Before yesterday’s late breaking news that Two and a Half Men was canceled for the rest of the season, The Enquirer’s Mike Walker reported that contingency plans were being made for the show to go on without Charlie. It’s worth noting that CBS and Warner Brothers’ statement said the show was being discontinued “for the rest of the season,” not that it was canceled indefinitely. Given how popular and lucrative it is, they’re probably not sure what they’re going to do with it. The Enquirer claims that other actors and potential plotlines were being floated around as a way to continue the show without Charlie:

My backstage spies report that CBS network brass just ordered “Two and a Half Men” producers to start conceptualizing their mega-hit show without star Charlie Sheen, and they’re discussing two possible replacements: Robert Downey, Jr. or John Stamos. Meanwhile, writers are feverishly dreaming up story lines crafted to introduce a new star – including one that’s a real giggle: Charlie, fed up with boozing and womanizing, runs off to join a monastery and renounces all worldly possessions. Here’s the kicker: He wills his house to a cousin – not to brother Jon Cryer!

[From The National Enquirer, Mike Walker’s column, print edition, March 7, 2011]

Walker went on to write that Sheen had no idea how close he was to getting fired, and we know that ended up being true. If this is the case and they’re trying to come up with some way to film without Charlie using a far fetched plotline it could work. That show has all sorts of dumb implausible plots and somehow it remains the most popular comedy on CBS.

Still, not everyone thinks Two and a Half Men can go on without Charlie. CNN ran a recent story questioning whether this was possible, and they came to the conclusion that the show is probably over once Charlie is off. That doesn’t mean it’s been a bust for them. They quoted talent manager Barry Katz who noted that everyone has made a ton of money thanks to Charlie and would probably do it again. “I think if you were to look at CBS, the production company and all of the executives, and you were to say to them, ‘We are going to hire Charlie Sheen, but let me tell you what is going to happen in the future. In the future, we are going to have a hit show, which is going to make a billion that is going to be spread amongst everybody.

“‘In the ninth and the 10th year, he’s going to have some issues, and there’s going to be some stoppage. ‘He’s going to go away, and it’s going to cost us some money.’ I think every single executive would still sign on to do the show.”

The crew would probably find other jobs if they had this foreknowledge, though. It doesn’t matter how much lip service Charlie pays to his “family” (not the porn stars, the crew. I’m referring to his latest rant), they’re the ones he screwed, not Chuck Lorre.

Oh and that crap that Charlie spouted about getting a job on HBO is of course not true. I also have to mention that he probably wasn’t being anti-semitic when he called Chuck Lorre by “Chaim” Levine, as Lorre calls himself Chaim and Levine is his given name. That doesn’t make the rest of Charlie’s rant any more sane or normal.