The Morning Fix: CBS down to one and a half men as Sheen is canned. Facebook and Warner Bros. do movie deal. Tosh.0 is cash cow.
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
After the coffee. Before deciding who should replace Charlie Sheen.
The Skinny: How does ‘One and a Half Men’ sound? CBS may soon find out now that Warner Bros. has fired Charlie Sheen. Team Sheen will likely fire back with a lawsuit against the studio. In other words, it’ll be another week of all Charlie, all the time.
Still winning? Warner Bros. has had enough of Charlie Sheen, the rebellious star of the CBS sitcom ‘Two and a Half Men.’ The studio, which produces the show for CBS, fired Sheen on Monday afternoon after almost two weeks of nonstop rants by Sheen against the studio, CBS and the show’s co-creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre. Sheen had been angry that the show had been put on hiatus after the bosses told him to clean up and then when he proclaimed himself clean after a couple of weeks, he started bashing his bosses for not letting him get back to work. Sheen’s legal team indicated they will likely sue Warner Bros. and Lorre for violating his contract while Warners has indicated Sheen already violated the deal by being unable to perform and for engaging in a reckless lifestyle. More than you’ll ever want to read from the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Wrap, Deadline Hollywood, and, of course, TMZ and Radar.
Status update. Now not only can you use Facebook to tell your friends you’ve gone to get coffee, you can watch movies on it. Warner Bros. said Monday it has struck a deal to use the social networking site to rent movies online. The cost per rental will be $3. I may be nuts, but I think it is only a matter of time before Facebook starts offering its own version of cable. Details on the Warner Bros. deal from Hollywood Reporter.
New player. As expected, two of the nation’s largest movie theater chains -- AMC and Regal -- are getting into the movie distribution business. The two have launched Open Road Films with an eye toward acquiring as many as 10 films a year. Movie industry vet Tom Ortenberg will serve as chief executive. Odds for success are difficult to gauge, but one thing is for certain. Don’t look for Open Road to be offering its movies on video-on-demand or DVD just two months after their theatrical release. Details from Variety and the Los Angeles Times.
Fair and balanced isn’t cheap. News Corp. President Chase Carey is pounding the drum for higher fees for Fox News Channel from cable and satellite operators. Speaking at an investment bank conference, Carey said the channel is second only to ESPN in terms of its value to distributors and consumers. Currently, the channel gets about 75 cents per subscriber. Guessing Carey wants to get that figure over a dollar. More from Multichannel News.
You talking to me? The New York Post says director Martin Scorsese has been hit with a $2.85-million Internal Revenue Service tax lien. A spokeswoman for Scorsese told the paper it’s a mistake and he owes no money. In other words, fuhgeddaboudit.
Inside the Los Angeles Times: How Tosh.o became a mega-hit for Comedy Central. Former porn star Ginger Lynn talks about life with Charlie Sheen.
-- Joe Flint
Follow me on Twitter. It’s like your own news service. twitter.com/JBFlint
