THE DAILY GRINDER : Ranting on Rants

Let's face it. We all suspected for long time that Christian Bale was a jerk. No one really cares besides fanboys as the Grinder proved here. The clip of Bale throwing a tantrum won't define his career, any more than Russell Crowe was defined by throwing a cell phone at a hotel desk clerk. But we sure do get a kick it of it. Here's our look at the best (by which we mean the worst ) of celebrity meltdowns. At least, that is, the ones we know about.



Casey Kasem does not like talking about dead dogs.
In this all-time classic, the disc jockey and cartoon voice of Shaggy on 'Scooby-Doo' famously goes ballistic about having to do sad dedications after upbeat songs.
What Makes It Awesome:
The leisurely build up. Unlike most tantrums, Kasem doesn't start with an explosion and tail off. He slowly builds, making himself madder and madder the more thinks about the indignities he suffers.
What Makes It Suck:
Like anyone you know actually listens to 'America's Top 40.' Is that thing even still on the air?


Lilly Tomlin and David O Russell don't get along on the set of "I Heart Huckabees"
What Makes It Awesome:
In addition to being entertaining, the clip shows more about moviemaking than any of that "backstage access" crap they have as DVD extras. Namely, this shows how a film with massive studio support and a fantastic cast can go completely down the crapper.
What Makes It Suck:
The film, even though it bombed, had the unfortunate side-effect of bringing the expression "I heart…(fill in the blank)" into the American lexicon. As in "I heart pancakes." No one needs that.


Michael Richards Does Not Improvise Well
During one of his rare and ill-advised forays into stand-up comedy, "Kramer" got into a screaming match with his audience, started spewing racist invective and stormed off stage.
What Makes It Awesome:
Everything. Even someone as crazy as Andy Kaufman, who deliberately picked fights with audiences, knew that using the n-word was off limits. The Richards incident was also kind of tipping point for cell-phone video, when people realized how powerful the combination of YouTube and a cellphone cameras woould become.
What Makes It Suck:
For a while, watching Seinfeld reruns sucked because it's hard to separate the character from the actor. Like, when was the last time you settled in for an episode of "Hogan's Heroes" and didn't cringe when you saw Bob Crane? Come to think of it, when was the last time you settled in for an episode of "Hogan's Heroes," a show with possibly the worst premise of any sitcom in the history of American television. Let's see if got this straight: It's 1964, the pain of Nazi atrocities is still fresh, and someone pitches a sitcom that's set in a German POW camp?

Oh, it gets weirder. Much of the cast was Jewish. The characters of "Colonel Klink" and "Sergeant Schultz" were played by actors whose families fled the Nazis and "LeBeau" lost his whole family at in the camps.

Wait. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, celebrity meltdowns.



Alec Baldwin is not Ward Cleaver.
The doyenne at NBC's "30 Rock" got a summer's worth of bad press when a recording came out of him berating his then 11-year-old daughter.
What Makes It Awesome:
Not much, unless you have bratty daughter.
What Makes It Suck:
Frankly, Baldwin got bad rap. Sure, he embarrassed himself. There's no excuse for speaking that way to a child, even if she is a thoughtless little pig. But there are plenty of good parents who've said worse stuff. Besides, the other rants on the list were done in the open, in front of people. Baldwin's was a suspiciously "leaked" recording from a private voice-mail during a nasty divorce.


Chris Berman Doesn't Like People in His Sightlines
America's best known sportscaster needs a moment. Or ten.
What Makes It Awesome:
Berman, who lapsed into pompous self-parody a long time ago, has never met a pun he didn't like.
What Makes It Suck:
Really? It wasn't that bad. Someone screwed up and he got mad. But we still can't stand him.


Bill O'Reilly Does Not Know What "Play Us Out " Means
What Makes It Awesome:
For sheer, raw intensity, nobody beats Papa Bear.
What Makes It Suck:
Like this was a big scandal. The guy goes into a spittle-spewing rage two or three times a week like clockwork. It's part of his job.

And, finally, the most recent addition to the pantheon...


Christian Bale is very, very tough.
That Director of Photography gets it in the set of T4.
What Makes It Awesome:
Many things. Bale's use of several different accents, often within the same sentence displays his amazing versatility as actor. Do you think Bale even knows what his "real" voice sounds like?
What Makes It Suck:
There's no video. What? No one on the set had a camera phone?