Trading Mickey for Grissom

What is it with former child actors that either become total self-destruction addicts/victims or go to just "play them on TV."

I'm watching that episode of SVU where Melissa Joan Hart is the teacher who is raped by her student. It's a pretty compelling episode anyway, but God how much would you have wanted to be on the set while they were taping and count how many times you manage to ask her to "explain it all" or "hey, where's Sam?..(baangawang)".

It can't be easy, because you know these actors just want to move on from their childhood (esp cuz I'm sure it wasn't exactly a Disney movie). So it's no surprise they take the first acting gig that has them: naked, doing drugs, or killing someone with a shovel...ANYTHING but what they used to do.

Hell, the cast of Saved By the Bell is a who's who of crazy-character actors. Remember when Mark Paul Gosselaar played that rapist on the Lifetime movie? Or when Tiffany Amber-Thiassen joined the cast of 90210, playing the bad-girl? My personal favorite is Elizabeth Berkley's unforgettable performance in a forgettably bad movie, "Showgirls."

But what is it with the unappealing-wacky characters that have nothing better to do but get into porn? What goes through their minds, I have no idea..."Hmm, I'm not cute and awkward anymore, I'm old, overweight, and awkward. What should I do? I know, I'll get naked in front of a camera so the whole world can see my saggy-ass."

The most notable example of this is the kid from "The Toy" and "A Christmas Story", who started off as a nonsexual porn actor (which has GOT to be low on the rungs of legitimate acting...maybe even below being a CW actor). Then he got his big break and actually got a film all for himself. Good for him, I guess. Just seems a shame (why aren't there ever any hot male actors that we WANT to see get naked go into porn?)

And then of course there was Screech Powers, who for some reason thought he'd get into the sex-biz. I can't help but pity this guy, despite his enormous douchedom that revealed itself on Celebrity Fit Club. He was working the Screech character into his late 20s. When the girls were attacking the set for Zack and A.C., Screech had to settle for the leftovers like a vulture. Otherwise he could hang out in his trailer with Mr. Belding.

So why not go into porn? Maybe he needed some validation, or maybe it was the only business he was allowed in. Either way, like seeing a car accident, I really shouldn't look, but I'm damned curious. And I think you are too...

You can't really blame these guys tho. After years of acting with squeaky-clean dialogue and heart-to-heart talks, wouldn't you want to rebel too? And it's better they do it with their acting rather than in real life. And, as history has a way of repeating itself, it will be interesting to see what acting jobs the cast of iCarly or Camp Rock end up getting. Taylor Swift already had a gig on CSI where she wound up dead. Maybe Zac Efron will grow up to be a psychopathic serial killer in a Lifetime movie. But who'll be the ones that end up in porn? Eh...give it a few years...