Sheen’s woes may shorten ‘Two and a Half Men’ season

LOS ANGELES — Charlie Sheen’s legal and personal problems may end up shortening the season for “Two and a Half Men.”

Sheen, who pleaded not guilty in a Colorado
court Monday on charges connected to a domestic violence incident
involving his wife, is due back at work Tuesday on the set of the No.
1-ranked sitcom. But he’ll be able to complete only four more episodes
this season, which will leave the show two episodes short of the 24
that CBS ordered, according to a source familiar with the situation.

For the two missing weeks, CBS will likely replace “Men” with “Big Bang Theory,” another sitcom produced by Chuck Lorre. (At 9:30 p.m. ET/PT
Mondays, the usual slot for “Theory,” the network might slot reruns of
either show.) The move suggests that “Theory,” which has been gaining
in the ratings, may serve as the network’s new 9 p.m.
anchor comedy if — as now seems likely — “Men” continues to be hampered
by production delays and work stoppages. Production was recently halted
on the show when Sheen suddenly entered rehab, what his publicist
described as a “preventative measure.”

Sheen’s trial, which is due to start July 21, is likely to cause further disruptions for the production schedule of “Men.”

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