If Charlie Sheen’s camp is behind the reports that CBS wants him back on the smash comedy “Two and a Half Men” then he isn’t really “Winning. Duh.” because Warner Bros. sources are shooting that prospect down in no uncertain terms:
There is “no chance” of Charlie Sheen coming back to “Two and a Half Men” — this according to sources connected to the production of the show.
A story has been circulating that CBS wants Charlie back on the show. Fact is … Charlie was hired by Warner Bros. and, as TMZ first reported, fired by Warner Bros. Only Warner Bros. can bring him back, and sources directly connected to the production tell us there is “no chance” of that happening.
The report says executive producer Chuck Lorre — the target of much of Sheen’s verbal abuse — is pondering the show’s future and a possible casting replacement. And the source also labels the stories about Sheen’s possible or even likely return as “bogus.”
On the other hand, if reports that Fox has talked to Sheen are true and Sheen gets some kind of show there that gets big ratings, Sheen will be “Winning! Duh!” But the big question for any future Sheen TV series would be whether after an initial and predictable huge tune in, would audience stay and grow? And if he is over the top in an endearing way can he continue to top his over the top before he becomes “Boring. Duh!”?
But don’t hold your breath waiting for him to return on “Two and a Half Men.” As someone who was in the news biz, the TMZ report sounds well-sourced and it would be surprising if Sheen returned to the show.
Which shows that employers — even those with millions at stake if they let an employee go — do have limits.
FOOTNOTE: It’s always said “deaths happen in threes” when it comes to celebrities (I had that case in my life recently with three non-celebrities who I know who passed within the same five day period). And this wasn’t lost on Zsa Zsa Gabor, according to Radaronline:
Upon learning that her dear friend Elizabeth Taylor has passed away on Wednesday morning, Zsa Zsa Gabor became so upset that she was rushed back to the hospital in Los Angeles, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.
Zsa Zsa’s husband Frederic Prinz von Anhalt told RadarOnline.com that his wife was watching television when the story broke of Taylor’s death.
Taylor and Gabor, 94, had been friends for decades and she “went hysterical” after she was told of her passing.
“Zsa Zsa said celebrities go in threes and I’m next,” her husband said she exclaimed
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.