14 DAY TRIAL // Charlie Harper will return to “Two and a Half Men” this season, CBS has announced. However, fans of Charlie Sheen, who played the character until this season, should not get their hopes up: this is not a comeback.
CBS says Charlie Harper will return to the show but only as a ghost, the Huffington Post says.
“'Harry's Law' star Kathy Bates will stop by the CBS show (both 'Men' and 'Law' are Warner Bros. productions) in the April 30 episode as the ghost of Sheen's Charlie Harper. That ghost will be visiting Charlie's brother Alan (Jon Cryer), who'll suffer a minor heart attack in the episode,” the Post writes.
In other words, CBS is bringing Harper back for a short while, but not with Charlie Sheen's help, who is still persona non-grata with the network after the fallout that cost him his job on the successful show.
As fans must know, the ninth season of “Men” kicked off with footage from Harper's funeral, who had died while on his honeymoon.
This was CBS and Warner Bros.' way of bidding adieu to Sheen, who had been waging a very public media war against them after they terminated his contract saying his erratic lifestyle was interfering with his work.
A new character was brought in, played by Ashton Kutcher, though many Sheen fans would agree that he was hardly a match for the now-deceased Harper.
“They've had fun winking and nodding about Sheen's issues ever since, but we can't wait to see what excuse they'll have for why he looks so different in the afterlife,” the Post notes.
Fans are already saying on dedicated forums that this is CBC trying to ride the Sheen train some more, in the hope of milking the scandal for ratings.
Truth be told now, viewership for “Men” remains strong, even if it's not what it used to be with Sheen.
As we speak, there's a lot of speculation as to whether Ashton Kutcher will be reprising his role for another season.
He has no reason not to, it is being said.