I Am A TV Junkie

UPDATED: Two and a Half Men Reboot -- Why the Hate? It's a Fascinating Exercise!

UPDATE: My update is actually just a simple question: Did CBS and Warner Bros. release the info about Grant to see how it would fly with pop culture addicts and fans of the show? Is that why we're hearing about this? Because I have a funny feeling we're being somewhat manipulated. More on this as it progresses. Stranger things have happened in this world. There was that one time when that hot British actor with the smokin' hot girlfriend got arrested for picking up a hooker on Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood, for example.

I get that TV critics and discriminating viewers and in some cases just people you meet on the street are not fans of Two and a Half Men.

Hey, I don't particularly like the show, either. This is what I find fascinating, though. Here's a show that we can pretty much agree isn't something fans of TV comedy have ever held dear. But the producers are actively working to change the show and no one seems to be interested in what can be made of the show's remains now that Charlie Sheen isn't coming back.

I think it's a fascinating exercise in making television. Or more accurately, remaking television.

This of course is all prompted today by the story at TV Line (link) about negotiations between CBS/Warners and Hugh Grant that would have the British movie star with a bad boy problem of his own (the "Divine" Ms. Brown, who's actual name was Estella Thompson, from back in the day).

Interesting idea. Seems from what I've gathered those talks have broken down over an issue of "artistic differences" (I know, I laughed too) but there's still a chance it might happen.

More of this after the jumperoo.

Hollywood Reporter Exclusive -- Chuck Lorre's Two and a Half Men Reboot

As the Reporter notes in their story at this link, upfronts are just around the corner and I'm sure CBS would like to know if they have a show or not.

Apparently Chuck Lorre has a plan. THR says:

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that series co-creator Chuck Lorre has hatched an idea to reboot the Warner Bros-produced sitcom with a new creative direction that does not involve Sheen, who was fired from the series in March. Lorre is said to have presented close associates and Men co-star Jon Cryer with the plan, and the studio and network are aware of his intentions. According to an insider, Lorre has told Cryer this reboot would involve a significant role for him and the introduction of a new, yet-to-be-cast character.

And there's lots more, click over to the Reporter now for their exclusive.

I hope there's also a significant role for Angus T. Jones, he gets the show's best lines and is a solid young comic actor.

More as it unfolds.

CBS v. Sheen: The Ultimate Diss? Recasting Charlie Harper, But Who?

So you've no doubt read that Charlie Sheen no longer has a job. Warner Bros. Television, in a letter from their attorneys to Marty Singer, made it official.

I can't help but feel like the most insulting thing that those two companies could do to Sheen is recast the role of Charlie Harper and just use the time-tested soap opera method of a voice-over announcer saying plainly, "The role of Charlie Harper will now be played by ..."

But who?

The first actor touted is John Stamos, who btw is in New York right now shooting both an ep of SVU and something for Garry Marshall's New Year's Eve film. And ... showing up at a performance of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying to praise Daniel Radcliffe in the role he played back in 1995 (I think it's 95, he replaced Matthew Broderick in the role).

(Oh Garry Marshall, will you please stop making vignette-y holiday themed romcoms and shepherd some legitimately good multi-camera comedy to TV network or two, please? And get your sister Penny off the couch, too, I would like to see her on something besides Shatner's Raw Nerve.)

I like Stamos, I respect Stamos, I enjoy looking at Stamos (much more now than when he was younger, age has been very good to him).

Stamos isn't the guy. Sorry.

In my dreams Lorre decides to go really dark, he hires Dino Stamatopoulos to create some really discomforting storylines about loneliness, isolation and fetishism for your new Charlie, comic Doug Stanhope (image right), because I've seen his act and he's not afraid of saying anything, an important attribute when a guy like Dino is writing for you.

Watch some of Stanhope's standup by clicking this or this or if you want a whole hour of him, this. He's very good at what he does though it's not for everyone.

I know that won't happen, it doesn't mean I can't think about how very disturbing and amazing it could be. 

Christian Slater would have been a good idea until he signed for another series (yes, another TV network has decided to give Slater a go in primetime and a comedy at that, I'm shocked too). It's a shame because he's a perfect plugin. I don't think Slater can open a series but I think he might be able to keep some of the viewers on an existing show happy.

