CBS chief Leslie Moonves downplays financial effect of Charlie Sheen drama

While CBS misses the ratings from the loss of its top comedy "Two and a Half Men," CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves downplayed the financial effect at an investor conference Tuesday. The network, he said, was saving money on production costs.

"Short-term, financially, it is actually a gainer for us," Moonves said at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecommunications conference in San Francisco. "Doing eight less original episodes saves us a lot of money."

Related: A totally gnarly, bi-winning guide to Charlie Sheen's best quotes

CBS and Warner Bros., which owns the show, last week pulled the plug on "Two and a Half Men" for the remainder of the season after Sheen made derogatory comments about the show's co-creator Chuck Lorre, referring to him as "Haim Levine" and calling him a "clown."  

Moonves said he didn't know how the Sheen drama ultimately would end up, and he would not speculate whether there would be a ninth season next year of television's highest-rated comedy.

The CBS chief took a shot at Sheen's whirlwind media tour during the last few days. On Monday, Sheen -- who has declared war on CBS and Warner Bros., was interviewed by NBC's "Today Show," ABC's "Good Morning America" and TMZ and spent an hour on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight." The media tour continues Tuesday with more on "Today," a special ABC "20/20" and Howard Stern's satellite radio show.

"He's been on the air a lot," Moonves mused. "I just wished he would have worked this hard to promote himself for an Emmy."

Moonves spent much of his time talking about the value of CBS content. He noted that even an ancient sitcom such as "I Love Lucy" still generates more than $10 million annually.

"Content is forever," Moonves said, which sounds like his take on CBS Chairman Sumner Redstone's mantra, "content is king."

Proving his point on the value of content was CBS's recent deal with Netflix. Last week, Netflix bought rights to CBS programming to offer online to its subscribers. While terms were not disclosed, people familiar with the two-year deal put its value at $200 million.

"This to us is found money," Moonves said of the agreement.

Netflix wanted current shows including "NCIS," but Moonves drew the line there. "They wanted the family jewels," he said, adding that he wants to make sure CBS is not damaging the rerun market before offering new shows on various online platforms.

"We're not going to upset the apple cart," he proclaimed.

Once again the CBS CEO indicated he is in no rush to do business with Hulu, the online video site co-owned by media giants News Corp., NBC Universal and Walt Disney Co. Moonves said he doesn't like joint-ventures with competitors, adding that from what he hears "some of the people currently in Hulu are not so happy they are in Hulu."

Related: Who would replace Charlie Sheen on 'Two and a Half Men'? The speculation begins

Charlie Sheen's lawyer comes out swinging against CBS, Warner Bros. and Chuck Lorre

Charlie Sheen: 'I'm tired of pretending like I'm not special'

-- Meg James and Joe Flint

Top photo: Charlie Sheen on ABC's "20/20" with Andrea Canning. Credit: Associated Press

Bottom photo: CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves. Credit: Justin Lane / EPA

Comments

[JohnRJ08]

CBS didn't want to give the appearance that it is enabling Sheen's mental nose-dive by continuing to pay him $2 million per episode despite his obvious deterioration. It had no choice but to stop production and begin distancing itself from the actor. Sheen thinks that because he never came to the set too high to work that he can sue the studio for breach of contract. That's an amateurish view of the law. The negative publicity that Sheen has brought upon himself has made CBS look like it was facilitating his drug addiction.

Charlie Sheen may have "tiger blood and Adonis DNA", but he seems very close to learning the same lesson that people like John Belushi, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Lenny Bruce, Kurt Cobain, Anna Nicole Smith, River Phoenix, Elvis Presley, and Heath Ledger learned. Feeling indestructible is the symptom of addiction that makes it so deadly.

[peaches]

With that logic, Leslie, cancel ALL your shows, you'd save a fortune. Maybe instead of shows, you could just show vanity cards, a different one each night.

[tony almonte]

What else is he gonna say?

[marcus]

hey Moonves the clown, why don't you put your shows on hulu. alot of people work at night and miss some shows and would like to catch up.
always the dollars dude. tired of too many commercials. it seem to you guys are adding more and more. to the point that you show a series for 3 mins and then commercials.
come dude.

[Tom]

They have to cancel the show. After eight seasons, the whole staff is pay-or-play for the full 24 episodes. The network can't renew since they can't afford to risk that on an unstable star.

[jonathan guggenheim]

Politics makes strange bedfellows...

