus. Perhaps as souls we all come here with goals in mind.Even Hitler may have had the goal of "helping his people." Then there may be great anguish when we see how far off the mark we went. On the other hand, it might be our higher selves, not our egos, that undergo the review; in that case, the anguish may not be as bad. Even the Catholic Church says there is no actual hell, just an absence of God, although there are a few Near Death Experiencers who say they've seen it. I guess the best advice is be good, boys and girls!

[BenSix]

I can't help but think that this whole controversy could have been summed up in the single line "unstable man behaved unstably".

[Cyrus]

Hi Kathleen,

While I know people may have 'higher selves' and all of that, I'm fairly sure people like Hitler are not displaced from their actions. Someone like that is probably a very old and powerful soul who was already a very wicked energy before landing on Earth. All of that manifested on Earth and probably brought this entity even lower after death.

I don't think there's any shortage of negative, evil creatures lurking in the ether.

[Zerdini]

On a TV programme yesterday, in the UK, Joan Rivers was asked where she got her comedy material. She replied: "Charlie Sheen".

[BenSix]

This is the only good thing that's come out of it.

[Michael Prescott]

Though I'm rapidly losing interest in the Sheen saga, I did watch the UStream video that he put out on Monday. It was horrifying. Sheen, who is 45, looks like a 70-year-old dipsomaniac with the DTs - or like any strung-out junkie ready to crash. I'm betting he hasn't slept more than an hour in any 24-hour cycle for at least a week. He's committing slow-motion suicide on the Internet, while sick "fans" egg him on like sidewalk gawkers shouting "Jump!" to a man on a ledge. We may not have progressed very far from the days when Roman crowds would cry for blood in the Flavian Amphitheater.

What began as farce is unfolding as tragedy. Isn't there anybody who can put Sheen under psychiatric care while there's still time?