In last week's stereotype feature, Movieline recognized the zombies and daytime drunks prowling our airwaves. And this week, in a special Hollywood edition, Movieline will spotlight industry bad boys (I'm looking at you, Charlie Sheen -- er, Harper), trophy wives and the homophobic jocks locker-checking our network stations.
1. The Hollywood Bad Boy a.k.a Charlie Sheen (Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men)
It is no secret that Two and a Half Men's Charlie Harper character is not-so-loosely based on the life of Charlie Sheen. Swap out a few details (occupation, marital record), and you've got the same untameable Hollywood bad boy made legendary in the tabloids. Both are reportedly self-absorbed, financially successful man-children who drive fancy cars, wear expensive watches and strike a rocky balance beautiful women and substance problems. (In the case of the network show, the substances are limited to alcohol and cigars). The similarities are always there -- except, unlike most things that are translated for the screen, Sheen's actual life seems to be more colorful and dangerous than the fictional ones portrayed on Two and a Half Men. But this week, in an episode surely taped months ago, Charlie Harper's arc was not only recognizable but timely considering recent reports that he wrecked a New York City hotel room and terrorized a call girl.
May I present you with an excerpt from a scene between Charlie Sheen's character Charlie Harper and his nephew, Jake (Angus T. Jones), from this week's episode, "Springtime on a Stick:"
Charlie stumbles into his house, obviously drunk. Jake and his girlfriend sit on the couch watching a movie.
Charlie: There's my main man! Jake-erooni. Jake-erini. Jack the snake!
Jake: Thought you had a date tonight?
Charlie: Not a date! A date experience.
Jake's Girlfriend: What's the difference?
Charlie: About $1500.
After the laugh track died down, Charlie recalled how his own high school girlfriend gave him an STD and then he passed out on the couch. The next morning, when Charlie's brother woke him with a birthday card in hand, Charlie's immediate response was, "I'm not signing anything until my lawyer gets here."
Later in the episode, Charlie tried to set his mother up with a pharmacist, only -- as it turned out -- the pharmacist was dating a stereotypical Hollywood-type actress: a young, blonde bit of arm candy who confessed that she was only dating the elderly man for money. Double stereotype score!
When you think of jocks, most people think of big, beefy football players who wear letterman jackets and prowl the halls with closed fists, preying on anyone who is different. Apparently, that is how Ryan Murphy envisions his jocks too because in this week's episode, "Never Been Kissed," Kurt (Chris Colfer) was hunted, taunted and locker-checked by a high school caveman called Karofsky (Max Adler). Kurt responded each time by calling him a neanderthal, which was not necessarily inaccurate since Karofsky just scowled and barked monosyllabic insults his way. Did it matter that Karofsky planted an aggressive kiss on Kurt later in the men's locker room? Not really, because he was still a walking, fist-locking homophobic cliche who was terrified of his own sexuality. Perhaps if Ryan Murphy had shed light on Karofsky's home life, then Glee could have ventured out of the single-dimensional end zone this week.
After being harassed non-stop by Zoey Pierson (Jennifer Morrison) -- a gorgeous girl who is so intent on stopping Ted from knocking down a historic NYC landmark that she enrolled in his class and persuaded his students to protest -- Ted and his gang attended a black tie fundraiser. There, Ted spotted Zoey alongside her husband, a wealthy socialite old enough to be Zoey's father who insisted that everyone call him "Captain." As soon as the Captain was out of earshot, Ted called Zoey out as "a bored little trophy wife who likes to play activist when the shops on Fifth Avenue are closed." As the two sparred verbally that night, sparks flew and it was later revealed -- predictably -- that Zoey was unhappy in her marriage to the retired captain. And really, as stereotypical as her character was, who could blame her?