America’s favorite cockroach with his cock out, Charlie Sheen, is heading back to the set of Two and a Half Men in just two weeks, according to his hardworking lawyer. We heard this was happening, but there was still the glimmer of hope that Charlie and his many enablers would get the message that an extended stint in rehab was necessary to recover from the scandal of hiring 19 year-old hookers from the “Barely Legal” porn series to hold drug fueled orgies. In Charlie’s case people expect him to be even worse than the character he plays on TV and somehow he’s gotten a pass. The guy did “at home” (read: nonexistent, keep your head down and hire more discreet prostitutes and drug dealers) rehab and he’s going back to work very soon.

The actor’s attorney, Yale Galanter, exclusively reveals to E! News that the actor will be returning to the set of Two and a Half Men before the end of the month.

“We are thinking Charlie will be going back to work two weeks from today,” he said.

Galanter refused to comment on Sheen’s current rehab whereabouts, but he did say, “Charlie is fine healthwise and doing really well. Things are looking good. Everybody’s intentions are to get him back in the swing of things as soon as possible.

And despite recent troubles, Sheen’s family is sticking by him.

“They are a very close-knit family,” Galanter tells E! News. “Charlie has seen all of his kids since he was in the hospital. He is even spending time with the boys today.”

[From E! nline]

I hope “seen all his kids” and “spending time with the boys” means while they’re accompanied by their eagle-eyed mothers. Both Brooke Mueller and Denise Richards have been incredibly quiet during this whole scandal, with Denise simply tweeting that she wouldn’t let an adult film star watch her kids. Charlie pays his ex wives a lot of money to keep his secrets, although the people he pays to f*ck him and sell him drugs don’t give him the same courtesy.

Charlie Sheen’s rep is using celebrity mouthpiece People Magazine to thank everyone for their “support” as he tries to hold on to his client’s career as the top paid star on television now that everyone knows that he smokes crack and hires porn star hookers on his off time. The statement to People is in contrast to what Charlie told E! in a typically dismissive text message in which he pulled the ‘ol celebrity “there’s a war on, why are you paying attention to me” argument. First off, Charlie’s texts to E!:

“All crap,” he told us via text.

“Believe nothing. I will never speak about any of this as long as I’m alive. You’re all gonna have to keep towing the same redundant line, guessing wrong.”

He’s obviously following the news, because Sheen suggested the focus on his situation was overblown.

“BTW, two wars are in an endless state of sorrow. Egypt about burned to the ground, and all you people care about is my bullsh-t….?”

Sheen called it “pathetic” that the media cared about his personal life and how he chooses to spend it.

“Shame shame shame,” he said.

We wished the troubled actor well and told him people really do just want to see him get healthy and happy and return to work.

“Absolutely I see that,” he said. “For that I am grateful.”

[From E! Online]

According to Charlie, we should be ashamed that we’re listening to the 22 year-old porn star he paid $30,000 to f*ck him and watch while he smoked cocaine all night and critiqued porn. There’s photographic evidence the dude was with these women, he looked like death in the picture, and he was rushed to the hospital shortly afterwards with a “hernia.” This is his M.O, though, deny and act like it’s our problem for paying attention.

Charlie’s rep realizes that he’s alienating his fan base and all of the people whose jobs depend on him showing up for his easy, insanely high paid job. He issued a statement thanking everyone and suggesting Charlie is going to take a hiatus and put his “sword down,” “like Errol Flynn,” although I bet that hiatus will last all of three weeks.

“I have a lot of work to do to be able to return the support I have received from so many people,” the actor, 45, says in a statement released by his rep Wednesday.

“I want to say, ‘Thank-you’ to my fellow cast members, the crew of Two and a Half Men, and everyone at CBS and Warner Bros … for their concern and support.” He singled out his bosses, CBS chief Les Moonves and Bruce Rosenblum, president of Warner Bros. Television Group.

“Like Errol Flynn, who had to put down his sword on occasion, I just want to say, ‘Thank-you,’ ” says Sheen. “And to my fans, your good wishes have touched me very much.”

