warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Charlie Sheen On 20/20

Dan Watson |
March 1, 2011 | 11:43 p.m. PST

Senior Staff Reporter

Charlie Sheen (Creative Commons)
Charlie Sheen (Creative Commons)
There was a hilarious episode of “Two and a Half Men” on tonight.

Maybe you’ve seen it? It was the one where Charlie dates two women at the same time. Then, Alan tries it, but he’s a goof and a moron and screws everything up, and the women find out. It was also the one where Jake tries to take up his uncle’s drinking habit, but only gets really sick. Neither can get away with vices like Mr. Cool.

There also was a tragic episode of 20/20 on tonight.

Maybe you saw it?

It was the one where Charlie Sheen’s sad life continued to fall apart.

Charlie Sheen, the star of “Two and a Half Men” — who thinks he can live the same fantasy as his character — is sick. And I don’t mean in some “funny uncle” way.

Sick, as in less than a month ago he began in-home rehab. Sick, as in he admitted to doing enough cocaine — “7-gram rocks” — to send him into mania at that time. And sick, as in a score of doctors are saying he is bi-polar.

He is not a “winner.” He is not a hero raging against the corporate machine. He is not playing a joke on us. He is not a serious interview subject.

He is sick.

Tonight was an abomination.

The executives at ABC should be tried in court for enabling a drug user.

They are preying on a sick man. And all the while, laughing at rival CBS — host of Sheen’s wildly successful show.

Sheen, of course, is responsible for his plot in life. He diagnosed himself perfectly in one interview: “I’m on a drug: It’s called Charliesheen.”

“Tiger blood,” runs through his veins, he said.

Today, he loves himself. Tomorrow, he will hate himself.

Tonight, was, to put it lightly, the most devastating interview I have ever seen. It was also one of the more disgusting things I have ever seen.

Sheen’s entire life, from his pathetic “modern” family, to his childhood insecurities, to his immoral lifestyle — all of it, every single aspect of his existence — broadcast while unforgiving mania poured from his head.

Whether he is truly bi-polar is unknown, but reality has come to show the true effects of partying like an irresponsible rock star. Sheen, in fact, is dating two women —“goddesses.” He’s been married three times and has five children.

He is, in fact, an impressive drinker and partier. He’s publically been in rehab three times. He injected himself with enough cocaine to kill most humans in 1998. He had his father publically pleading the nation to pray for him.

He’s shot a fiancée, threatened his pregnant wife with violence, beat another wife, and, most recently, tore apart a hotel room in a cocaine-fueled rage with his daughters in the next room.

Within the world of broadcast journalism, it’s called “ratings.”

Within the world of medicine, it’s called “manic episode.”

The media needs to back away. Immediately.

The definition of “mania” includes: delusion of grandeur, suspiciousness, aggression, and preoccupation with thought and schemes that may lead to self-neglect.

Consider what he’s said recently:

 

  • “You’re dealing with a Vatican assassin. Sorry. I’m a high priest Vatican assassin warlock.”
  • “All these words just sound cool together. They come from my grand wizard master.”
  • “I’m proud of what I created. It was radical. I exposed people to magic. I exposed them to something they’re never going to see in their boring normal lives.”
  • “Ambien, hello, Ambien. The devil’s aspirin. Anyone? Ambien? Sometimes sleep is for infants. I don’t sleep. I wait. When I can’t sleep I don’t fight it. I just figure that there’s a higher calling.”

 

He has made aggressive threats to Warner Brothers and CBS, while demanding a raise. He has talked of himself like a god. Often, he has looked haggard, like he hasn’t slept, twitching in his chair.

Whether it’s drugs, a manic episode, or, in all likelihood, both, it’s the sad result of a self-destructive lifestyle, being fueled like a drug-binge by a swarming media.

Just today, he created a Twitter page. He already has more than 500,000 followers.

The nation, via the media, is keeping him on a dangerous high until he comes crashing down.

Today, Craig Ferguson did what few have done. He refused to make jokes about Sheen.

He spoke about a London mental asylum called Bedlam, which, in the 1800s, allowed patrons to pay a penny to peek at the lunatics.

“It’s not my business,” Ferguson said.

Reach Dan here.
Join Neon Tommy's mailing list.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.