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Ashton Kutcher: "I can't replace Charlie Sheen.' |
Charlie Sheen wasted little time letting the world know what
he thinks of Ashton Kutcher replacing him on Two and a
Half Men.
"Enjoy the show, America," Sheen told the website TMZ after
CBS and Warner Bros confirmed that Kutcher would join TV's No
1 comedy. The ousted star added sarcastically that his bosses
could "enjoy a 2.0 rating in the [adults ages 18 to 49] demo
every Monday" - or less than what episodes with Sheen have
done in repeats.
Whether Sheen's prediction proves accurate, with Kutcher on
board CBS has helped steady its future after months of
high-wire jockeying over Two and a Half Men.
Earlier this year, Warner Bros dumped Sheen after the
hard-partying star was forced to enter a lengthy drug rehab
and publicly excoriated his bosses.
At 33, Kutcher is more than a decade younger than Sheen and,
in one measure of his appeal among young people, has more
than 6.6 million Twitter followers, or about twice as many as
Sheen. He retains a fan base from his eight years playing the
good-looking, dimwitted Michael on That '70s Show and
has been an active producer (Punk'd).
But his film track record has been mixed, with stoner
comedies such as Dude, Where's My Car evolving into an
effort to remould himself as a romantic-comedy leading man.
"It will not be easy because of the popularity of Charlie
Sheen over the past eight years," said Brad Adgate of ad firm
Horizon Media. "Ashton Kutcher has never headlined a TV show
before and these are big shoes to fill."
CBS provided few details about how Two and a Half Men
will be reconfigured, other than that Kutcher will be
co-starring alongside Jon Cryer, who plays the uptight Alan,
and Angus T. Jones, who plays Alan's teenage son.
It's unclear how the producers will explain the absence of
Charlie Harper (Sheen), who was Alan's wisecracking playboy
brother on the show, or exactly what relationship Kutcher's
character will have to the others.
Kutcher sounded a note of guileless exuberance that was at
odds with Sheen's aggrieved irony.
"I can't replace Charlie Sheen," Kutcher said in the
statement, "but I'm going to work my ass off to entertain the
hell out of people!"
Most TV veterans expect the ninth-season premiere of Two
and a Half Men to deliver huge ratings, with fans and
curiosity-seekers turning out. What happens after that,
though, is what really matters.
Hit TV comedies that lose their stars have had mixed results.
After John Ritter died at the start of the second season of
8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, the
series staggered through a difficult season and a half before
cancellation.
But Sheen himself successfully replaced Michael J. Fox on
Spin City. Cheers also thrived through some
major cast changes - including the exit of Shelley Long and
the arrival of Kirstie Alley - although as an ensemble sitcom
it was less dependent on one performer.
- Two and a Half Men screens Wednesdays and Fridays
at 7.30pm and Sundays at 7pm on TV2.
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