[From People]

It’s too bad that Rosenthal’s efforts are being undermined by Charlie and his bitchy text messages. Also, I’m not as up on old Hollywood as I should be so I checked Errol Flynn’s wiki page and he was a partier like Charlie Sheen, was married three times and was accused of statutory rape by two different women. Charlie at least likes them a smidgen on the other side of 18. US Weekly has an overview of the porn stars that were over at Charlie’s house the night in question and two of them were 19 – Gigi Rivera and Melanie Rios, while the one who is going to media, Kacey Jordan, claims to be 22. His latest madam starred in the “Barely Legal” porn movies and told Radar Online that Charlie would regularly request women from that series. They’re “legal,” although prostitution isn’t outside of the state of Nevada.

These photos are from January, 2010 of Sheen courtside at a Laker’s game. Credit: PRPhotos

According to TMZ, Charlie Sheen’s at-home rehab will barely interfere with production of his hit CBS comedy, Two and a Half Men. It’s thought that Charlie will be back on set within 3-4 weeks, which will ensure that the show remains on the air and that cast and crew don’t go without pay while they wait for him to decide whether his life has become unmanageable.

Charlie Sheen will return to “Two and a Half Men” in 3-4 weeks — at least that’s now the plan — and producers will make up the episodes so no one from the cast or crew will be out any money … TMZ has learned.

Sources connected with the show tell us … although nothing is in stone … they’re told by the addiction specialist that Charlie could be back to work next month. If that happens, producers would most likely make up the two missed shows at the end of the production season.

Bottom line — no one will lose money and the show could be back on track.

[From TMZ]

As E! reports, the show is just as popular as ever and was top in its time slot on Monday. That means that the star and chief money-maker Charlie will be propped up and shipped back to work, where he’ll act like everything is fine and bring in the big bucks to fuel his drugged out orgies.

There’s news that Charlie’s famous parents, Martin Sheen and Charlie’s mom, Janet, are working to establish some kind of conservatorship over their 45 year-old son. They realize it’s a long shot, but are so worried for him that they’re considering it. Radar Online quotes an insider who says “Charlie’s parents are discussing getting a conservatorship of their son. Martin and Janet know that it’s highly unlikely their petition would be granted, but they are trying to do whatever possible to save Charlie’s life.”

Charlie’s most talkative paid company from the night he was rushed to the hospital with a “hernia,” porn star Kacey Jordan, was on Howard Stern this week where she gave a more salacious version of her adventures with the TV star than the one she told GMA. On Stern, Jordan mentioned that Charlie has a mouth full of gold teeth that he covers will some kind of veneer grill.

TMZ has a photo of Charlie taken on that night, when he was presumably in the midst of his crack, pot and booze binge. He looks like death. As long as the dude is still breathing and making people money, they’ll put him on the job.

Photos via Starpulse.

Charlie Sheen’s Two and Half Men costar Jon Cryer was on Conan O’Brien last night. Cryer talked about the incredible things that Sheen gets up to, and how the guy seems to take it all in stride. He didn’t mention Charlie’s many ‘rumored’ drug-fueled hooker hookups (and beat downs) but told the story of how Charlie admitted to him that his car was stolen and crashed down a cliff (that happened twice actually) and Charlie was like “whatever.” Cryer also joked that he checks TMZ to see whether he should go into work. At least I think he was joking – maybe he wasn’t.

On Wednesday night’s ‘Conan,’ Jon Cryer told the late-night host what it’s like working with his ‘Two and a Half Men’ co-star Charlie Sheen.

“It’s always a little weird,” Cryer admitted. “Because the stuff you hear is just unbelievable.” The actor joked that he’s “checking TMZ, as I do every day, to know if I have to go to work at all.”

“There was a story that they found Charlie’s car at the bottom of a cliff. So you’re thinking, ‘Wow, sure hope Charlie’s okay,’” he said. “And he comes into work, and it’s like, ‘Hey Charlie, how’s it going man?’”

Cryer said he checked Sheen for scratches after imagining his co-star had “crashed the car, and then clawed his way back up the cliff.” In reality, Sheen told him he was “doing okay” except for the fact “someone stole my car, and ran it off a cliff last night.”

“Normally, you would not believe that from someone,” Cryer said. “But from Charlie Sheen, you believe that… Because that happened to him twice. That actually happened.”