You could go a completely different way and do this: Jake gets a girl pregnant, she tells him after the fact that she's a serial killer and then ... oh, sorry, that's Raising Hope.

Okay ... Jake still gets the girl preggers but ... oh, it's Rose. It's okay, Jake will be 18 when the show returns. Jake and Rose have a kid, a boy, and they are once again Two and a Half Men.

Rose gets a sex change? Berta gets pregnant?

How about you just bring back guest stars from seasons past Enrique Iglesias and Megan Fox and have them always doing it on Charlie's beachfront deck?

Whatever, it's just a show I watch occasionally with my dad. I like the kid a lot, though. If CBS wasn't CBS (meaning old skewing) I'd just spin off the kid and have Jon Cryer make the occasional guest appearance.

Or Jake could move into the building where Leonard and Sheldon live in Pasadena and be their stupid friend.

We'll see what happens.

Video -- Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons, His First Interview as Emmy Nominee

Hey, wanna see a guy that couldn't wipe the smile off his face even with a Shamwow? Watch this clip of Jim Parsons from the CBS Early Show, his first interview as Emmy nominee for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. 

Came right off the stage where he announced the noms with Chandra Wilson and spoke via satellite with Harry Smith and ... I have no idea who the woman on that show is, sorry.

Hey, you're not clicking over the jump for some newsreader!

Parsons was the only member of the cast nominated. What about a blog fave, Simon Helberg? Well, Chuck Lorre, you're gonna have to write yet another Howard Wolowitz episode (though I was sure he would score with the Vegas ep from this year where he was gifted by his pals with "The Jewish Girlfriend Experience."

The show also got noms for guest actress (Christine Baranski as Sheldon's mom) and art direction.

More Emmy news ... all day long.

2 Clips -- Jim Parsons First Appearance With Letterman, Big Bang's Press Attack Continues

Yesterday Kaley Cuoco and Kunal Nayyar were on Bonnie Hunt and I'm also looking around the web for a clip from that appearance, because ... they brought their dogs, and you know I have a soft spot for those segments.

(Still looking for that, btw, will update the post when I find it.)

Jim Parsons with Dave last night was a riot. Parsons himself is some of the best parts of Sheldon without all the angst and the phobias and the persnicketiness (add it to the dictionary if it's not there).

He's really quite the charming guy.

Clip after the jump, but first I thought we'd take a little trip over to Chuck Lorre's site this morning so I could once again revel in his vanity card essay. You know, the thing he writes every week that runs on his vanity card at the end of the show.

I noticed by reading the fine print at his site that some of these essays run first on Two And A Half Men and then they repeat on Big Bang Theory. Chuck? Whatcha doin'? Write new stuff, we need new stuff from you all the time, because it's just too good. I freeze frame my DVR every week to read them.

From the April 13 episode, a reflection on the current economic crisis, Chuck contends that the economy is prone to the effects of Newton's first law of motion, and he ends by saying ...

I therefore assert that the unbalanced force (you know who you are, shame on you), will eventually be overwhelmed by the object in motion (three and a half billion people with pluck, aka pluckers), thus allowing the object in motion to continue its relentless journey forward, thriving and conniving until it is once again slowed down by other unbalanced forces, or a very large meteorite. Or a plague. Or fundamentalists with nukes. Or atmosphere-eating nanobots. Or a super volcano. Or Skynet. Or Cylons.

Cylons, yes, but more likely fundamentalists with nukes, or just a status quo that likes things the way they are because they're raking it in and can't let go off that easy free money.

I like Chuck Lorre. Chuck, hope you don't mind that I stole your pool picture from your site, I do link to you every chance I get.

Parsons with Dave after the jump. New episode of The Big Bang Theory this Monday at 8 on CBS. He turns out to be quite the entertainment industry geek. Jim, you should be reading my blog, many like-minded people here.

Best of Sheldon bonus clip for you fans after the jump as well. Thank you, Lana Kim!

Geeks & Horndogs & Chuck Lorre, Oh My! Big Bang Theory, Two And A Half Men Get Multi-Year Renewals

Well it's a Chuck Lorre day at CBS. Fresh from the inbox from the network is this ...

