Charlie Sheen: Nightmare For CBS?

You must be living under a very large rock if you haven’t been hearing about Charlie Sheen this past week. It all started about a month ago when Sheen was taken to the hospital after a 36 hour cocaine binge with adult entertainers. Because of this, CBS decided to put the show in which Sheen stars, Two and A Half Men, on hiatus. Last week, Charlie Sheen made some very derogatory comments about the decision to postpone the show and its creator, Chuck Lorre, on a radio show. CBS then announced that the remaining season will be cancelled. This set Sheen into a heated verbal rampage on several television interviews which involve him calling for a pay raise, as well as threatening to sue for upwards of $320 million. It’s important to note here that Sheen is already the highest paid actor per episode on television at $1.25 million.

Are the executives of CBS stewing over a PR nightmare, or are they enjoying the attention? You have to guess that having such a wild man going on tirades against your organization is very bad press for your network, but can CBS spin this in their favor?

CBS isn’t really a network that has been known for groundbreaking, controversial programming. They have been branded more subtly, with most of their primetime shows consisting of crime dramas, standard sitcoms, and reality shows like Survivor. However, one of the most successful programs they have is Sheen’s very one Two and A Half Men, where he already portrays a wealthy man named Charlie living in Malibu with a penchant for loose women and drinking (not much of a stretch for Sheen). You would think that after the outlandish appearance Sheen has been putting on display, they would be inclined to cut all ties with the loose cannon. However, CBS would actually do well to embrace the attention Sheen has created. He recently set a Guinness World Record of being the fastest person to reach 1 million Twitter followers. He opened the account on March 1^st, and he now has 1.4 million and rising as I write this. The public just can’t get enough of him. He may be a train wreck, but that’s the thing; people can’t look away. Charlie Sheen has definitely added interest to his own brand, and if CBS can reconcile with him, Sheen could help them improve theirs. We are seeing an increased demand to the drug-free, new look Sheen and it seems that people want to see him succeed. The amount of viewers tuning in to see him on his first episode back to Two and A Half Men could do both parties good.

Every corporation knows that adaptation is important. There are going to be curveballs thrown at you and you need to learn to roll with the punches. CBS needs to take this potential disaster and do what they can so everyone benefits. They don’t want to be branded as an organization that condones that sort of behavior, but by getting Sheen back onto the screen so his new fans can adore him is what I like to call winning. Do you think Charlie Sheen is worried about how his brand is being seen or do you think this is what some people have to do in order to become the most successful?

-Will Cosden, Brianna Golden, Drew Mayer, Lindsey Baggett, Micaela Fouhy