[From Popeater]

That was pretty generous of Cryer to tell the double car crash story and to skip over all the other insane sh*t about Charlie. The dude wants to keep his job, so he’s going to portray Charlie as getting up to all sorts of funny hijinks rather than the reality of the situation, which is that he’s an abusive druggie with a sex addiction. CBS will continue to tolerate Charlie’s behavior as long as his show remains so inexplicably popular. The people who rely on the guy will make excuses and jokes about him. Just seeing how Cryer deals with it kind of brings the issue home for me and helps me understand the other side of it. If you get enough people together who rely on someone to keep their jobs they’re going to prop that guy up and continue to make excuses for him until the bottom falls out. As maddening and transparent as it seems to us on the outside, a lot of us would do the same if our livelihoods were at stake. (Not that it makes it right.)

Photos from CBS via TV.com and Starpulse

I wanted to wait to comment on this new and controversial MTV teen drama show, Skins, until I’d had a chance to actually watch it. As it is, I lasted a whole 15 minutes, which is probably apropos. Advertisers have been pulling out en masse, and the nonprofit TV watch group Parents Television Council has been calling for a federal investigation into whether it shows child pornography. Underage actors are shown engaging in on-screen sex, drinking, drug use, masturbation, I could go on. The plot focuses on teens scheming to get up to no good, to the point where it gets tiresome just a few minutes in. I found it predictably over-the-top, like Porkys meets American Pie with a twist of Superbad. (Without 1/10th of the originality of any of those films.) I’ve only seen part of the first episode so far, which had awful one-liners and very trite plot lines, specifically (spoiler I guess) a Eddie Haskell-type character (Tony) who tries to get his friend laid before he turns 17. Some of the more winge-inducing lines include:

To a lesbian cheerleader: “Have you ever told those sweet girls [fellow cheerleaders] that you worship at the coochie shrine?”

To a friend on how they’re plotting to help him lose his virginity: “Tonight, you’ll present Mr. Happy the keys to the furry city.”

Then the virgin guy lifts up the covers on his bed and says “You hear that Mr. Happy? The furry city.”

The cheerleader issues a challenge: “Tony if you can get that kid’s cherry popped, I will accidentally lose control of my breasts during next week’s halftime show.”

The virgin on his prospective “cherry popper”: “I’m going to park my Chevy in Michelle’s garage?”

Then the Michelle chick comes over and starts making out with the Alpha character, Tony. The virgin guy asks “Am I getting laid or should I just start filming this so I can whack off to it later?”

That’s just in the first fifteen minutes of the show and I couldn’t bring myself to watch the rest. It was lame and while I’m unqualified to judge, I doubt that it was in any way indicative of teen culture beyond the sex and drugs. Kids don’t talk that way, and it just felt false, like worse than a heavily scripted sitcom with a laugh track.

There were some funny parts, but there were also plenty of jokes I didn’t get at all, although that could be due to the piss poor delivery. Some of these kids are terrible actors. The show is a reboot of a UK series of the same name. Maybe it worked better with the original British humor.

Advertisers that have pulled out so far include Taco Bell, Wrigley, General Motors, Subway, H&R Block and Schick. I don’t blame them given the quality of that show. In my opinion the problem isn’t the controversial subject matter as much as the very awkward, obvious, feeble way that it’s handled.

Ken Tucker at EW agrees, and explains this controversy much better than I can.

You can watch Skins on MTV.com if you’re in the US.

Chris Noth is an underappreciated actor, probably because he seems like a bit of a prick in real life. Yet he still keeps getting plum roles, like in The Good Wife or as the iconic Big in Sex & the City. But to me, he’ll always be Detective Mike Logan from Law & Order. The original Law & Order, that is. I couldn’t watch him on that spinoff Criminal Intent because I really disliked the show, and it turns out Noth feels the same way.

I wasn’t happy on that show. I was a little happier when Julianne Nicholson joined me. But I found that show preposterous. Mind-numbing. I feel bad because I was one of the persons who helped start that thing originally, back with Jerry Orbach. I was unhappy on that show. I had a great deal, but it was torturous. Sometimes the actor in me says, “You’re getting way too comfortable.” And then I need to move on.

[Watch!, print edition, February 2011]

I miss Jerry Orbach.

Noth also admits he has no more interest in the character of Mr. Big, although that’s who he’s recognized as most on the street.

