$300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
Young actor Angus Jones plays the half a man on CBS' hit comedy "Two and a Half Men." It's a pretty bawdy show, and it's had its share of troubles (Google "Charlie Sheen drugs" for the full-on lurid background) but for the past year or so, with new co-star Ashton Kutcher, it's been quietly successful.
Too quiet, as it turns out. The young co-star Jones recently discovered a) God and b) just how bawdy his own show is. Which has led to this, from Boston.com:
Jones, 19, has been on the show, which used to feature bad-boy actor Charlie Sheen and remains heavy with sexual innuendo, since he was 10 but says in a video posted online by a Christian church that he doesn’t want to be on it anymore.
‘‘Please stop watching it,’’ Jones said. ‘‘Please stop filling your head with filth.’’
In a radio broadcast, ‘‘The Voice of Prophecy,’’ recorded for the Seventh-day Adventist Church on Jones’ birthday in October, he described his religious path. He has been attending a Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Los Angeles area.
Jones said he felt drawn to God after a tough time in his life when his parents were going through a divorce and he experimented with drugs.
‘‘I never drank,’’ he said. ‘‘That was one thing God protected me from, and I'm still a virgin. God protected me from those things.’’
Jones said that ‘‘it’s very weird that I'm on a television show, especially now that I am trying to walk with God. My television show has nothing to do with God and doesn’t want anything to do with God.’’
Part of me sympathizes with the young man. You only really have one conscience, and one moral compass. It can't be easy to spend your day doing something that directly contradicts it.
Of course, there are compensations to creating "filth:"
Jones said that he had no plans to get out of his contract, which reportedly pays him $350,000 an episode.
I can't decide what to think of this. Part of me, as I said, sympathizes with the young man. But the bigger part of me, the television producer part of me, wants to slap the kid silly and tell him to shut up and read his lines.
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Jun '10
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
[A chill, quiet shudder runs through the cast of Sullivan and Son]
Edited on November 28, 2012 at 4:49amJul '10
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
Surely his Hollywood career is over. Who would keep him now and who would touch him afterwards?
Does anyone else suspect that he has given a considerable sum to the church? And will still?
Jul '11
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
To be fair to him, he was young when he started the show. What I'd like to know is why his parents were thinking when they signed him up for this show.
He's had some time to think about the show, and does not care for it. He can't walk out of a signed contract. I for one am sympathetic.
Sep '12
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
This is Kirk Cameron all over again. It's gonna be Tribulation Force 6 for this kid from here on out.
On a side note, I would never have guessed that a little kid working with Charlie "The Warlock" Sheen would have found God while working that show. I would have pegged that kid for a cokehead knee deep in hookers before he could drive. Unbelievable.
Jun '10
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
Of course he can walk out, and then pay the consequences. It's called integrity.
Jun '12
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
I seem to recall Robert Reed blowing up over every ridiculous line that Sherwood Schwartz would make him read during his tenure on "The Brady Bunch." (According to Growing Up Brady by Barry Williams)
Angus seems to be in a similar situation. Yet, he sees the consequences of his participation to be, well, more dire. I think if anything he is flexing his own independent thought and hopefully will emerge a stronger person from it.
(BTW, thank God, I do not have the guts, nor do people have the interest in having me complain about my job on a viral interview.)
Oct '10
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
It is sad that his church did not counsel him to have his second thoughts more privately, and seek guidance on how to handle this situation from someone who knows the showbiz ropes, and could help him move on in his life gracefully.
He now has an albatross of his own creation around his career. Showbiz is not the antithesis of Godliness. Showbiz is one of the places where resistance to God provides a platform for showing His character to those who do not know Him.
Aug '10
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
He's 19.
'nuff said.
Aug '10
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
Eeyore
[A chill, quiet shudder runs through the cast of Sullivan and Son]
Say, Rob, do you and Chuck Lorre belong to the same country club?
Got any insights into Mr. Lorre's management style?
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
If he were talking about any other show than the vile, disgusting and criminally unfunny Two and a Half Men, I might be down on the kid.
But that show is a direct product of Satan. On that we can all agree, right?
Aug '10
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
Past drug use...
The kid is just trying to deal with what he's going through, but I think the TV producer in the back of your mind is right on this.
Jul '12
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
"I can't decide what to think of this. Part of me, as I said, sympathizes with the young man. But the bigger part of me, the television producer part of me, wants to slap the kid silly and tell him to shut up and read his lines."
Well, you can now have it both ways because, earlier tonight he uttered the famous celebrity line "Uhhhh, nevermind."
Aug '10
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.: If he were talking about any other show than the vile, disgusting and criminally unfunny Two and a Half Men, I might be down on the kid.
But that show is a direct product of Satan. On that we can all agree, right? · 13 minutes ago
Satan would hire better writers.
Jun '10
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.: If he were talking about any other show than the vile, disgusting and criminally unfunny Two and a Half Men, I might be down on the kid.
But that show is a direct product of Satan. On that we can all agree, right? · 9 minutes ago
And here I thought it was Glee. What was I thinking?
May '10
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
The rehab wards are full of former child actors. I can't speak as to the beliefs of the Adventists, but I think he knows the score for child actors that have made the successful transition to adult careers.
If not the church then maybe Paul Petersen's organization, A Minor Concern, is the answer for the kid. Petersen, who played Donna Reed's son on her 1960's sitcom helps child actors move from the bright lights of the set to the real world.
And Rob, I don't remember you ever being involved with many projects involving child actors.
Aug '10
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
EJHill: The rehab wards are full of former child actors. I can't speak as to the beliefs of the Adventists, but I think he knows the score for child actors that have made the successful transition to adult careers.
If not the church then maybe Paul Petersen's organization, A Minor Concern, is the answer for the kid. Petersen, who played Donna Reed's son on her 1960's sitcom helps child actors move from the bright lights of the set to the real world.
And Rob, I don't remember you ever being involved with many projects involving child actors. · 1 minute ago
Didn't Rob kill the original Alfalfa?
May '12
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
Gee, Rob, the kid has been working in that mine for half of his life...you may call it a "gold" mine, but still, think of how even three years feels to a high school student, looking back on his "childish" self in junior high.
May '10
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
I had assumed he had some kind of sense of duty to his contractual obligations. If it's the case he hasn't thought that deeply about his situation, then, oh boy, what a mess he has made.
Let's hope & pray he has the courage to walk away. Meanwhile, let's keep in mind that people who hire child actors deserve whatever happens to them.
Sep '10
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
I have a feeling that somewhere not too far away is ... a girl.
Jul '11
Re: $300,000 a Week Making "Filth"
I watched five minutes once, that was enough. Hope the kid finds himself.