# CBS pulls plug on Two and a Half Men

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 25, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534 "2011-02-25T02:45:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 8

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/141 "2011-03-02T05:11:03Z")

</div>

The latest interview looks strongly like some manic episodes that I have seen. Thank God I’m only a depressive because it looks really sad and dangerous.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/142 "2011-03-02T11:01:44Z")

</div>

> [@Mehitabel](#):
>
> 7/10 too. I had no idea Sheen was a 9/11 truther or whatever. If it didn’t happen, where’s my friend Debbie, and the Mike Lynch my brother went to HS school with, or…

Yeah, that’s the one that surprised me. I was too lazy to spoiler it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/143 "2011-03-02T13:16:10Z")

</div>

The rumor mill seems to be churning again. CBS is reporting the possibility that [John Stamos has been asked to replace Charlie Sheen.](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20037735-10391698.htmlhttp://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsHealth/~3/brhrnDaHN88/8301-31749_162-20037735-10391698.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/144 "2011-03-02T14:12:34Z")

</div>

[Charlie du jour](http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/charlie-sheen-los-angeles-police-remove-charlie-sheens/story?id=13035838)–Twin boys taken from his home; their mother has a restraining order againsy Sheen.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/145 "2011-03-02T14:30:35Z")

</div>

> [@gonzomax](#):
>
> He is a terrible actor.

Charlie Sheen is a bad actor? You can’t be serious…

I mean, I can understand the “manufactured backlash against celebrity against which you have no clue what to have against” meme and one subscribing to it - God knows we subscribe to even less of an issue, but to call him a “bad actor” is a bit too much.

I’ll admit he’s the one who won me over to watch the show in the first place - the other guy is just too much in both verbal and non-verbal communication, and the kid is just like any kid on TV, a well-meaning robotic exclamation of lines that we see and not feel he does not own. The only guy who makes the show funny is Charlie. Of course, it’s always easier to say he is not acting (it is his life after all) than to give the man a credit. It is sometimes really hard to watch a scene where Charlie is not there. Anyways, he is not a bad actor.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/146 "2011-03-02T16:37:54Z")

</div>

> [@Mehitabel](#):
>
> 7/10 too. I had no idea Sheen was a 9/11 truther or whatever. If it didn’t happen, where’s my friend Debbie, and the Mike Lynch my brother went to HS school with, or…

Sheen is pals with Alex Jones; he called in to Jones’s radio show the other day. Jones is this wacky conspiracy theorist guy who, among other ventures, has made documentaries about 9/11.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/147 "2011-03-02T21:41:57Z")

</div>

I’m disappointed. Nobody here has yet suggested he may be on a drug called MA-Sheen!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/148 "2011-03-02T21:43:53Z")

</div>

> [@Annie-Xmas](#):
>
> [Charlie du jour](http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/charlie-sheen-los-angeles-police-remove-charlie-sheens/story?id=13035838)–Twin boys taken from his home; their mother has a restraining order againsy Sheen.

Those poor kids: their mom’s in rehab herself and only sees them 4 hours per day. The porn star is probably the closest thing they have to stability. They’re believed to be staying with their maternal grandparents. At least Charlie’s grown and married daughter seems stable.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/149 "2011-03-02T22:19:28Z")

</div>

> [@Mehitabel](#):
>
> 7/10 too. I had no idea Sheen was a 9/11 truther or whatever. If it didn’t happen, where’s my friend Debbie, and the Mike Lynch my brother went to HS school with, or…

Oh, Truthers believe that it happened, but that the US Gov’t or Israel or The Bohemian Grove or anyone besides militant Muslims were behind it.

Now for my sad confession & question, who else besides me saw Charlie’s “goddess” Rachel & said “Isn’t that Bree Olsen?”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/150 "2011-03-02T23:22:46Z")

</div>

I haven’t watched _Two And A Half Men_ so maybe most of you already know about his physique, but I was very surprised to see that Sheen is in such good shape physically. Check him out [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ciFGqXIUPU) at about 4:25 into the clip on GMA where he’s shown working out and showing off his abs. Apart from whatever damage done by his other indulgences, this is a 46-year-old guy who smokes. Given the shape he is in, the fact that he’s apparently never missed a day’s work, and that he seems to have taken himself off drugs and alcohol in a very short time by sheer dint of will, he seems to be a person of extraordinary mental discipline…when he isn’t going bonkers, that is.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/151 "2011-03-02T23:41:37Z")

</div>

He doesn’t count rehearsals as “work,” apparently, by his own admission.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/152 "2011-03-02T23:55:53Z")

</div>

I think he admitted to showing up late for rehearsals a time or two, but said he’s never missed a taping nor caused the production to lose any money.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/153 "2011-03-03T01:32:14Z")

</div>

Several TV stars have been disdainful of rehearsals. Two very dissimilar actors who blew them off include Fred McMurray who just flat out wouldn’t do them on _My Three Sons_- it was even written into his contract that they rehearse with a stand in and all his scenes be shot in two months (that’s why many feature him standing alone)- and Jackie Gleason was notorious for refusing to rehearse.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/154 "2011-03-03T01:48:35Z")

</div>

> [@joebuck20](#):
>
> I’m disappointed. Nobody here has yet suggested he may be on a drug called MA-Sheen!