He’s much happier on The Good Wife.

Ah, The Good Wife is different. I’m part of a great show. I’m part of something bigger than myself. The atmosphere is great, the people are happy to be there, [show creators and executive producers Robert and Michelle King] are inclusive and approachable. Julianna Margulies has an impeccable work ethic. Alan Cumming, I’m loving working with him.

[Watch!, print edition, February 2011]

I never got into The Good Wife. I think it’s a good show, but it just didn’t pique my interest.

Chris got a Golden Globe nomination and the show’s cast is nominated for a SAG award, so that should hopefully keep him happy.

The Good Wife airs Tuesdays at 10PM on CBS.

Photo credit: WENN.com

Is there a Friends curse? There seemed to be a Seinfeld curse until Julia Louis-Dreyfus found success with The New Adventures of Old Christine, before it was unceremoniously cancelled. Courteney Cox has a successful sitcom with Cougar Town but her private life is a mess. Jennifer Aniston can’t buy a hit movie or a boyfriend, as much as she tries. David Schwimmer is having a baby with his new half-his-age wife, but Lisa Kudrow seems totally off the radar.

At least Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc are trying to get back into the TV game. Both have new shows coming out this winter. Matthew Perry’s show is a comedy called Mr. Sunshine.

Don’t be fooled by the title. Matthew Perry is more sardonic than cheerful in this new comedy about the self-involved manager of a San Diego arena who begins to reevaluate his life when he hits the big 4-0. The Friends alum can relate: His return to the small screen was prompted by his own stark realization.

“My phone wasn’t ringing off the hook with movie offers,” he admits.

Still, Sunshine is much more than a paycheck for Perry. Besides starring, he cocreated it and also serves as a writer and exec producer. “It’s important to try to do something you haven’t done before, especially if you’re scared of doing it,” he says of spreading his creative wings. “Luckily, I was smart enough to know you should surround yourself with funny, talented people.”

Rounding out the crack ensemble: Allison Janney as Perry’s pill-popping boss and Andrea Anders (Joey) as Perry’s former — and future? — romantic interest.

While the arena setting provides opportunity for a variety of hot guest stars — including Nick Jonas — don’t expect Perry’s former Friends to drop by, at least for now. “I wanted to convey the message that this is a new thing,” he says. “But if the show goes on for a while, I would love that.”

[TV Guide, print edition, January 3, 2010]

Mr. Sunshine sort of sounds like Chandler with a different job and new friends, but since Chandler was pretty funny, this may work. Mr. Sunshine premieres Wednesday, February 9 at 9:30PM on ABC.

Matt LeBlanc is on a cable comedy called Episodes.

Matt LeBlanc spent 12 years in Joey Tribbiani’s shoes — first on the classic comedy Friends, then on its not-so-classic spin-off, Joey. But on January 9, the three-time Emmy nominee returns to TV in Showtime’s Episodes as someone he’s even more familiar with…Matt LeBlanc. Or at least a spoiled, morally bankrupt (and, ahem, very well-endowed) version of the actor, dreamed up for the biting Hollywood satire by cocreator (and former Friends producer) David Crane and his partner Jeffrey Klarik. LeBlanc [is] now 43 and father to 6-year-old Marina.

How did Episodes happen?
After Friends, David and I kept in touch, and about two years ago, he and Jeffrey called me up and said, “What are you doing?” I said, “Just being a dad — and spending some of that Friends money.” They were like, “We have an idea. Let’s get together for lunch.” I said, “Great.” But I really wasn’t looking to do anything.

Why not?
When Joey ended [in 2006], it was a weird time in my life. I’d gotten divorced, and my daughter had been diagnosed with this weird brain thing [a disorder that caused seizures]. Now she’s out of the woods with all that stuff. But it was a really stressful time.

Now your hair is a distinguished gray.
I started going gray very young, and I started dyeing my hair during Friends. But after taking five years off, I was like, “What’s the point?”

Unlike the Matt in the show, you don’t…what?
Leave my phone on in a meeting. The only time I’d [do that] is if there was something important pending with a family member. I don’t have my own jet. I would love to, but I don’t. And I’ll set the record straight: I have a perfectly human-proportioned penis. [The character] is less who I am and more the public’s perception of celebrity. That’s the guy we tried to write.

