Fuck Sheen and Lorre

So here we are in aftermath/midst of the whole Chuck Lorre/Charlie Sheen shitstorm. The entitled, obnoxious show-runner and his equally entitled, obnoxious star square off against one another in a fight that I find it difficult to care about. For one thing, they're tearing apart one of the worst scripted shows on television. For another, if they kill one another, I think the world would probably turn out the better for it.

I'm reading about this, and I keep finding myself thinking, "where's the love, people?" Not necessary for Lorre or Sheen--I couldn't give a shit about either of them--but for shows themselves. Sheen gets, what? $2 million per episode? That price tag is a obvious sign that he's in it for the money, which I guess is okay. Sort of. Lorre probably has the same deal going on. Between all the crappy projects he's involved in, he's most likely rolling in cash.

But where's the love? Where's the love for television? Where's the joy? When you've got two nasty people ripping into each other over a horrible program, it's pretty apparent that neither of them actually cares about the show, or the audience. If the program goes off the air for the rest of the season--which Two and a Half Men has--you won't find either of them weeping too hard. They don't care. See what I mean? No joy?

And this is a problem that I'm noticing in a lot of television. Either the show takes itself too seriously (I'm gonna start looking sideways at Bones here), or absolutely no one cares. Two and a Half Men is a good example of the latter state of affairs. Bones...has just visibly degenerated into a series of cliches. That don't seem to find themselves cliched. Will-they-won't-they has gone off the deep end, and every single thing that most of the characters say seem to point to the very small frame of reference and the very large age of most of the writers (Facebook episode, anyone?)

Where's the whimsy? Sort of on 30 Rock, although I can kind of feel it waning. I still love the show to death, but it's pretty one-note. I'm putting a joy-vote in for How I Met Your Mother, because that show isn't afraid to draw from actual experiences, to make things silly, to play with timeline, character development, reality. One moment everyone's floating along, and the next minute we're dealing with serious, adult issues. And the show manages to do this in a fantastic, deft way. Other American shows that seem to be joyous and whimsical? Probably Psych, Community and even the Vampire Diaries (the show is fully aware of what it is and plunges ahead with its identity in a way that I can't help but respect).

I'm definitely a TV-idealist, and all this whole Lorre-Sheen bullshit is extremely depressing. How can people so easily throw away something so wonderful? I mean, the show is crap, but the potential for greatness with TV is so...HUGE. TV reflects the changing political and social landscape around us, but it also causes some of that political and social change. It's a powerful tool that people often disregard, and here are Lorre and Sheen shitting all over it, and I'm not cool with that.

Labors of love. That's what it should be for everyone (including me, in the future, when I'm all successful and living in Hollywood as will of course inevitably happen). Can I have my Mighty Boosh--something offbeat and quirky, but which still inspires a massive cult following because it's obvious how much the creators care? Can I have my Firefly? Can I have my Twin Peaks or Northern Exposure or Psych or How I Met Your Mother?

These shows are all a little weird, which I think is because you can't truly love something that you don't perceive as different. If it was the same, you'd just focus that attention on the similar schlock that's already out there. But if what you have involves a skinny guy in a mirror-ball suit singing songs about soup or a woman with a log for a baby or fucking Alaska--that's magic.

I love television. Why the HELL don't Chuck Lorre and Charlie Sheen?

Also, fuck Two and a Half Men.