Or that he’s possessed by hot lesbian witches.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/155 "2011-03-03T02:31:22Z")

</div>

> [@joebuck20](#):
>
> Or that he’s possessed by hot lesbian witches.

If there was a showdown between hot lesbian witches and Vatican warlock assassins, who would you bet on?

I hope whoever has his twins remembers not to feed them or get them wet after midnight.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/156 "2011-03-03T02:40:43Z")

</div>

> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> Several TV stars have been disdainful of rehearsals. Two very dissimilar actors who blew them off include Fred McMurray who just flat out wouldn’t do them on _My Three Sons_- it was even written into his contract that they rehearse with a stand in and all his scenes be shot in two months (that’s why many feature him standing alone)- and Jackie Gleason was notorious for refusing to rehearse.

McMurray’s contract was written that way to give him time for outside projects. You will note Brian “Family Affair” Keith also had a similar contract. He used to work only so many weeks per year. That is why all the shows were shot out of order with Keith’s parts done first.

I have the _Family Affair_ DVDs and Kathy “Sissy” Garver, says it was hard on her and Sebastian “Mr French” Cabot as they were the only two that could work anytime. Both being over 18. The child actors were restricted to 6 hours a day. As she described it, you don’t really notice how often Garver and Cabot’s scenes are closeups of them talking. In reality they are talking to stage hands that are filling in for the child actors or Brian Keith. She said, the shot with Keith came first and then the shots with the kids had next priority and then she and Cabot often would stay till past midnight filling it what was left over

Both _Family Affair_ and _My Three Sons_ were Don Fedderson productions

George Burns in his books says he didn’t like to rehearse as he didn’t know how to read very well. And he was embarrassed to admit it. He says his level of reading was about at third grade. His assistant would get the script and spend the day reading it to him and he’d have the whole thing memorized very quickly.

Burns says he had trouble working with Lucille Ball, as she was known for being a stickler for rehearsing things to death and being in business so long he didn’t need to. He says he liked Lucy but not her obsession with rehersals.

Speaking of Lucy, William “Fred” Frawley didn’t like to rehearse. In fact Vivian Vance says he’s get his script and mark HIS PART only and learn it very fast. She said, often he didn’t know what was going on, storywise, 'cause he only learned his part.

So you can see different actors have different methods.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/157 "2011-03-03T04:21:47Z")

</div>

Yeah, IIRC both Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra more or less refused to rehearse. I recall reading once that a nervous young actress wanted to rehearse her scene with Dino and he graciously acquiesed to _one_ run through.

And it was reported that Sinatra, in addition to his resentment over losing the role of Sky Masterson to Marlon Brando, also resented Brando’s style of delivery and his insistence on endless rehearsals. On one occasion Sinatra got so fed up that he stormed off to his trailer, yelling at the director to call him when “Mumbles” is through rehearsing.

Must be nice to have that kind of suck.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/158 "2011-03-03T05:10:37Z")

</div>

> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> If there was a showdown between hot lesbian witches and Vatican warlock assassins, who would you bet on?
> 
> I hope whoever has his twins remembers not to feed them or get them wet after midnight.

“Vatican assassin warlocks”- they are warlocks who assassinate for the Vatican, not assassins of warlocks for the Vatican.

And yeah, my money is also on the HLW’s! In lots of ways.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/159 "2011-03-03T06:46:38Z")

</div>

Okay, I wasn’t going to bring this up before, but it occurred to me that Charlie was thinking of the second _Twilight_ movie when he said “Vatican assassin warlocks.” He meant to say “Vatican assassin _vampires_,” didn’t he?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2011, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534/160 "2011-03-03T07:02:26Z")

</div>

Okay, here it is:

[The Argument You’re Having With Yourself About Charlie Sheen](http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/03/charlie_sheen_the_conversational_flow_chart.html). It sums it all up.

And there’s a “celebrity death pool” reference!

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534.md?page=7)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-pulls-plug-on-two-and-a-half-men/572534.md?page=9)
