★★★★★ 0/5

One and a Half Men

Is Charlie Sheen really thinking of leaving his US sitcom or is it just a contract ploy?

21
Leave a comment

Reports out of the US yesterday were abuzz with suggestions that Charlie Sheen might quit Two and a Half Men.

An April Fool? With the international dateline it’s entirely possible. But they were already denied by the journos.

The report first surfaced in People which quoted sources saying, “Charlie’s just done. And he’s quietly telling his friends he’s not coming back.”

“He wants to move on,” said another. “Leaving is 100 percent his idea.”

Sheen’s contract ends with the current season, despite the fact the series is renewed until 2012. Were he to truly leave, it’s unclear how it affects that deal.

He is also the highest paid actor in TV, enjoying $900,000 an episode. There is some speculation the talk is simply a ploy to boost his salary. He is short of the $1m the cast of Friends were paid and the $2m per episode Ray Romano cleared by the end of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Yet Sheen has had such a troubled year who knows if he is looking for a lifestyle change?

Could the show continue without him? Variety even cheekily suggests Emilio Estevez might step in.

CBS is yet to confirm anything.

The end of the series would no doubt hurt CBS a lot more than Nine. There’s no shortage of reruns, after all…

Source: People, Variety

21 Responses

  2. Considering Charlie Sheen is just being himself and not acting 1 million is crap in the real world he would be paid nothing and paying out money to all the women he had children with. Oh wait a sec maybe thats why he needs the pay rise

  6. Without Sheen, there’s not much to the show since almost the entire premise of the show is based on Sheen having sex with floozies every episode. And $900, 000 an episode? Geez, what a tough life.

  7. Charlie is playing himself on the show where else is he going to get that? Both Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez have had roles on the show as Rose’ father and Charlie’s best friend respectively.

    CBS is the “it” station in the US for both drama and comedy, NBC is no where near it’s glory days having the power shows like Cheers, Seinfeld and Friends. Throwing some extra cash in will be like a library fine for them.

  9. @Craig: Are you serious? Whether you’re a fan or not, this show has a huge following. A ploy? Perhaps. Either way, there would be heaps of opportunities for Sheen elsewhere.

  12. Oh no Mr Gyngell you better get over there and talk to Charlie. What will you do if he leaves. You will no longer have your precious show. I guess you can keep putting on repeat episodes. But then people will get sick of it.

  14. In a way i hope that this is just a negotiation tactic, it hasn’t come to a natural conclusion. I’d like to see the show have an ending, to fit the premise of it. I know it gets bagged a lot as it is fairly low brow (lets be honest it’s no Cheers, Frasier or Seinfeld), it’s not the worst sitcom to be on tv. I think part of the groaning by many viewers is due to Channel 9 over playing the show in multiple time slots. It’s like the Seinfeld of the 00’s/10’s, however i do concede that unlike many other classic sitcoms…. having seen many of the 2.5 Men episodes multiple times – the majority don’t pack as much laughter in as they did on the first (or second) viewing.

    A silly thing they could do, get Martin Sheen as an older Charlie, Matthew Broderick as a slightly older Alan. Wrap up the series with a “future” perspective look at how they turned out many years later.

  19. does that mean i have to change my screen name?

    I dunno but TMZ (which has been spot on the money at recent times) are saying other wise. The plot thickens!

    Emilio Estevez stepping in? Now that would be classic

  20. Couple of things.

    1) Ray Romano never got 2m per episode, he was getting 1.8m

    2) You can’t compare 1 actor to 6, Charlie is a lead character, whereas Friends was an entire ensemble, they were all going to be paid the same, I can assure you, unless Two and a Half Men decides to make an episode every week with CGI graphics like Transformers or Avatar, it won’t cost $10m per episode like Friends did in the 03-04 season. Thus “theoretically”, CBS can throw around more money.

    3) You compare him to Kelsey Grammer, 1.6m, Paul Reiser & Helent Hunt, 1m, Jerry Seinfeld, 1m and offered 5m per episode to come back for a tenth season.

    4) I wonder what Channel 9 are going to repeat endlessly now, I’m hoping Seinfeld!

    5) What are they going to shove 7:30pm Monday nights, Big Bang Theory? Will it do as good as it’s predecessors, Friends, Two and a Half Men…

Leave a Reply