Sorry, Charlie

Sometimes it's hard to understand our favorite celebrities' behavior. Especially when there seems to be a big chunk of ingratitude flavoring it.

[Celebrity Ingrates - coming soon from TLC ?]

And it is challenging for us work-a-day folks to fathom why someone like Charlie Sheen would rock the golden canoe so long and hard.

But then, humans are capable of seeing injustice aimed at them in just about any situation. We are almost as good at that as aiming injustice.

Basically, in life but particularly show business life, being screwed is in the eye of the screwee.

In the strange case of Charlie Sheen versus Chuck Lorre and the powers-that-be at CBS, Mr Sheen definitely feels screwed. But I imagine that Mr. Lorre feels a bit used as well. What the higher-ups at the network feel I don't know, but I'll wager it's less like feeling ill-used, and more like confusion between gratitude for publicity and concern over that same publicity.

Those of us who have lived our lives glued to one TV set or another, in a real-life version of 'Dream On', know or can sense that these sorts of dust-ups between stars and producers may be a put-on. Then again, we've seen them be quite real.

If this very public conflict is real, then I must say that Charlie Sheen is wrong - sorrowfully, miserably wrong.

Chuck Lorre's mild zings at Mr. Sheen in his 'vanity cards' are funny, but not mean. They play to the irony of Sheen's real life behavior mirroring (and outdoing) the bad behavior of his character in Two and a Half Men - Charlie Harper. As for Charlie saying he's turned Lorre's work into Gold solely on his own efforts, well, he's forgetting that Jon Cryer is the funny one - the Lewis to Sheen's Martin, and without that dynamic the show would be lessened. The other members of the long-time supporting cast are important too.

It's an ensemble effort, Charlie, not a star turn. The show would not have succeeded without you, true, but it wouldn't have without Cryer (at least) either.

And try not to forget that Chuck Lorre made it all possible. The show is his creation. He gave you a career-saving opportunity, and until now you've made the most of it.

Now, it may be your problems with addiction(s) that are fueling your recent behavior, and if so I hope you find the help you need before your career completely tanks. After all, you can't count on repeating Robert Downey Jr's return from the abyss.