Charlie Sheen

Those of us with self-esteem issues — and we are legion — could learn a thing or two from Charlie Sheen and Moammar Gadhafi. The embattled American actor and the embattled Libyan strongman granted interviews this week to let the world know how much their people love them and how wrong everybody else is about them. The internet and magazines were rife with comparisons of the talkative duo. During his interview, Sheen demanded a $1 million raise for each of the remaining eight episodes of "Two and a Half Men," his TV show that CBS has announced it will not film because of his outrageous behavior.

Why must the media find it news to report on Charlie Sheen ( "Charlie Sheen leaves rehab, reportedly receiving treatment at home," Feb. 1). I really don't think the general public is interested in his escapades of women, drugs and alcohol. He is a most despicable human being and certainly does not deserve the news coverage on a daily basis. He is a sick individual, and I really don't care if he is the highest paid actor on TV. Let it go. He is not worth any more coverage. Vicki Chambers, Lutherville

ABC and NBC will each be rolling out a multinight competition show this week. ABC's Duel (8 p.m. WMAR, Channel 2) is described as a high-stakes, tournament-style trivia challenge, with one of its 24 contestants guaranteed to win the jackpot, potentially more than $1.5 million. Meanwhile, NBC is tuning up Clash of the Choirs (8 p.m. WBAL, Channel 11) The premise: five musical stars - Michael Bolton, Patti LaBelle, Nick Lachey, Kelly Rowland and Blake Shelton - return to their respective hometowns, where they audition gifted amateur singers they can meld into a choral ensemble.

Give the Orioles' brain trust credit. They never said the streak was going to end this season. Well, except for Peter Angelos himself, who said some 50 weeks ago: "We are coming back strong next year. I know you have heard that tune before, but this time it will literally come true." And if you can't trust the owner, whom can you trust? Wait, don't answer that. Otherwise, the plan was for this all to break big in 2007. That's when the kids would grow up, the young veterans would be mature, the fruits of the rebuilding farm system would be harvested, the money from the regional sports network would be put to maximum use - and the long-awaited run at the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox would be made.

Charlie Sheen made news again Thursday. But this time, it wasn't about drugs, sex or his pending divorce -- well, maybe a little sex. His Two and a Half Men character, Charlie Harper, isn't exactly the most celibate cat on the small screen, but playing the cad landed Sheen his first-ever Emmy nomination, for lead actor in a comedy series. His top-rated, 3-year-old series also got its first nomination as best comedy, and costar Jon Cryer received his first nod for supporting actor. The conventional CBS sitcom about Harper, a decadent bachelor whose life changes when his neurotic and repressed brother Alan (Cryer)

Every week of 2005 seemed to bring more turbulence and upheaval in the world of entertainment and in the personal -- but very public -- lives of the people who bring it to us. First, no one was going to the movies. Then everyone was downloading TV shows onto their iPods. We all wondered what was in the hatch on Lost; we were surprised -- but not that surprised -- to see Michael Jackson show up at court in his pajamas; and Brad and Jen broke our hearts. The awful practice of combining names of celebrity couples reached new heights of awfulness: TomKat, Bennifer II and Brangelina, the one that sounds like a cereal no one would want to eat. It was all so much to cram into one year, we'll take it one month at a time.

The reality show Who Wants to Marry My Dad? (10:05 p.m.-11 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) returns for a second summer. This time, the three adult daughters of Marty Okland check out 13 women to decide which one is best for their father. We're not sure what happens if Dad disagrees, but the network promises that the six-episode series will conclude with a proposal. At a glance According to Jim (9 p.m.-9:30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) - Cheryl's (Courtney Thorne-Smith) bragging results in more than she can handle when her snobby cousin Mindy (guest star Rachael Harris)

Films like Scary Movie 3 aren't movies so much as purging rituals for consumers gorged on pop cultural ephemera. You don't patronize such enterprises in search of refinement or sophisticated discourse on genre conventions. You go to wallow in the silliness. This time, David Zucker, the veteran goofball behind Airplane! and the Naked Gun series, picks up where the Wayans brothers left off. For whatever reason, the change gives the franchise a noticeable spring to its step - though such things are relative when the corn is high and the comedy is low. The corn, by the way, is in the back yard of a widowed minister-turned-farmer (Charlie Sheen)

"Like Mother, Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes" has a big name star in the credit and a sensational real-life story as its basis. Don't let that fool you into wasting one of the best nights of television viewing this year on a failed CBS movie. The film stars Mary Tyler Moore as Sante Kimes, a compulsive thief and con artist, who trained her son, Kenny (Gabriel Olds), since childhood to be her accomplice. The pair makes headlines when they murder a wealthy New York woman (Jean Stapleton)

Maybe you've heard: This year's Army-Navy matchup, the 101st, is being played right here in Baltimore. WJZ is preceding its game coverage with "WJZ 13 Army Navy Celebration Show" (8 a.m.-noon), reporting the festivities from all over the city. The show includes a chronicle of the historic rivalry, coverage of tailgate parties and the march of 8,000 midshipmen and cadets from Rash Field to PSINet Stadium. Scheduled guests range from former Navy football great Roger Staubach to John Feinstein, author of "A Civil War."