Celebriy Meltdowns - A Sad Thing

I tend to ignore the celebrity news shows like TMZ, Entertainment Tonight, etc., because they seem to delight in catching celebrities in private moments that should be kept private.

It's bad enough that these shows, the electronic equivalent of The National Inquirer, The Star, and those other rags that aren't even good enough to line a birdcage encourage the paparazzi behavior out there; now we have the so - called 'legitimate' news shows following their lead.

Ugh.

Thanks to the ever changin' nature of Indiana weather, and the fact that a severe thunderstorm rolled through early this AM (or late last night, take your pick), I didn't watch the 'Today' interview with Charlie Sheen. So as soon as I signed into my computer's home page, what do I find in the news section? The latest melt down he had on live television.

He joins a long list of famous actors/actresses who have gone down the path of substance abuse. Some of them lost their lives to it, others lost their sanity and/or their standing.

I have to wonder what kind of manager/publicist Mr. Sheen has that would allow him to publicly destroy himself like this, first on radio, then on television. Those who are supposed to help guide/mold the career path should be able to stop the train wreck from happening, not hasten it, for cripe's sake!

There are gonna be so - called humorists out there takin' pot shots at Mr. Sheen's latest stumble. I'm sure the late night shows are going to be peppered with taunts about this. I suppose it's easy to take pot shots at the mighty when they fall.

After all, Mr. Sheen came from an entertainment family. (His father, Martin, has been an actor for many years; I've had a minor crush on him since the 1970s when he played in 'Sweet Hostage' with Linda Blair. I still like Martin Sheen's work, and can only imagine the grief and heartbreak he feels over seeing one of his children hurting like he is.( He makes mega bucks per episode for the now on hiatus program on CBS and Heaven only knows how much he gets while it runs in syndication. He has money, power, fame, the so - called American Dream. It pisses us off to see him - or anyone else 'lucky' enough to have achieved all that - pissin' it away.

Perhaps the better response is 'There but for the grace of God go I'. They say money doesn't buy everything, and 'they' are right. It doesn't buy happiness, that comes from within. I'm no shrink, but it seems to me that Mr. Sheen is a very unhappy person,. Instead of letting him publicly self destruct, his so - called handlers would be better off getting him help - forcing him to get help. It's obvious the man is a danger to himself, just by his behavior.

The only reason I can see that they don't is that they're afraid the gravy train will come to a screeching halt. Well, if this kind of thing keeps up, the gravy train WILL come to a screeching halt. And the bump is gonna hurt.

So pardon me if I don't join in the Charlie Sheen bashing parade. It's sad, and I refuse to kick a man when he's down.

BTW, I haven't forgotten to blog about my feelings on the absent minority of our IN state legislature, camping out in another state when they're supposed to be doin' the job for which they were elected. That rant may be comin' tomorrow.