UPDATED: As Two And A Half Men star Charlie Sheen's erratic behavior escalated today in a series of verbal assaults on the show's creator-executive producer Chuck Lorre, the sitcom's network and studio did the only thing they could in the situation: pull the plug. But they only did it for this season. (Two and a Half Men was scheduled to resume production on Monday for 4 more episodes). So the door is left open for a possible ninth season. "Based on the totality of Charlie Sheen’s statements, conduct and condition, CBS and Warner Bros TV have decided to discontinue production of Two and a Half Men for the remainder of the season," the two companies said in a statement. The question now is should Two And A Half Men continue? Could the damage done over the past few weeks ever be repaired. And most importantly, will Sheen come back from the brink?
The production shutdown decision was a dramatic ending to a really fascinating day in which Hollywood witnessed a star's self-destruction. First, in a bizarre rant on The Alex Jones radio show this morning, Sheen called Lorre a "charlatan" and a "turd" and would only refer to him by his "real name, Chaim Levine." "Chaim, last time I checked, I spent close to the last decade effortlessly and magically converting your tin cans into pure gold," said Sheen, responding to a tongue-in-cheek vanity card Lorre recently posted on Men that ended with "If Charlie Sheen outlives me, I'm gonna be really pissed."
Then things escalated this afternoon when Sheen, currently vacationing in the Bahamas with 2 porn stars, reached out to TMZ. "I violently hate Chaim Levine," Sheen said. "He's a stupid, stupid little man and a p**sy punk that I'd never want to be like. That's me being polite."
Lorre is said to be very upset by the insults hurled by Sheen who has had a huge career resurgence with Men. Lorre was integrally involved, along with WBTV and CBS, in the decision not to resume production as planned, which was made in a series of meetings precipitated by today's events.
Coming up next is the issue of the innocent bystanders -- the show's crew who face the possibility of no additional pay for this season. WBTV is expected to deal with this compensation issue next week.
As for Two and a Half Men, the last produced episode aired last week. Did we just see the series finale?
