LOS ANGELES – CBS television said on Friday it was highly concerned about the personal life of ‘Two and a Half Men’ star Charlie Sheen but gave no indication it planned to yank the top-rated U.S. comedy off the air. “We have a high level of concern. How could we not?” CBS entertainment President Nina Tassler told television journalists, responding to questions about persistent reports of drinking and partying by Sheen.
“On a basic human level, there is concern that this man is a father, he has children, he has a family. But you can’t look at it simplistically. Charlie is a professional, he comes to work, he does his job extremely well. It is very complicated,” Tassler said. Tassler suggested that ‘Two and a Half Men’ would remain on the network’s schedule, at least for the time being. ‘Two and a Half Men’ is the top-rated comedy on U.S. television with an average weekly audience of some 15 million viewers.
The show has helped CBS reign as the most-watched network in the United States for the seven years. Sheen, 45, who plays a womanizing bachelor on the comedy, is the industry’s highest-paid star with a reported salary of $1.8 million an episode. But he has made numerous headlines in recent months after a conviction last year for attacking his then third wife.
Police said he drew a knife and threatened to have her killed. In August, a judge ordered him to spend 30 days in drug and alcohol rehab and placed him on probation. In October, he was briefly hospitalized in New York when police found him acting drunk and incoherent in his room.
