While Charlie Sheen spent last week making a reality show out of any TV or radio show willing to cover him, another longtime star debuted a behind-the-scenes show about his real life.

On Monday, I watched the Canadian premiere of 'Mario Lopez: Saved by the Baby.' Obviously the show has been in the works since long before Sheen's ill-fated publicity storm, but however accidental, it provided a chance for little compare-and-contrast.

Both Sheen and Mario Lopez have been around forever, and I'm not sure I would have placed bets on such longevity for either of them. Sheen has pretty much lived up to our expectation of him -- namely that he would implode as a result of his sex-and-drugs addled lifestyle -- but it took a long time to stick. In fact, who knows if this latest escapade will finish him? I thought he was toast after the whole Denise Richards divorce. Looking back, I'm not sure why Sheen's been given so many second chances, except that Hollywood loves a comeback story. I'm not even sure he's all that talented of an actor. I'll give him this: The man has charisma.

Lopez, on the other hand, has survived in La La Land because he never stops working. From reality host to sportscaster, soaps to Broadway, after-school specials to celebrity infotainment, there is no role Lopez won't consider. He's perfectly adequate at all of them, but I don't think anyone mistakes him for a giant of stage and screen. Unlike Sheen, who rivets the camera's attention, the viewers' eyes tend to slide right off Lopez's perfectly smooth face, stopping ever-so-slightly on those crevice-like dimples.

So why did I find myself thinking of Sheen's '20/20' interview while watching the Canadian debut of 'Saved by the Baby'? Maybe it's just the decor. The house Lopez and his pregnant girlfriend Courtney Mazza are moving into during the premiere has that same empty, impersonal feel as Sheen's love nest. Even the sit-down interviews had the same shot set-up -- I kept expecting another woman to squeeze in next to them on the couch.



Lopez, who I'm sure thinks of himself as utterly normal, does show hints of Sheen-ish monomaniacal confidence. He doesn't like the name Courtney, for example, so he calls the mother of his child 'Mazza' instead. He hopes his child won't be born a female leftie, since he views that as masculine. Courtney wants to know the sex of the baby, but he doesn't. Guess who wins? Throughout, Courtney's comments are restricted to a raised eyebrow and private smile for the camera. I want to crawl into the show and tell her there won't always be a camera to record her silent editorializing. But then again, this is Mario Lopez we're talking about, so maybe there always will be.

I'm not being fair though, right? Lopez doesn't do drugs. He's never shot his fiancée in the arm. He's never trashed hotel rooms. A similarity in decor style is certainly insufficient evidence for dragging anyone's name into the same sentence with Sheen's at the moment. And yet ... there is some weird stuff in Lopez's past. He's been linked to a lot of women of the years. One of whom -- Ali Landry -- he married, only to have the marriage annulled almost instantly over his infidelities. And you recall all that talk from 'Saved By the Bell' alum Dustin Diamond? Allegedly Lopez slept with several 'SBTB' cast members over the years.

But Lopez isn't Sheen -- not by a long shot. In fact, the only thing he's really doing wrong is that he's kind of boring. When it comes to shows about dubiously talented people with babies, I'd probably rather watch the Kardashians or Kendra. But it did strike me that perhaps the title of this show is more than just wordplay meant to remind us exactly what he know this guy from. Maybe, just maybe, settling down and having a baby can save you. Obviously, having kids did nothing to stop Charlie Sheen's downward spiral, but watching Lopez and Mazza, one can hope that in future episodes, Mario will say 'I' a little less and 'we' a little more.

As long as that 'we' doesn't include a graphic-designer-turned-nanny and a porn star, the guy is doing all right.


'Mario Lopez: Saved by the Baby' airs in Canada on Mondays, 9PM ET/10PM PT on Twist TV, and on Monday afternoons (at various times) on VH1 in the US.