Posted in: CBS, Max, streaming, TV | Tagged: Bookie, charlie sheen, chuck lorre, max, Nick Bakay, preview, Two And A Half Men, Warner Bros

Two and a Half Men: Chuck Lorre on Charlie Sheen Reunion, New Series

Two and a Half Men creator Chuck Lorre reflects on his falling out with star Charlie Sheen, making amends, and their reunion on Max's Bookie.

It's hard to believe that it's been over a decade since the public falling out between Two and a Half Men creator Chuck Lorre and star Charlie Sheen. The latter, who appeared in 178 of the 262 episodes of the CBS Series, left in 2011 after season eight. The actor's public meltdown involved throwing Lorre under the bus calling him "a stupid man" and "a little maggot," with claims of "winning" and possessing "tiger's blood" in his veins, which resulted in his firing. Sheen later admits the ranting was a result of "an epic drug run." Lorre is opening up about how it's all water under the bridge in their reunion in their Max series Bookie, which he co-created with Nick Bakay.

Two and a Half Men: Chuck Lorre on Charlie Sheen "Bookie" Reunion

"It should be Charlie," Lorre told Variety on who should play opposite stand-up comedian and Bookie star Sebastian Maniscalco. "I remember Charlie was very much engaged in sports betting, and he would tell me stories about it all the time. You know, when things were good." Maniscalco plays a Los Angeles sports betting bookie as Lorre thought of the kind of high-roller celebrities he might run into in his travels. "It was a thunderbolt," Bakay said of Lorre's decision. "You know when you're onto something good because it scared me. But also, I know Chuck well enough to know all that this meant. I knew everything that was below the waterline of that iceberg. And I knew there was a part of him that was ready to do something to turn that page on a more significant level."

Rather than recasting Charlie Harper following Sheen's meltdown, his character was killed off with Ashton Kutcher introduced as Walden Schmidt to play opposite Charlie's brother Alan Harper (Jon Cryer) and nephew Jake (Angus T. Jones). Cryer would remain the only cast member to appear in all 262 episodes, with Jones leaving after season 10 but returning for the finale. Sheen was invited but scoffed at the idea. As a result, the two-parter "Of Course He's Dead" was one of the most bizarre displays in television history, with Sheen's Charlie teased throughout, but Lorre ended up filming the part himself and the character dying in a cartoonish fashion.

Since the fallout of Sheen's meltdown, Lorre admitted it took years before he could rewatch reruns of Two and a Half Men. "It was too painful," he said as he focused on other shows that dealt with healing and recovery in Mom and The Komisky Method. As time passed, the creator had time to reflect that he had a much better time with the actor while filming the series than naught. "I loved working with Charlie on 'Two and a Half Men.' We did 170 episodes together before it all fell apart. And more often than not, we had a good time. Assuming he's in a good place, I'm in a good place."

When Lorre contacted Sheen's representation, it was like old times. "I was nervous, but almost as soon as we started talking, I remembered, we were friends once," he said. "And that friendship just suddenly seemed to be there again. I don't want to be too mawkish about it, but it was healing. And he was also totally game to make fun of himself. When he came to the table to read of that episode, I walked up, and we hugged. It was just great." "Look, there's a wild-card factor there that you would be bullshit if you weren't copping to," Bakay added. "There's that sense of, who's showing up? What's this gonna be? I haven't seen him work in a long time. But he looked great. He was easy and charming and then proceeded to put on a clinic of how you do a table read. Your first table read of your first episode of a new show is a bit of a high blood pressure event to begin with."

For more on Lorre discussing Sheen's role as the fictionalized version of himself, his table read, the CBS series dig at the actor's expense in the script, what change Sheen wanted in the script for his character, and Bakay's inspiration on the series, you can check it out here. Bookie premieres on Max on November 30th. Two and a Half Men is available to stream on Peacock.

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