It’s been quite a year for Charlie Sheen from a public relations standpoint.
From rehab to drug busts to porn stars locked in hotels to domestic issues to having his kids taken out of his home, nothing has seemed to go right for the actor.
CBS has even halted production on his hit show, Two and a Half Men. (Confession – I’ve never watched an episode of it.)
And over the past several days, Sheen has given a series of interviews to ABC, NBC, CNN and more. His statements have turned heads a bit in their content and confidence. It is clear that he believes in himself 100%.
Honestly, it’s refreshing to see someone so brashly saying, “This is who I am! I’m proud of it and I will never change it!” He’s been nothing if not consistent in that sentiment. And the fact that he has publicly demanded CBS pay the crew for the episodes of the show that were scheduled to be filmed is admirable – to some degree.
But some of the things Sheen is saying and situations he’s found himself in range from bizarre to offensive. What sort of began last year with the sad dissolution of his marriage has led to him turning into almost a cartoon character.
**This stuff is too bizarre to be real and too strange to be fiction.**
If I was Charlie Sheen’s publicist, this is what I would do:
Step 1 – Shush Yourself!
While I said I enjoyed his confidence, it is obviously coming across more odd than helpful. Nothing he can say or do right now will do anything but feed that machine. He took [and passed] a drug test on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday. Which says everything and nothing all at once. Strangely.
At this point, the best thing he can do for himself is stop talking to the media.
Step 2 – Get Out of Dodge
I would get Charlie on a plane to some remote location, surrounded by a small group of friends and family where nobody will cover his every waking move and it would be virtually impossible to get in trouble.
Step 3 – Stay Away
When he gets to that remote location, he should stay there for at least three weeks. Tan, surf, read, unwind and let the domestic heat cool down a bit.
Step 4 – Homecoming
After nearly a month away to refocus, Sheen should host a non-alcoholic party for the entire cast and crew of “Two and a Half Men.” Yes, I know he feels jilted by their apparent lack of support during his “time of need.” But this would also be a gesture that would not go unnoticed by Hollywood.
His situation led to the show being halted – whether he agreed with it or not – so he should take this major step to restarting it.
Having it alcohol-free is not a statement of sobriety; it’s a statement that it’s not an issue. Host friends and celebrities in the daylight, outside with no booze and that is one heck of an image.
Step 5 – Re-channel Energies
We all know by now that Charlie Sheen loves living life to it’s fullest. He wears it like a badge of honor.
However, living a “full” life doesn’t necessarily need to mean coke and hookers.
I would work with him to create a Dream List of 50 things he wants to do – things like sky-diving, marathons, writing a script, etc. Focus that “high life” energy into more productive adventures and projects to keep him in the public eye for all the RIGHT reasons.
Then, after that list was over…make another one. Lather, rinse, repeat.
What would you do if you were Charlie Sheen’s publicist?
As a loyal LOSTie, I was excited and saddened to watch the finale. Excited to see how it would end…and sad to see how
From Season 3, a major turning point in LOST
it would end. How can they wrap up six seasons of utter insanity in 180 minutes?
I won’t recap the show here, but I do have some insight:
The finale wasn’t about finishing the story, it was about saying goodbye to the characters.
Every major character (and some minor ones, too) got a moment to shine, as their shift-sideways selves “woke up” to realize who they really were – and more important, what they had to do.
We saw the joy in Sun’s eyes when she realized this wasn’t her first sonogram.
Wiping away a stream of tears, we all watched the reunion of Claire, Charlie and Aaron.
We saw Juliet and Sawyer inadvertently touch, triggering their past to come to the present.
For whatever reason, Sayid and Shannon came back to each other (I hated their relationship! Where’s Nadia???)
Star-crossed lovers Penny and Desmond were together at the end.
Even Charlotte played a bit role in the proceedings.
Ben realized his sins, and needed more time to work everything out.
We saw Jack struggle with the realization that everyone else took to so easily.
The story on the island seemed secondary to the reunion of the castaways.
Did it make sense? Not really.
But, it was the reward for putting up with those six seasons of insanity.
Many questions were answered, some were left to interpretation (like, why show the Oceanic remains?), but at the end of the show, we saw the characters at peace with themselves, reunited with the ones they love, ready to take one more journey together.
And isn’t that enough?
Despite the Man in Black dying, despite the world being saved, despite Hurley and Ben serving as the new Jacob and Richard, this didn’t feel like a finale…it felt like a long kiss goodnight.
[Note from Mike: The following is a guest post from NEW Buzz Contributor Andi Narvaez! Click the Contributors tab above to learn more about her! She currently is petitioning me to change the site's name to "Da Buzz." I'll take it under advisement.]
LOST is to social media as… how many times can you jump the shark???
The Castaways - plus Ben. Jerk.
