As is customary, Lowe, who has decided to leave the Emmy Award winning "West Wing" in a contract dispute, has not been informed of the intervention. Usually reserved for people with drug and alcohol problems, the intervention is a tool that families and friends have been using for years to guilt and shame loved ones into admitting that they have a problem. The planned event is widely believed to be the first intervention to stop someone from leaving a hit TV show.
"Rob really needs all of us to get together and convince him that he has a problem," said David Caruso who's decision to leave NYPD Blue to be a movie star has led to a life of obscurity. "It's hard to see clearly when you have those two substances fogging your mind."
The two substances Carruso was referring to are money and pride, which have been the end of many Hollywood careers.
Lowe makes $75,000 and episode on the "West Wing" which multiplied by his 16 remain episodes equals 1.2 million dollars. "It's hard to see a guy so out of touch with reality. When 1.2 million dollars a year is not enough money to overcome your pride, then you should probably take a year off and try to sell cars," said Todd Bridges who was in the 80's hit "Diff'rent Strokes" but has since had problems dealing with his fall from fame and is currently working at Honda of Pasadena in Pasadena, California. "See if selling Hondas to twenty-year olds who just got their first commercial is any fun."
"Rob has been a big help to me privately," R. Kelly, the R&B singer who was accused earlier this year of making a sexual home video with underage girls, said of Lowe who in 1988 was accused of making a sexual home video with underage girls. "He has told me how to play the media game. Get out of the business for a couple of years, be the bad guy in crappy Lorne Michaels movies to show you can poke fun at yourself and before you know it you'll be making $75,000 an episode on a serious show. He never said anything about leaving that show and looking like a whiny little bitch, but hey, he hasn't been wrong yet."
Many in the industry note Lowe's long career and resulting financial situation and wonder if the ex-star studded event planned for next Friday at Spago in Hollywood will do any good.
Said an unnamed source at the William Morris Agency which currently represents Lowe, "I think this will give Rob a chance to address the people critical of this decision and remind them of what losers they were when they quit their own shows."
