Chuck Lorre’s vanity-card reply to Charlie Sheen: Been there, done that (RIP “Grace Under Fire”)

Chuck Lorre said he was going to cool it with the vanity-card notes about Charlie Sheen, but that was before Sheen went full-on "Tracy Jordan" with his PR offensive against everybody and everyone, and seeing how Sheen is "winning" — Lorre had to reply with something about the star of his current top-rated CBS sitcom, Two and a Half Men, with this vanity card at the end of last night's episode of Mike and Molly:

Lorre-sheen

Lest I fall prey to the "further speculation," let me just remind you that by capitalizing Grace, he is reminding himself and you and me that Chuck Lorre has been there and done that before. In 1993, Lorre created ABC's Grace Under Fire, starring Brett Butler. That show also became a top-ten hit, but fell prey to squabbles between the star (Butler) and the creator/showrunner (Lorre). Butler won out, but she eventually ended up in rehab herself, and the network cancelled the show abruptly. Sound familiar?

Meanwhile, back in 2011, Charlie Sheen continues to provide soundbites galore to live TV and radio, and his publicist has quit.

Questions?

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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3 thoughts on “Chuck Lorre’s vanity-card reply to Charlie Sheen: Been there, done that (RIP “Grace Under Fire”)

  1. I think the media is being quite unfair to Sheen right now. His obvious jokes are taken very seriously, his awesome one-liners are taken out of context and labeled bizarre, and his choice to engage in a form of rehab that is personalized for him is derided as less than genuine – as if AA were the only solution out there.
    I think the media has an interest in piling on against Sheen, calling his interviews erratic, etc., because it helps draw viewers to the interviews. However, he sounds quite rationale in his interviews – even boring sometimes – but you have to be able to tell what is hyperbole, what is a joke and what’s just not that big a deal. I highly doubt most people have watched or listened to the interviews in their entirety. Instead, people are taking their cues from the media headlines with biased judgments that, again, are mostly intended to draw viewership.
    I don’t support Sheen’s drug use – I’m glad he’s testing clean and certainly hope that continues – but I hope he’s able to gain some benefit from this media blitz, because his ability to capture the media’s attention is the only weapon he really has. Groveling would only make things worse… let’s be clear: he was not fired for drugs and sex, he was fired because he ranted against his boss – who had been making fun of him publicly for years. While I don’t sympathize with many of Sheen’s choices, I do sympathize with that.
    Good luck on sobriety and employment, Charlie. Not everyone misunderstands you.

  2. I think you’re completely overlooking the striking reality that Sheen is now like a coiled spring, absent the mechanism from which tension can be lessened. His sobriety, without holistic treatment, will simply increase the tension until the spring snaps. At which point, I only hope he is able to survive the amount of chemicals he ingests.
    I’ve always thought and still do think he is a very gifted and highly powerful entertainer. It would sadden me deeply if we lost him to an overdose or chemically induced accident of any kind. I’m pulling for Charlie.

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