Sitcom may go on without sacked star Sheen

ACTOR Charlie Sheen may have gone, but his phenomenally successful US sitcom Two and a Half Men is likely to stay around.

Although the eight-year-old show is ageing and revolved around Sheen’s playboy character Charlie Harper, Warner Bros Television and CBS have every incentive to try to keep it going after producers fired him Monday.

The show is a huge money-maker, it is the most popular comedy on the air, and in syndication. But the more important question might be whether viewers will buy a remade show next autumn.

There are numerous examples of shows losing stars and carrying on with other actors, although not necessarily in the same roles.

It has happened to Sheen before. He worked for two years on Spin City, essentially replacing original star Michael J Fox in 2000 when Parkinson’s disease made it impossible for Fox to continue. Farrah Fawcett-Majors was television’s biggest new star when she left Charlie’s Angels in 1977, although she made guest appearances afterwards. Cheryl Ladd joined the cast the same year, with the show running another four seasons.

Even if Two and a Half Men returns, it is highly unlikely that there will be a new Charlie Harper. The hard-partying Sheen embodied the character; some suggested it was written with his real-life persona in mind. Viewers would not buy it, said Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Centre for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.

“It would be like if your mother said, ‘The role of your father is now being played by so-and-so,’ and not I’ve left your father and here is my new guy’,” he said. Characters coming and going in major series are no longer unusual, particularly if the series stays on the air for a long time. When ER came to an end it had a completely different cast than when it started.

Even the deaths of stars have not stopped networks from keeping shows alive.

When John Ritter died, ABC made the death of his character a central plot point in 8 Simple Rules.

Given all the attention paid to the Sheen over the past few months, there is almost certain to be a big interest in a recast Two and a Half Men.

Producers are reportedly discussing current Parks and Recreation star Rob Lowe.

Insiders have told TMZ that series creator Chuck Lorre is trying to keep the show going with Lowe to be the new star.

Full House star John Stamos’s name also has come up recently and that of Steve Carell, whose run on The Office is nearly up.