With the recent passing of Corey Haim, one has to wonder what the future of the American Entertainment Industry is. While Corey certainly wasn’t the draw he was when he was teaming with Corey Feldman in the mid 80’s, he was still active as an actor, recently appearing in Crank: High Voltage and a slew of other minor movies. However the loss of Corey’s star power isn’t what will change the face of Hollywood, it’s the alarming trend that this death perpetuates that will. I’m referring not only to the tendency of child actors to become involved with drugs as early as their preteens, but also for their inclination to continue to screw up, even once out of adolescence. Of course the two Coreys fit in the aforementioned class, with Haim admitting to drinking his first beer during the filming of 1986’s Lucas (during which he ranged from 13 to 14) and his first joint during the filming of The Lost Boys in 1987. While the filming of The Lost Boys started with a joint, it ended with Haim addicted to drugs such as crack and valium, problems he battled to his final days. The 80’s and early 90’s is filled with such tales as stars such as Brad Renro and River Phoenix (star of the hit movie Stand By Me and brother of Joaquin Phoenix), their initial success lead him not to a lifetime of fame, but rather heroin, methadone, speedballs and early graves. Fame has seemed to have a similar but less destructive effect Joaquin as he recently abounded his successful acting carrer. Although given the fact that both Phoenix brothers spent time under the cult “Children of God”, it is possible their bizarre behavior came from the abuse suffered there.

Other stars of the 90’s fared slightly better:

Haley Joel Osment (star of Sixth Sense): Flipped his car while under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, but managed to escape with only a DUI and a moderately successful career.

Jodie Sweeten (star of Full House): Fell into a life of crystal meth use managed only suffer a life of obscurity and lame Full House jokes.

Drew Barrymore: Corrupted earlier than most childhood actors, Drew has claimed to have started smoking by 9, drinking by 11, using marijuana and hard drugs such as cocaine by 12, and in rehab by 14. Somehow, Drew managed to straighten everything out and has since gone on to bigger and better things than her intial E.T. appearance.

Macaulay Culkin: After massive hits such as Richie Rich and the first two Home Alone movies, Culkin quickly turned into Macaulay Crackhead. Well really it was marijuana and prescription pills, but you get the picture. While a large portion of this decline can be attributed to his fame, his parent’s rocky relationship as well as his questionable relationship with Michael Jackson likely exacerbated his problems. Today Culkin is doing better than most of us, not only taking on odd acting jobs here and there, but more importantly dating Mila Kunis .

Bonus: The kids of the Mickey mouse club. The Mickey Mouse Club is often treated as the director of the train to success. In recent years, however it has been blamed when said trains accelerate too rapidly and derail.

Britney Spears: Exploded into fame at the age of 16 with Baby One More and quickly plummeted from there. Marrying friend Jason Allen Alexander in 2004 for 55 hours and then backup dancer Kevin Federoline for an amount of time deemed far too long by all. Soon after she entered drug rehab for a mere 24 hours, shaved her head and frequently drove with her children on her lap. Since this collapse, Brit has gotten her life on track and actually managed to become bigger stars than the problems she possessed.

Lindsey Lohan: Unlike Brittney, Lindsey has been under the “watchful” eye of Disney nearly her entire career. Besides her parents marital trouble, things went smoothly from The Parent Trap to Freaky Friday. However soon after, Lohan had a series of car accidents due to “the stress of her prospering music career” and the constant hounding of the paparazzi. At this point Disney tried to take her back under their guidance by giving her a part in Herby: Fully Loaded, a terrible decision due to her recent car accidents. Alas Disney failed, and Lohan has since spiraled further into a life of drinking and drugs.



So what does this all have to with the future of entertainment? Well if you couldn't figure it out from the picture, I pity you. But just in case I'll tell you, like last week the answer is government related. In the past couple of years, the government has deemed it necessary to get involved in issues related to athletic entertainment. I’m not referring to the Annual Congressional Baseball game either (which the democrats won 15-10, after losing for the past 8 years). Instead, I am referring to the 2005 Congressional hearings on steroids in baseball. Similarly in 2008 after the death of Chris Beniot, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and TNA President Dixie Carter were called to testify on their current steroid testing policy. The basis of the hearings was congress belief that Americans have no free will and that the MLB and WWE have become the sole parents of all our nations children. As such, one is likely to think that Hollywood is some sort of cooler older brother and has influence over these kids as well. That being said, how long before we see congress sopena SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and demand random drug testing of actors before the release of their films or television shows? How long before the FCC treats the personal lives of actors and musicians as interpretable “language” and claims the right to censor such personal actions by demanding that these entertainers clean up their acts or leave the entertainment industry?