There continue to be rumors of a Friends reunion. Do you want it to happen?
No. I’d rather have a party and have everybody [from the cast] there. Friends was this magical, cool thing, like lightning in a bottle, and I feel superfortunate to have been a part of it. But I can’t see [a reunion] not feeling gratuitous. What would the story be? We all get together and what? Have coffee? It would be almost sad. It’s better to just imagine what those characters are doing now, because then it can be whatever you want it to be.

[TV Guide, print edition, January 3, 2010]

Matt has let himself go grey for this role, and it will be interesting to see him as someone other than Joey. The show is getting pretty decent reviews. Entertainment Weekly called LeBlanc “superb.”

I wish they would have asked LeBlanc if any of the Friends actors will be appearing on Episodes, like they did with Matt Perry. Episodes sounds like a good fit for Schwimmer or Kudrow to make a guest spot, playing themselves.

Episodes premieres Sunday, January 9 at 9:30PM on Showtime.

Header image is from January, 2004. Credit: PRPhotos. Images below of Matt LeBlanc from 11/23/10 and of Perry from 8/1/10. Credit: WENN.com

Parade Magazine has a new extensive interview with Oprah ahead of the launch of Oprah’s OWN Network in January 2011. Oprah comes off as less sanctimonious than I often find her, although she does talk about how much more personally enriching we will find her new network as compared to most of the crap that’s on TV. She could be right.

In this age of everything on demand I would bet that Oprah and her people are making a huge mistake and will completely fail to offer content online. You can’t get the Oprah show on Hulu or iTunes and ten to one you won’t be able to get OWN shows if you don’t get that network either. (The Oprah show and OWN don’t even offer embeddable versions of promotional videos or clips.) Oprah runs everything and she operates on her own assumptions about making money through technology. When people on her Oprah.com message boards ask to watch the show online, her staff tells them to order transcripts, which cost $24.95 and contain no videos. Oprah isn’t about to sell shows for the $1.99 going rate on iTunes.

Anyway here’s what Oprah says about how she feels omnipotent and is adding so much to our society with her newest venture. She also admits that it was her idea to give Duchess Sarah Ferguson a reality show after the bribery scandal. Fail! Maybe if she paid more attention to popular trash TV she would realize that no one is interested in Fergie.

What’s OWN about?
It is mindful television. I think so much of television is a minefield that just zaps your energy, wastes your time. What I want to do is build a channel that is a respite for your mind, an oasis of stimulation, that you come away from with little pieces of light. I’m aiming for a moment where somebody could say, “I never thought of it that way before.” I just love that.

How many of the shows are your idea?
Master Class. Finding Sarah [a six-part documentary with Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, premiering in spring]. That came from an interview I did this summer with her. We had a moment of real connection, watching the tape of her trying to get £500,000 [for access to Prince Andrew]. She said she didn’t want to go into bankruptcy. I said, “But when you look at that tape, don’t you see a morally bankrupted person? The one thing you were trying to avoid, you already are.” She said, “I never thought of it that way before.”

Ah, there you go again!
I remember the last thing I said to her when I left that interview: “Don’t let me see you on Dancing with the Stars.” She started e-mailing me and at one point asked what did I think of her doing a celebrity chef show. And I said, “That’s not going to help you. How are you going to rehabilitate yourself on a celebrity chef show? You should be working on yourself.”

You’re tough.
I said, “I’ve never mentioned it because I don’t want you to think I’m trying to use you, but if you’re going to do TV, this is what you should do.”

And she said?
“Let me think about it. I’d have to expose myself, and what does that really mean?” I said, “ All the things in your e-mails are so fascinating.” Like, she sent me an e-mail about how it’s so difficult to give up going to Spain this year. And I said, “You have no money. People who don’t have money don’t go to Spain on holiday. Hello!”

And now you’ve got her doing a show.
The great benefit of having your own channel is that you can be walking down the street. . . The other day I was in a restaurant, [and there was] the most handsome waiter. I was like, “Well, what are you interested in doing? You have a very good TV face.” [ laughs] I look at everything. If I have an idea, it feels like a huge paint box. So I have moved from “Omigod, what am I going to do?” to “I can do anything.”

