'Two and a Half Men' production halted for rest of the season

Two and a Half Men type TV Show network CBS

Image Credit: Greg Gayne/CBSCBS and Warner Bros. have had enough.

The companies are pulling the plug on the highly rated Two and a Half Men after Charlie Sheen’s shocking Thursday interviews.

“Based on the totality of Charlie Sheen’s statements, conduct and condition, CBS and Warner Bros. Television have decided to discontinue production of Two and a Half Men for the remainder of the season,” the companies said in a statement.

Earlier today in separate radio and TMZ interviews, Charlie Sheen verbally attacked Two and a Half Men co-creator Chuck Lorre, calling him a “clown,” a “stupid, stupid little man” and said he “violently hates” the producer. Sheen also a remark, which some are labeling antisemitic, when he twice referred to Lorre with a name that sounds like “Haim Levine” (Lorre was born Charles Michael Levine).

CBS had no comment on what will fill the Men timeslot, but the network has plenty of options — executives often boast of having so many successful shows that finding spots for new ones can be difficult. When production on Men was first halted a month ago, CBS commissioned two more episodes of Rules of Engagement and mulled ordering more Mike & Molly. Repeats of Men also perform extremely well. Plus the network has already expanded its Monday comedy block to Thursdays by moving Big Bang Theory this season and added new comedy $#*! My Dad Says, a move that could be retracted if push came to shove.

The halting the show does, of course, throw the entire future of the hit series into question. Sheen was signed through the end of next season. A network will typically decide on a show’s fate in time for its upfront presentation in May, but one shouldn’t expect anything about Men to be typical at this point.

UPDATE: TMZ says Charlie Sheen sent them an open letter responding to the decision to shut down the show, during which the actor continues to insult Lorre: “I wish him nothing but pain in his silly travels especially if they wind up in my octagon. Clearly I have defeated this earthworm with my words — imagine what I would have done with my fire breathing fists…” etc.

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