[Diana]

Regretably to speak of this 'person' is not my first choice of things to do today. But what the heck....Having said that, in my humble estimation, Sheen has absolutely no redeemable qualities. He is a loser, with NO integrity and NOT one moral. He is completely bankrupt of moral fibre and self-respect, his respect of others is NIL. If he was my son, he would NOT enter/visit my home, EVER. He is a vile little man with nothing to offer as a 'human being.' I would be absolutely horrified to meet someone like that, I just don't know anyone personally that is that shallow and empty spiritually speaking and in character... Gratefully!
Please keep him in the USA, some of this "sickness" might rub off on our young people north of the border. NO I won't be watching Two and a Half Men ever again. I just can't, as I will always have this loser's behaviour in the back of my mind, so to blazes with it. I have better things to do with my time.
I feel terrible for the producers and crew not to mention the other actors on that program. They ABSOLUTELY DO NOT DESERVE BEING DRAGGED DOWN IN THE GUTTER WITH SHEEN. What a flap brain he is. He is a thoughtless selfish, self-centered idiot. To bad no one implemented tough love on that spoiled over indulged loser. HE disgusts me.
I never thought I would see the day when Hollywood would be manufacturing people like the Sheens and the Lohens of this world. I am shocked at the behavior of Sheen and his lack of concern for his producers, who have tolerated his bad behaviour for awhile now.
He (Sheen) has no people skills and NOT a gram of social graces. He is a waste of skin. it's like banging ones head against the wall, getting a concusion and blaming the wall for the injury..Sheen blames everyone for his drugs and alcohol abuse, and his failure of work ethics. He fails to see his own shortcomings. God knows he has enough to sink a ship.
I haven't seen anyone with such monumental arrogance in decades. Hitler comes to mind though.
He rules with terror and he is a bully, thus the lack of dignity. He always has to threaten just to intimidate others as he hasn't the intelligence to handle this civily. He does not have a noble bone in his body. Sadly, he should be wearing a jacket with 63 inch sleeves and left to slobber all over himself in a mental hospital. He's a walking spinal cord and a danger to society. Tarnations people ignore him. Who needs this? Life is far to short and time far to valuable.

[S. Smith]

It is too bad when a talented actor is bipolar, thinks he is special, thinks he is the only one who matters. Way back when with Heidi Fleiss and other occasions, this mania was already evident. He should not be re-signed for the show. He needs help.

[David B.]

Possible replacements if they continue with the show next season:
Ricky Gervais, Mike Myers, Billy Crystal, Seth Rogan, David Spade or Charlie the Tuna.

[a.a.lee]

I would love to take wagers on this drama.

In this corner we have CBS taking the "Moral High Ground."

In the other corner we have Charlie Sheen who admits to and who has been known to "Party Like a Rock Star."

Both sides have legit legs to stand on in their defense.

CBS is right, Sheen is obviously an addict and needs to sober up for his own health and for those that are impacted by his behavour.

Sheen is right, CBS has a contract to produce the show. They have the right to refuse Sheen's contributions. The rest of the people that work on the show should not be impacted by CBS's decision to cancel production.

For Moonves to say the network is saving money is outrageous though. CBS looses all the advertising money, wages and lost royalties.

[Colin Flaherty]

these are not emotional problems. nor does he have a disease. and he is not just acting kooky. this guy is clearly and transparently suffering the permanent and debilitating effects of the currently popular mind altering drugs.\\

[Susan]

Two and a Half Men is and has been my favorite show on TV. While most people may not agree with Charlie's private life choices, and quite frankly I personally don't myself, ..... if he is delivering on his job obligations and continuing to make the show great, I'm not sure why CBS has the right to cancel the show. I also don't understand why the co-creator/writer is allowed to put inflamatory and degrading comments in a "vanity card" as they are called, at the end of the show. That was tacky to say the least and unprofessional and inappropriate to air to the viewing audience.

Yes Charlie needs to get some help in the management of his personal life...however, unless he is proven to be breaking the law in court, which CBS could say is grounds for firing if that is in his contract, or if there are other clear areas of his contract that he is violating........then it does not seem right that CBS is able to cancel the show.
Otherwise, any of us in our careers could be fired for making personal life choices that someone in our business does not agree with, which may have nothing to do with impacting our jobs. Mind you I'm as squeaky clean as they come but in our country the idea that someone would fire me if I were a big partier...or had an addiction, or had a big ego...that did not negatively impact my job seems wrong and illegal.

The co-creator seems to have just as big of an ego as Charlie so why isn't he being blasted by CBS as well for his role in this issue.

The viewing audience loves this show, we do not care about Charlie's personal life. So unless he is a convicted criminal of some kind, or violating his contract, then his personal life is his business, regardless of what people may think is or is not morally right.
Charlie has issues yes, but he is also a brilliant comic actor and is so witty I would venture to guess he may actually have a high IQ or at least maybe did before the drugs and alcohol in the past. However, his situation is not the same as someone who has broken the law and been convicted. It would be interesting to see CBS's contract with him to know more about what they are saying he has broken in the contract. Maybe CBS could define a new contract with Charlie moving forward that states clearly their expectations of him personally while associated with CBS.
CBS execs should let the people of the show go back to work and produce great new Two and a Half Men shows (with Charlie Sheen and not a replacement. )Otherwise, we'll just change the channel off of CBS in that time slot to some other network.