You’ve said, “I know that as I start out on this next chapter there will be some mistakes and what others perceive as failures.” What will you perceive as a failure?
What will be a failure is if nobody comes and watches this network. What others will perceive as failure is if some shows don’t succeed. I’m concerned about the bigger overall picture: my belief that people are basically good and want to see the good in them reflected through their experiences and the shows that they watch. This is a gamble I’m taking. I believe that the banal state of television, the kind of insipid space that we’re in—that you can have as many channels as we have and not find anything that really interests you—means that to a great extent we’ve lost our way.

As a nation?
No. I think that television programmers program to the lowest common denominator. I happened to be on the treadmill one night and passed one of the Housewives shows—I don’t know which city—and literally my mouth was open ’cause I thought, “This is on television?” I recognize that there’s a whole group of people who find that very entertaining. I wonder for how long. I think that there are people who want to be fed just a little more.

On being a “brand”:
“I hate the word brand, but now I have succumbed to the fact that I guess I am one.”

On being the subject of a reality show (on Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes, premiering on OWN January 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT):
“What did I say yes to that for? You know what that’s taught me? All these people doing these reality shows–I don’t know why anybody wants to be followed by a television camera all the time. There was great discussion amongst my team as to how we would document this last year [of The Oprah Winfrey Show]. I said, ‘I think it should be a documentary.’

“But I saw a first cut last week that they’ve been working on since August. Didn’t like it. And I’m bringing the team in here today to say, ‘Ya’ll have got to get real and the whole thing has to be restructured.’ I don’t like trying to create tension where there isn’t any. I think that there is enough natural tension and anxiety and exasperation going on here all the time without having to create it. If I’m going to have a piece that is representing my life behind the scenes, it has to be truthful.”

[From Parade]

Mindless television doesn’t zap your energy, it enriches you with the adrenaline that comes from other people’s problems and fighting! Plus we can order it for a couple of bucks and watch it while we’re on the damn treadmil. Unlike Oprah, we don’t have to flip the channel and be subjected to whatever happens to be on at the time.

So Oprah watches a super popular reality show and is revolted by it and thinks she can “feed” us better content, like that reality show with Fergie that she got the brilliant idea for after Fergie sent her a couple of well worded e-mails. Then Oprah sees her own reality show and demands that it be entirely reedited so that she doesn’t look like as much of a taskmaster. Oprah knows how to give advice and cover topics, she doesn’t know how to run a network. Some of the shows coming up sound interesting, but I’m thinking that Oprah’s network will be struggling and won’t have a blockbuster show to carry it.

Last time I did a story on a couple who weren’t Brad and Angie or LeAnn and Eddie, the responses ranged from “It’s a nice change” to “Who are they and why do we care?”

This week’s non-A-list lovebirds are Nathan Fillion and his girlfriend, Kate Luyben. I’m sure the replies will range from “Who?” to “Castle!” to a few really loud squeals of “FIREFLY!”

I personally never saw Firefly or Serenity, but I like Nathan on Castle. I just keep forgetting to watch it because it’s on opposite Hawaii Five-0. Shirtless Alex O’Loughlin FTW.

Nathan’s girl is an actress who starred as Natalie on True Blood and as Woman Buying Videotapes in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, according to IMDB. And she’s apparently very understanding of his boyish tendencies.

Has Castle‘s Nathan Fillion found his queen? Although they’ve only been dating for several months, the 39-year-old star of the ABC cop drama and actress Kate Luyben looked head over heels for each other while attending the American Music Awards on Nov. 21.

“He’s always happy to show Kate off,” an insider says of never-married Nathan, who has dated Vanessa Marcil and Darla Delgado. “She might be a keeper.”

One reason their relationship works: Kate, 38, gives him plenty of space for pastimes like playing video games and hanging in his ‘man cave’ with pals. “He’s cute and charming but very boyish,” says the insider. “Kate lets Nathan be himself.”

[Star, print edition, December 13, 2010]

Hanging out in a ‘man cave’ with other guys usually leads to gay rumors, but this doesn’t seem to be the case with Nathan. I’m sure the Firefly fans will correct me if I’m wrong about that.

Before the American Music Awards, Kate also attended the Castle season 3 premiere party in LA on September 13, but the two have apparently been together for longer than that.

