14 DAY TRIAL // Actor Charlie Sheen is currently in rehab seeking help for unspecified problems, which culminated with his arrest last year after he allegedly attacked his wife. Because he is an in-patient, the latest season of his hit show “Two and a Half Men” has already been cut short by two episodes. Unfortunately for fans, this may also be the actor’s last season, People magazine informs.
Sources within the production say that Sheen has decided to walk from the show since he’s done all that he can with it and the time has come to look for a new challenge. The decision was not prompted by financial consideration and was under no circumstance influenced by pressure from the outside. Charlie Sheen walks away from “Two and a Half Men” and he does so because that’s what he wants and considers good for his career, the report claims.
“‘Charlie’s just done,’ says a set source. ‘And he’s quietly telling his friends he’s not coming back.’ Although sources say the network hoped the star would sign a new contract for an eighth season, Sheen recently turned down the offer. ‘He wants to move on,’ says a friend of the actor, whose contract is fulfilled after he tapes this season’s 22nd episode. ‘Leaving is 100 percent his idea’,” People magazine writes. As per the unnamed sources, the only thing that’s missing right now is official confirmation about the departure, since everything else has already been settled.
TMZ, though, is telling a different story. According to the paparazzi agency and celebrity gossip website, its sources have learned exactly the contrary of all of the above. This is not the first time that Sheen threatens to leave the show and drags on negotiations with the network for a new season, but it’s all part of a bigger plan: he wants the network to fold and give him more money. Moreover, it’s not like he can go some place else for a job since he’s currently in rehab and might actually be looking at a possible jail sentence in the future, which would limit his work options.
“We’re told Charlie is currently making $825,000 an episode, and he’s asking for $1.5 million. We’re told the Warner Bros. offer is around $1 million an episode. Warner Bros. will make a fortune if the show continues, because any fresh episodes will automatically become part of the syndication deal. Charlie would also make a fortune. As one person put it, ‘This deal will be made at midnight on the day CBS announces its new fall schedule [May 19]. Everyone plays the brinksmanship game’,” TMZ writes.
Simple math shows that, if he accepts, Charlie Sheen stands to make $48 million for the next two years, meaning two new seasons. Even if it wasn’t for the ongoing trial, in which his wife is accusing him of domestic assault and threatening her with a deadly weapon, this would still be a pretty sweet, almost impossible to turn down deal.