Biting the hand that feeds them leaves lot of hungry actors

That crunching noise you heard recently was the latest TV star biting the hand that feeds him. Angus T. Jones -- the Half in Two and a Half Men -- went off on a rant against the sitcom that pays him $300,000 an episode, labelling it filth and urging viewers to stop watching.

No worries, Angus. We stopped watching long ago.

As for your tantrum (for which you later sort of apologized), it's small potatoes compared with former co-star Charlie Sheen's epic rant against the sitcom's creator, Chuck Lorre.

Now you're both part of a TV club that seems to forget it makes a jillion more dollars than viewers, doing a job that requires spending half the day in an air-conditioned trailer and being forced to eat catered meals.

Here are some other favorite members:

Robert Reed, The Brady Bunch (1974): Keen followers of this timeless sitcom may have noticed that Mike Brady never appeared in the series finale. That's because the classically trained actor had finally had enough of being involved in a series that often revolved around prom dates and sibling rivalry. He spent most of the show's run complaining about the show's silliness. Maybe the producers should have stuck to their original choice to play the father: Gene Hackman.

Suzanne Somers, Three's Company (1981): She may have played dumb for a living, but Somers thought she was being smart when she demanded a raise -- a 500 per cent raise. When she didn't get her way, she started skipping rehearsals and alienated her co-stars. Producers eventually fired her. Maybe a few hours a day with a Thighmaster would have cooled her down.

Jessica Biel, 7th Heaven (2000): At age 17, she posed topless for Gear magazine, a blatant attempt to get out of her contract with the family-friendly series. Eight years later, Biel admitted she had made a mistake and did her penance by starring in Valentine's Day.

Dave Chappelle, Chappelle's Show (2005): Thanks to this Comedy Central series, Chappelle was poised to be the next Eddie Murphy -- which is exactly what happened. Not the Murphy who did 40 Hours; the one who did Norbit. Chappelle abruptly retired, saying later that he felt the audience was laughing at him, not with him. Now nobody's laughing at all.

Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy (2008): After winning an Emmy for best supporting actress and scoring a film hit with Knocked Up, Heigl should have been the happiest actress in Hollywood. Instead, she publicly ripped the dramedy's writers for not giving her enough meaty material and yanked her name from Emmy contention. By 2010, Heigl had left both the series and the public's radar screen.

Chevy Chase, Community (2012): This prickly actor went into diva mode earlier this year, getting into a public feud with series creator Dan Harmon that included a voice mail so vicious it would make Alec Baldwin's ears hurt. Chase formally left the show this month, oblivious to the fact that he hasn't been a movie star in decades and that Community might be the smartest sitcom on network TV.

-- Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 6, 2012 C16