Castle airs on Mondays at 10 PM on ABC, opposite Hawaii Five-0.

Nathan and Kate are shown 12/11 and 11/21. Credit: WENN.com

Walking Dead spoilers for past episodes in text, including mild possible spoilers for future episodes
It’s been a long time, if ever, since I’ve been as affected by a show as much as I have by The Walking Dead. (I think Six Feet Under was the last major series that I cared about as much, and that kind of waned as it progressed.) There are few shows as fascinating, unpredictable and terrifying. Yesterday I discovered the Walking Dead wiki (major spoilers in that link) and read some spoilers from the comic that the series is based on. Then last night I installed the iPad app and bought about 15 digital versions of the monthly comic book, starting where the show left off this week. It was engrossing, and of course not conducive to sleep at all. Reading the comics did help bring the show down to earth for me. There are soap opera twists and turns in the comic, along with some over the top scenarios that we probably won’t see in the series.

Again, spoilers for last episode, mild spoilers for future episodes
In the last episode that aired Sunday, we saw Rick and the band of survivors go to the Centers for Disease Control as a last ditch effort to get help from the government. This never happens in the graphic novel as far as I can tell. There’s no CDC and instead there’s an entirely different plot twist that I’ll only say involves some characters we’ve yet to see along with a different government facility. The place where the group ends up provides shelter from the zombies along with its own very scary pitfalls.

It’s clear that the show isn’t following in lock step with the comics, and it’s hard to tell where they’re going with it. There is just one episode left this season and word has it that Bravo AMC isn’t bringing back Walking Dead until next October! Maybe that’s a good thing, given how I’ve become attached to it. Anyway, there’s news that came out a couple of days ago that the producer/director of the television show has fired the entire writing staff. It sounds drastic and like it could affect the quality of the show, but they do have several freelance writers on staff, including the creator/writer of the comics, Robert Kirkman. Staff writers were also only responsible for a couple of episodes this season, and maybe they’ll do just as well with freelancers. Here’s the story:

I hear The Walking Dead writer/ executive producer/ director Frank Darabont has let go of the writers on the hot freshman AMC series, which has already renewed for a second season. That includes Darabont’s No. 2, writing executive producer Charles “Chic” Eglee. Writer turnover on series between seasons is commonplace but wholesale overhauls are unusual. What’s more, I hear Darabont is looking to forgo having a writing staff for the second season of Walking Dead altogether and assign scripts to freelancers.

Darabont, who hails from the feature world with The Young Indiana Jones as the only series credit before Walking Dead, ended up writing 2 of the first season’s 6 episodes of Walking Dead – the pilot and the second episode – and co-writing/rewriting the other 4. Two of those 4 were written by non-staff writers, one by executive producer Robert Kirkman, on whose comics the series is based, and one by Glen Mazzara. The freelance model is employed by the Starz/BBC series Tourchwood, which in turn borrowed it from the U.K. where the show originated. Having BBC as producer has allowed Torchwood to proceed with no writing staff but I hear such a plan on an U.S.-based network series such as Walking Dead may face issues with the Writers Guild. And, while the first season of Walking Dead was only 6 episodes, its second-season order is for 13, which may prove harder to manage in pre-production, production and post-production with no writing staff. Sources tell me that no final decision has been made yet with all options open, including using some combination of a writing staff/freelances. There is time – AMC is mulling launching Walking Dead’s second season the way it did the first one – in October during Fearfest

UPDATE WEDNESDAY 10:45AM: AMC just issued a statement confirming “that there will be changes to the writing staff” of The Walking Dead.

[From Deadline]

Maybe this guy Frank Darabont thinks he can write most of the episodes himself with help from freelancers. A lot of commenters on Deadline note that he’ has a reputation for being difficult to work with. He also wrote the screenplays for The Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption (update: based on Stephen King’s books), so it’s clear he’s talented. We’ll have to see how these behind the scenes politics affect the show. Walking Dead is proving very popular. Last week’s episode had 5.6 million viewers, which was even higher than the premiere. The final episode this season airs on Sunday, and I hope they don’t leave us with too many cliffhangers.

There are potentially spoiler-filled images from the final episode to air this Sunday, on ONTD. If you’re in the US, you can also watch a preview video on AMCTV.

All photos credit: AMCTV