Next time you get upset with tax hikes, remember it's because Congress spends it time ogling, drooling over, and questioning their favorite athletes, occasionally they even ask for autographs in the guise of official government documents. There are a lot more important and fixable problems in the country than what Mark McGuire puts into his body and hopefully congress will remember that.

As always feel free to leave comments at our Formspring

The term "Iron Man" gets thrown around a lot these days. Sure, you have Cal Ripken and Lou Gehrig, who played in a combined 4763 consecutive games. But was Cal really the # 1 Iron Man to ever play sports? ETS Daily considers...

10. Lou Gehirg

His record of 2,131 consecutive games played lasted for 56 years, and it's a shame he died so young, because the number could have been a lot higher. But "what-ifs" don't quite cut it on ETS Daily.

9. Cal Ripken

Yes, playing in 2,632 consecutive games is very impressive. No, that record will never be broken, but Cal's career was not quite as long as some other members of this list. Plus, baseball is a non contact sport. For the record, Pete Rose holds the mark most for most baseball games ever played, with 3,562.

8. Ted "Double-Duty" Radcliff

Radcliff, who played his entire career in the Negro Leagues, became the oldest person ever to pitch in a professional baseball game, when at age 96, he threw exactly 1 pitch for the Schamburg Flyers of the Northern League. As was a tradition, once he passed his 100th birthday, each year he threw out the first pitch at U.S. Cellular Field for the Chicago White Sox.

7. Morten Anderson

Vikings Fans may remember him for other, more dubious reasons, but we here at ETS Daily like to think of Morten as a true Iron Man. Anderson was an NFL kicker between 1982 and 2007, kicking his last field goal at age 47. Truly, he is one of Denmark's proudest sons.

6. Julio Franco

Franco played from 1982 to 2007, and when he played his last game he was 49 years old. Known for lying about his age over the course of his career, which means he couyld have been even older. Met fans will always remember Franco as a lousy, unreliable pinch hitter, but he accumulated a fine career, and naturally did better once he was traded to Atlanta.

5. Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar

Played 20 seasons in the NBA, all for the Milwaukee Bucks and the LA Lakers. He holds the record for most minutes played, with 57,446, and is second in games played at 1560. Only Robert Parish, long time Boston Celtic, has played more games (1611), but only played 45,704 minutes, keeping him off this list.

4. Chris Chelios

Famous American born defensemen who played in the NHL from 1983 to 2009. Played for the Canadiens, Blackhawks, and Red Wings, and is 10th on the all-time leader boards for scoring defensemen. Chelios, who played his last NHL game to date at age 48, is still playing minor league hockey for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL, a farm system team for the Atlanta Thrashers, who say that if someone on their roster gets injured, Chris could very well be called to play once again. His 1644 games played is the most for any American born hockey player.

3. Jesse Orosco

Played his first major league game in 1979, played his last in 2003 at age 46. One of a select handful of players to play in 4 decades. This life-long relief pitcher is best remembered for striking out Marty Barrett for the final out of the 1986 world series, the last championship for the Mets to date. His record of 1252 games played for a pitcher remains the record to this very day.

2. Gordie Howe

Played for the Red Wings from 1946 to 1971. Finished his career for the Hartford Whalers in 1980. His record of 1767 NHL games played (not counting WHA, another legit professionally league he played for from 1971 to 1978) will probably never be touched. He played his final NHL game at age 52.

1. George Blanda

NFL QB and placekicker from 1949 to 1976 en route to a hall of fame career. Played for the Bears, Colts, Oilers, and Raiders. His record of 340 NFL games played was only beaten by Morten Anderson. Blanda gets the nod as our # 1, in the ultimate contact sport.