“Two and a Half Men” is down one man. But Charlie Sheen’s firing doesn’t mean that the hit sitcom, or its unruly star, is going anywhere soon.
Production of this CBS series — TV’s No. 1 sitcom — had already been shut down for the rest of the season following the erratic actor’s wild partying, repeated hospitalizations and verbal salvos against his studio bosses.
In making the announcement on Monday, Warner Bros. Television said no decision has been made about continuing the show without Sheen, who earned a reported $1.8 million per episode under a contract that extended for another year.
But even with the axing of the “Men” leading man, Sheen leaves behind eight seasons of hit-show episodes.
CBS has been airing “Men” repeats for several weeks in its regular time slot, Mondays at 9 p.m. EST. Reruns of the show are also seen in daily syndication and on cable’s FX.
Come to think of it, Sheen’s latest round of misbehavior feels like a rerun everyone had seen repeatedly from the actor, whose substance abuse and messy love life claimed the public’s attention long before “Men” came along.
Sheen’s hard-living image was a major inspiration for the series.
Charlie Harper was boasting to his dweebish, high-strung chiropractor brother, Alan (Jon Cryer), whose wife had just thrown him out of the house. Alan and his then 10-year-old son, Jake (Angus T. Jones), were seeking refuge with the none-too-welcoming Charlie.
The show was an immediate hit and remains a smash, this season averaging 14.7 million viewers.
“I don’t want their lives and they want mine, but they want to criticize the hell out of it,” he said last week on “Piers Morgan Tonight,” lashing out at those who challenge him.
Bottom line: No one else is as awesome in Charlie World. The foolish, fumbling Alan is a comic surrogate for the rest of us and, watching “Men,” we laugh at him, but it’s in painful recognition. Meanwhile, we are meant to envy Sheen as he selectively flaunts himself as Charlie Harper.
All that’s over, in a sense, with his sacking. No new episodes of “Men” will star the man who triggered it. Maybe the series can’t survive in his absence.
But “Two and a Half Men” reruns will live on. And odds are, Sheen will press on with his real-life sideshow of craziness no sitcom could ever hope to rival.
