Do TV Shows Benefit When Their Stars Make the News?

On Christmas Day, the news broke that Two and Half Men star Charlie Sheen had been arrested for domestic violence, which, allegedly included chasing his wife with a knife. This Monday, Sheen will be headed to jail, but sources say that he’ll be serving much of his time at a theater teaching acting to kids as part of a work release program.

Are CBS execs pulling their hair out over the misbehavior of their biggest comedy star? Doesn’t look like it since they agreed to raise his salary to a reported 2 million per episode. In addition, you have to wonder if all this talk about the Two and a Half Men star didn’t raise the ratings a little for the show – after all, the series title is now making the news on a regular basis, so surely people are tuning in to see what the fuss is all about.

Shouldn’t we be turning away from TV shows that have stars on the skids? But I suppose it’s like that car crash mentality, as much as you say you shouldn’t look, you can’t help but look. Think Gossip Girl will benefit from a ratings hike now that Chase Crawford got arrested for misdemeanor possession, or isn’t that lurid enough?

Is there any crime bad enough that would have people making the decision to avoid watching an actor ply his trade on TV? Honestly, I’m not even sure murder would do it. When reality star Ryan Jenkins was wanted in connection with the murder of Jasmine Fiore, people were searching all over the internet for the two reality shows he had starred in. In this case, though, it was VH1 that did the right thing, pulling the shows off the air as a sign of respect to the murdered girl’s family.

Granted, most celebrity gossip sites aren’t covering anything as heinous as murder. More often than not it’s a first look at a TV star’s new beau, a shot of a poorly chosen bikini or set of candid photos taken outside of Starbucks. Some stars take it in stride, ignoring as best they can, others smile and wave, while others take the offensive by acting offensive which usually results in them getting more attention than ever before (Kristen Stewart).

Meanwhile, I don’t think there are too many studio executives losing sleep over the behavior of their contracted players. Some may actually be wishing that the star of their latest bomb would get caught ramming her Porsche through her ex-husband’s front window. I can see the headlines. . . and the ratings bump, now.