CBS Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television have reached a multi-year broadcast agreement for the hit comedy series Two And A Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, it was announced by Nina Tassler, President, CBS Entertainment, and Peter Roth, President, Warner Bros. Television.

The agreement renews television's Number One comedy, Two And A Half Men, through the 2011-2012 season, and one of television's fastest-growing series, The Big Bang Theory, through 2010-2011.

"Our collaboration with Warner Bros. and Chuck Lorre for these two series has led to great entertainment for television audiences and has been very good business for CBS," said Tassler.  "With these shows firmly in place, CBS is well-positioned for more comedy success in the years ahead."

Two years for Big Bang, three for Charlie Bangs Malibu. Guess which one I don't watch?

In any event, congrats to Chuck, who you gotta respect for taking on the toughest jobs in sitcom history. For details, read his post-Big Bang Theory vanity card from Monday's episode. Linked here.

Both shows are outperforming all previous years, btw. This is how to run a TV network. Put good shows on, let them develop, don't pull the trigger too fast and watch the audience show up.

CBS knows this. NBC? ABC? Fox? Not so much.

Hey, wanna know some Jon Cryer trivia? He was the first choice for Gaius Baltar on Battlestar Galactica, the role that went to James Callis. Learned that on the Battlestar Last Frakkin' Special that ran Monday on SciFi (until they change to SyFy I'm not gonna either).

I just can't imagine Ducky as Baltar.

Big Bang Theory Clip -- Tonight, Sheldon's Spot on the Couch Ruined!!!

You know why I never write about this show? Because it's always funny, always on point, always laugh out loud great, and I can't think of anything else to say about it.

Though I would love more Howard and Raj, and in fact I would expand the show to an hour to get me some more Howard and Raj.

I'm not saying that I'm an award-winning engineer or a prodigy physicist, but identifying with this show for me is easy. I so key into the insecurities of these guys. I know them, I commiserate with them, I applaud them.

And I laugh my ass off.

Tonight, Penny has apparently had a paintball accident in the guys' apartment, and it's Sheldon's special spot on the couch that is the casualty.

Oh, and Leslie Winkle is back (Sara Gilbert).

And, in other after the show news, last week's Chuck Lorre vanity card was particularly interesting as it went like this:

A wise man once told me that we are all God in drag. I like that. Sometimes when I'm in a public place or sitting at a stop light, I'll watch people walking by and I'll silently say to myself, "He's God. She's God. He's God. She's God." Before long I always find myself feeling a warm sense of affinity for these strangers. The experience is even more powerful when I do this while observing a person who is clearly suffering. On occasion I'll test my little spiritual practice by turning on Fox News. Within minutes I become an atheist.

Amen, brother Lorre.

Clip after the jump, show airs at 8 on CBS. Tonight.

Did the Jason Segel Press Blitz Score Ratings for CBS Monday Comedies?

Because the two things, Jason being all over the media this week promoting Losing Sarah Marshall and CBS winning last night's ratings war with "that dancing show on ABC" can't just be a coincidence, can it?

Hollywood Reporter:

The network's comedies have settled somewhat since their return a few weeks ago, but continue to be competitive in their time periods. There's "Big Bang Theory" (7.7 million, 2.9/8), "How I Met Your Mother" (8 million, 3.4/9) and "Two and a Half Men" (13.8 million, 5.3/13). Also, "Rules of Engagement" returned to match its prior average (10.3 million, 4.0/10).

I still don't understand the appeal of Charlie Sheen trying to be funny. My folks love the show, but I just don't see it. I know that Jon Cryer is a very nice guy (we have mutual friends) but I just wanna slap his character every time he opens his mouth. The kid is okay, though.

Last night's Big Bang Theory was based on a story from Chuck Lorre's life when he was a young guitar hero playing in the Miami Beach clubs in the 70s when a kid named Pat Metheny came through and made him look like a piker.

I know this because I hit pause and read the Chuck Lorre Productions card after the episode. And, so can you, it's at this link at ChuckLorre.com.

I enjoyed the ep, but I think they're going to the well that is Sheldon's insecurities too often for the "A" story. I'd like to see Howard get some more screentime (but then again, we have a bit of bias here when it comes to Simon Helberg).