Since its premiere in 2003, 178 episodes of “Three and a Half Men” have been produced. Without Sheen, CBS will be lucky to get another full season, but with him they’re almost certain to pass the 250 episode mark. The difference is at minimum 30 to 60 more episodes, and when you combine ad revenue, DVD sales and the lucrative syndication deals in the form of reruns that will live on for decades, you’re talking hundreds of million of dollars lost over what appears to be a personality dispute between an irreplaceable star (Charlie Sheen) and a wildly successful television producer/creator (Chuck Lorre). On the flip-side, does Sheen really want to bank his career on personal tours and a late night talk show when three to five years of millions-per-episode is guaranteed? No one’s that crazy, not even Charlie Sheen.
There’s simply no upside for either party not to work this out.
Post-firing, Sheen’s played it pretty smart. Thanks to his, uhm, antics, he’s a bigger star after the firing than before. He obviously understands the power of celebrity and how to maximize it and in the process quite deliberately made himself more valuable to the network today than while the show was in production. The publicity surrounding his return to a sitcom that’s already one of the most popular on television would be the stuff of legend. If the report below is true, my guess is that everyone’s sobering up (for lack of a better word) and looking at the win-win involved with getting back to work.
The president and CEO of CBS was working Monday toward bringing disgraced TV star Charlie Sheen back to “Two and a Half Men,” RadarOnline reported. …The source added, “The core issue is, as he put it, the volatile relationship between Charlie Sheen and Chuck Lorre. He believes that if CBS and Warner Bros. TV honchos can find a way to get Chuck and Charlie to speak again, cooler heads will prevail.”
Sheen, whose recent bizarre public pronouncements and enforced spell in rehab led to questions of his mental state, was cashing in on his infamy with a rant-inspired 20-date concert tour.
Sheen’s been awfully quiet lately, as well. Which might be another sign negotiations are in play.
I’ve never seen an episode of “Men,” and though I’m a big fan of Sheen’s under-appreciated and under-rated B-movie run in 90s, I really have no dog in this fight. But I do find the political and business maneuverings of Hollywood endlessly fascinating — especially at this level.
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