Hi, my name is Andi Narvaez and I’m addicted to LOST. Like some of you, I was told by the rest of you, “you HAVE to watch it. It’s sooo good.” And not only did I watch it, I’ve devoted the last seven weeks of my life to catching up from the very first episode. That’s right. If there are six seasons, a total of 121 episodes, each 45 minutes long… you do the math. The sad thing is that after the second season, it wasn’t even worth it. But like a good addict, I couldn’t quit it.
Is this sounding familiar? That right. Social media. Hey, if I’m going to make those 5,445 hours (Holy waste of time, Batman! I wish I hadn’t done the math…) worth my time, you bet your life I’m at least going to get a blog post out of it.
LOST is like social media in many ways.
If you think of the island as the Web, think of the passengers on Oceanic Flight 815 as everyone who ends up here either intentionally, by accident, or fate – who knows really. Some of them die. Some survive on shore (the people who get on Facebook, open a Twitter account, but you ultimately stick with Facebook and quit Twitter because it’s stupid and who cares what you had for breakfast, right?) Some of them move into caves and start living on the island rather than surviving on it (most people who use some of the basic social networks and update them pretty frequently). Finally, others explore the island and they find the hatch. They move in and the island becomes home (people on Facebook, Twitter, those who blog, upload and share media, etc.).
And though we sometimes thinks the Web belongs only to us because our experiences via social networks and niche sites are increasingly more personalized, the reality is that there are Others who also live here (and have lived here longer too!) and they do their own thing. But we can only learn that by exploring the Web and bumping into what’s out there. Then we learn that by creating our own realities within this virtual space, we affect the lives of others’ in many ways even if we do not see it.
And then seasons 3, 4, 5, and 6 happen and we don’t know whose lives ends where. [Note from Mike: And...WHEN!]
When a show jumps the shark that many times we need to ask ourselves, “why am I still watching this?” And the answer is – those characters and that island. Social media has had its ups and downs too. We’ve seen social networks come and social networks go. We have had to adjust to changes on our social media platforms. Most recently, our privacy has been the victim of a social network’s fickle terms of use.
But six seasons later, we’re still here because we know and love the characters and we care about our island. And in one way or another, we think of ourselves as candidates.
Some weeks ago Mike Schaffer, the proud owner of this blog, asked which LOST couple we like the most. I jokingly said “Hurley and Charlie” but I’d like to officially take that back and say, “The people and the island.”
The final episode of LOST will air on Sunday, May 23. None of our questions will be answered. But at least we’ll still have social media where we’ll endlessly debate and ask the infamous question – WTF?
Friday night, Conan O’Brien said goodbye to “The Tonight Show” after seven roller coaster months and NBC after an illustrious run that included a stint writing “Saturday Night Live” and a long tenure hosting “Late Night.”
The farewell was extremely classy given all the public outrage. Let’s face it, Conan was never more popular than when NBC wanted him gone. He thanked the network for the opportunity to live his dream and generally seemed to enjoy the end of this sad saga.
As part of the deal, Conan can’t host a show until September…at the earliest. This isn’t the time to discuss where he will go. What I want to know is…Team CoCo – watcha watchin’ at 11:35pm now and why? Here are your options:
- David Letterman – The “forefather” of Conan’s current position. He parlayed being shunned by NBC into a lucrative career with CBS.
- Nightline – A staple newsmagazine on ABC. (No self-pleasuring wildlife or crass hand puppets on this show…)
- Jay Leno – The old/new “Tonight Show” host returns after the Olympics. He WAS #1 in late night before he was replaced with Conan.
- Re-runs – Most local markets run popular syndicated re-runs, like “Seinfeld” or “The Simpsons” at 11:35pm.
- Colbert Report – Comedy Central’s parody of Bill O’Reilly is definitely a favorite in my household. Plus, with the speedskating tie-in, it should be entertaining over the next several weeks.
- Other – There is an entire cableverse of options, right?
Last night, “V” premiered on ABC. It is a remake of an early-1980s sci-fi thriller, where Lizard Aliens infiltrate our society, in order to eradicate all life! Fun~! (Sorry for the spoiler there…but if they admit it in the pilot, it’s fair game)
To get you in the mood for this post, here is the song used in the promo videos: “Uprising” by Muse:
OK, that will be in your head for roughly the next 13 months.
But the key moment of the show was when news anchor Scott Wolf (you know him from “Party of Five!”) is sitting down for an exclusive one-on-one interview with Anna, the leader of the alien “Visitors.”
Less than two minutes before the global broadcast, Anna sternly asks the interviewer NOT to ask her any questions that would paint her in a negative light.
The anchor wanted to be more than just a news-reader. He saw a future in which he was a respected global newsman, not unlike a Walter Cronkite or a Wolf Blitzer. And he was backed into a corner. Get the story of the lifetime, or stand-up for your morals. Yeesh.
The Visitors were able to perfectly control their message, as the intrepid reporter played along.
So my question to you is this: What would you have done? Are there any situations in which you would trade in your morals for professional gain?
Friday night, 
