With Charlie Sheen gone, CBS and Warner Bros. need to decide fate of `Two and a Half Men'

With Charlie Sheen now history, CBS and Warner Bros. have to decide whether it is worth trying to bring back "Two and a Half Men" next season. 

The show, which stars Sheen as a rogue bachelor who likes to blow his money on liquor and ladies, is CBS' top-rated comedy. CBS' current deal with Warner Bros., which produces "Two and a Half Men," is set to expire at the end of next season.

Without "Two and a Half Men," CBS will have a big hole in its Monday night lineup while Warner Bros. could be looking at hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue from both the network's license fee for the show and rerun money from episodes that will go unmade.

If Sheen is replaced with another actor or the show decides to go forward with the rest of the cast, that would likely require CBS and Warner Bros. to rework their current deal for "Two and a Half Men." The deal CBS has with the studio defines Sheen as a "person of essence," according to people familiar with the contract.

CBS currently shells out about $4 million an episode for the show. Sheen's salary for the show is a little over $1 million an episode. He also gets a cut of rerun money, which brings his total take in his most recent deal to roughly $2 million an episode.

Even if the show continues with a new cast member or with the same cast minus Sheen, CBS would probably push to lower that price tag. Should Warner Bros. and CBS continue on without Sheen, it could also have implications for the reruns of the show that Warner Bros. has already sold to FX and TV stations around the country. Reruns for next season have already been sold, but if the episodes are made without Sheen then that could potentially give the buyers a chance to revisit the deal.

Shows have lost their stars and maintained their success. Sheen himself scored big when he replaced Michael J. Fox on the ABC hit "Spin City." More recently, "American Idol" has performed much better than expected despite the absence of Simon Cowell, who left as a judge of the singing competition. NBC hopes it will find a replacement for Steve Carell when he leaves "The Office" at the end of this season.

CBS and Warner Bros. have ties that go beyond this show. Warner Bros. also produces "The Big Bang Theory" and "Mike and Molly," both from "Two and a Half Men" co-creator Chuck Lorre. The two are also partners in the CW network.

That does not mean they are above sparring though. A little over two years ago, Warner Bros. sued CBS in a dispute over money the studio felt the network owed on "Two and a Half Men." The suit was eventually settled. 

Sheen's lawyer Marty Singer said in an interview that Warner Bros. position on the actor is "without merit" and that he plans to take legal action against the studio and Lorre as early as this week.

"We believe we will ultimately prevail," he said.

-- Joe Flint

Photo: "Two and a Half Men." Credit: Warner Bros. 

Comments

[darlene]

Just because you are angry with Charlie... what about all the other people that will be out of work too? NOT only that, the show is good, it is funny and the chemistry between all the actors make it what it is - successful. Please rethink your "firing" and besides he gives the show free advertising. He is who he is and you knew that when you hired him to begin with. It is a funny show. Fix it.

[j m]

It's over.

[Peter Mallard]

Sad finish to a career.

[waterman605]

One less junkie looking guy

[R. Jain]

Without Charlie Sheen, Two and Half Men is not worth a dime. At least I won't be wasting my time on it. I still can't figure out what triggered Sheen's dismissal. He has been known for his erratic behavior for a long time. Why now? The accusation that he made anti-semitic comments is not credible; that was just a crude trick by the accuser to create a media buzz and create a bogeyman for people to hate. If I listen to and read Sheen's statements, there is nothing antisemitic.

[Matthew Duckworth]

I think it'd be really interesting to see the show without Sheen and possibly bring in a new cast member. It would be a great shame for fans of the show to see it cancelled simply because it lost one of its stars, surely people would still tune in for its others?

[Macca Doo]

ENOUGH ALLREADY !!!!!! GET A LIFE !!!!! NOBODY CARES !!!

[Bill]

This show sucks...who cares?

[rob myers]

show would B nothing w/o mr. sheen

[bryan]

They should get Michael J. Fox to replace Charlie Sheen.

[GrandInquisitor]

Hmmm…Rob Lowe just might work.

[Hal Thompson]

Is the show really that funny?

All those people saying the show will nothing without Sheen make me laugh. They're probably the most anti-drug people out there, yet he provides them with a chuckle once a week, so "he's ok", it's just those other druggies out there that don't have a day job. His example to our already messed up society is terrible. They made the right decision. I would have boycotted CBS had they gone any other route.

[Harva]

I think they should keep 2 1/2 men, have the Charlie's character die, have Jake inherit everything, and then at Charlie's funeral one of his ex-girlfriends should show up with a small boy who is Charlie's son. Charlie's son is the "half" and Jake is the new "man."
I have been watching 2 and a half men since Jake was 10, and personally I am sick of Charlie's part being taken from Charlie Sheen's real life. His character has gotten really sickening.

[Larry Moore]

OR why not replace him with George Lopez, Lets spice it up a little and make it resist at the same time....I'm sure George would jump on that...

[sam]

I never watched the show. It always seemed so stupid and immature. Now I can see why. Glad it's gone. Don't bring it back in any from. Please reprogram with intelligent show.

[goodluckca]

Not only did Sheen make an enviable $2M per episode but Warner and Lorre are gonna pay him jackpot money for their intransigent behavior. Predictions? Start at $30M and work your way up.

[jopsjennings]

I think they will need to replace the entire character. Send him on an extended vacation to the Playboy Mansion or something, and bring in one or two new characters who take the show in a new direction...Not a great chance of succeeding but probably a better chance than trying to have a new actor try to be Alan's brother...

[venizze]

It won't work without him, sheen & tahm are inseparable.
In addition it's not the first time when Sheen gets crazy... why now ?

[jopsjennings]

Send Charlie on an extended trip and bring Emilio in as a new character, that might be fun...

[venizze]

it wont work without him, charlie & tahm are inseparable.
If Lorre said 1.5mn sheen would have said ok however i suppose money has nothing to do with this situation now.

[Bowl Weevils]

Replace him with Judd Nelson and ignore all questions.

[kushibo]

Next season opens with Charlie's character having gone off on some trip somewhere — somewhere potentially dangerous but not necessarily so. He goes missing and the other characters wonder if he's dead, alive, faking his death (a subplot would include a good reason for that), etc.

Hilarity can ensue as they try to figure that out. This could either take us through the season OR if Charlie Sheen gets his act together, his character comes back after bravely escaping from whatever danger it was.

Pirates work. We'll call it "Pirates of the Gulf of Aden."

[kushibo]

Better yet, go through cutting-room floor footage and/or lines from things that got edited out, or ad libs or takes that had to be redone, and build story lines around that. That way you get to have Charlie in the show, but don't have to deal with Charlie the drug-addled actor, Charlie Sheen still gets paid, the audience still gets to see Charlie's character.

See? Everybody happy!

[Christina]

Hire Matt Dillon! Two and a Half Men will go on.

[Ed Marques]

Get Darren from Bewitched to replace him.