14 DAY TRIAL // It’s official: Ashton Kutcher will be the new star of “Two and a Half Men.” Warner Bros. and CBS have finally found the person to replace Charlie Sheen after his unceremonious exit – and Charlie is not really happy about it.
As we also informed you yesterday, Kutcher was approached with an offer shortly after Hugh Grant passed on the chance on doing the show because of creative differences.
At the time word got out of it, Ashton was reportedly in the final stages of negotiations, meaning he only had to sign on the dotted line for CBS to come out with the official announcement.
After it was made, Sheen too stepped forward to say a couple of things: namely, how the show could only possibly go downhill from here on, TMZ reports.
The e-zine got a statement from the Warlock himself and, judging by the things he’s saying, he’s not really that happy that CBS and Warner decided to go on with the show without him.
“Kutcher is a sweetheart and a brilliant comedic performer... Oh wait, so am I!!” Sheen says, paying a back-handed compliment to the younger star.
Even so, even with Ashton on board, there’s no way the show will ever get the same ratings as it did when Charlie was still doing it, let alone top them.
“Enjoy the show America. Enjoy seeing a 2.0 in the demo every Monday, WB,” Sheen says, hinting that ratings will drop once the “new” show premieres because his fans will no longer be watching it.
“Enjoy planet Chuck, Ashton. There is no air, laughter, loyalty, or love there,” he adds, referring to the feud with showrunner Chuck Lorre that led to his being fired from the show.
On his part, Ashton has already made sure not to alienate Sheen’s fans from “Men,” by issuing a statement saying he didn’t plan to replace him – but that he hoped he could at least rise to his standards.
“I can’t wait to get to work with this ridiculously talented 2.5 team and I believe we can fill the stage with laughter that will echo in the viewers’ homes. I can’t replace Charlie Sheen but I’m going to work my [backside] off to entertain the hell out of people,” Ashton says in a statement to Us Magazine.