Two and a Half Men: Eight Episodes Cancelled, Season Eight Cut Short

Charlie Sheen and the rest of the cast and crew of Two and a Half Men were scheduled to go back to work on Monday — but not anymore.

Warner Bros., who produces the series, shut down production in January in an attempt to get Sheen into rehab. Sheen agreed to treatment but was apparently none too pleased about it and has made numerous strange and angry statements to the press.

Sheen’s latest tirade came yesterday in a radio interview on the Alex Jones Show. Sheen spoke out against Alcoholics Anonymous and referred to it as a “bootleg cult” with a 5% success rate, compared to his own 100% success rate.

Sheen also went on a tirade against series creator Chuck Lorre that borders on anti-Semitic. He said, “I’m tired of being told ‘You can’t talk about that, you can’t talk about that.’ Bull S-*-*-T. There’s something this side of deplorable that a certain Chaim Levine — yeah, that’s Chuck’s real name — mistook this rock star for his own selfish exit strategy, bro. Check it, Alex. I embarrassed him in front of his children and the world by healing at a pace that his unevolved mind cannot process. Last I checked, Chaim, I spent close to the last decade effortlessly and magically converting your tin cans into pure gold. And the gratitude I get is this charlatan chose not to do his job, which is to write. Clearly someone who believes he’s above the law.”

In light of that, it was decided that production be suspended for the remainder of the season. In a joint statement, CBS and Warner Bros. issued the following statement, “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.”

That didn’t set well with Sheen and the actor released a letter of his own to TMZ (which is also owned by Warner Bros., coincidentally)…

What does this say about Haim Levine [Chuck Lorre] after he tried to use his words to judge and attempt to degrade me. I gracefully ignored this folly for 177 shows… I fire back once and this contaminated little maggot can’t handle my power and can’t handle the truth. 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. I urge all my beautiful and loyal fans who embraced this show for almost a decade to walk with me side-by-side as we march up the steps of justice to right this unconscionable wrong.

Remember these are my people … not yours…we will continue on together…

Charlie Sheen

For the record, Lorre’s given name is Charles Michael Levine.

Because of the initial hiatus, Warner Bros. had planned to cut the top-rated sitcom’s season from 24 to 20 episodes. Now that production has been shut down for the season, there will only be 16 installments. The last original episode of the season aired on Valentine’s Day, February 14th. There certainly doesn’t seem to be any love lost between Sheen and Lorre and the studio now.

What do you think of this situation? Is Sheen justified for being upset or is the studio and network doing the right thing? Will they make up eventually?