Here's a divorce lab experiment that doesn't work. Mix two celebs with big egos for a toxic brew of parenting no-nos. There was just another court appearance in Los Angeles in the battle between "Two and a Half Men" actor Charlie Sheen and his ex-wife, Denise Richards, who has a new reality show called "Denise Richards: It's Complicated."

Note to Richards: Your behavior is making your life more complicated..

Sheen and Richards married in 2002 and have two daughters, Sam, 4, and Lola, 3. She filed for divorce when she was pregnant with Lola, in 2005.

Their divorce was made final in 2006, but the custody battle has raged on with accusations (dragged through the press) of bizarre emails from her to Sheen, a restraining order against him (he was ordered to stay at least 300 feet from Richards, her home, her car and their daughters, except during supervised visits) and her accusations that he was a gambler, took drugs, and had violent mood swings.

On his side, Sheen had requested that their daughters not appear on her reality show, which premiered on E on Memorial Day. Too late, they are already on it.

And, of course, they battled endlessly over Sheen's visitation rights.

Sheen, 46, got married last month to Brooke Mueller, a real estate investor. Richards said she was happy for him, and had sent a wedding present in their daughters' names.

That rapprochement didn't last long.

Sheen and Richards were in court on July 17, and again yesterday in Los Angeles. Richards asked a judge to restrict Sheen's access to the girls, because "they were having problems." She was said to have a videotape with her that would demonstrate their bad behavior after being with their father, but the videotape was not shown in court.

Sheen now claims that yesterday's court appearance changed nothing about his visitation rights. Richards' lawyer, Neal Hersh, told TMZ that the judge's orders were specifically directed toward Charlie. And said further that the orders were "not a victory for Charlie."

Sheen also has a daughter, Cassandra, 23, from a previous relationship. His new wife, Mueller, who is 30, has said she hopes to have triplets.

It's all so very sad and unnecessary. The children shouldn't be a ping-pong between the battling parents.

They really should surrender their egos for the greater good and try to compromise.

Children want to have a relationship with their parents and Sheen's new family can also be a positive force in their lives.

That's the reality here.