Chuck Lorre’s Two and a Half Men is aptly known to be one of the best sitcoms to have ever been released. However, a majority of the credit goes to none other than Charlie Sheen, who formed the life of the show.
Playing the role of the frisky talented drunk who was forced into taking in his brother Alan Harper and his son Jake Harper into his home, Sheen was inarguably the one USP of the show, for nine brilliant seasons. He was eventually replaced after an epic falling out with Lorre and company, and replaced in the 9th season by Ashton Kutcher.
In an interview with Howard Stern, Kutcher revealed that he was amongst the many fans who were shocked when he found out the network wanted to replace Sheen with him. While he took the role because of the lucrative offer, there were multiple financial considerations that led to him eventually becoming a part of Two and a Half Men.
Ashton Kutcher was stunned upon receiving lucrative offer for Two and a Half Men
When in 2011 Ashton Kutcher joined the cast of Two and a Half Men, he was a bonafide movie star who thought doing television would take his career backwards. However, at the same time, when Charlie Sheen exited a year before, he was the highest-paid actor in television and was getting a whopping $1.8 million an episode.
This led to Ashton Kutcher breaking the decision down to simple terms. During a discussion with his agent, he claimed that he will take the job if he was offered the same kind of money: (Howard Stern Show)
I went to dinner with my agent and I said ‘I can’t believe this guy. How much money is he making?’ I flippantly said ‘If they offered me that kind of money for that job, I’d take it!’
Of course, he was not, but it was still humungous money, as the actor reportedly made a whopping $755k per episode, which proved enough for him to join:
I’m faced with this decision I didn’t really see coming … It was a very, very, very nice payday. There was all the [talk] of ‘What’s Charlie going to say? How’s this going to play out publicly?’ There was a lot of people that were huge fans of the show that did not like me on the show. I get it, because it’s not the same show.
And the rest, as they say, is history. Charlie Sheen did take public aim at Ashton Kutcher, and in 2017 admitted that he had been ‘stupid’ in doing so. (Via News.com) Still, Rather than it being Ashton Kutcher’s fault, it was the studio’s desperation to keep the show running for another two years which led to him being a part of Two and a Half Men.
Ashton Kutcher became a part of Two and a Half Men as creators wanted to maximize profits
As it turns out, Charlie Sheen left at an opportune time for the creators. With the show having been a stellar success of 9 seasons, it needed to run for two more years in order to sell it to major networks. If Two and a Half Men could last for a further two seasons, it could be sold to major TV networks for repeats, making it a perennial source of money.
This is what initially led to the creators approaching Ashton Kutcher:
Here’s the thing: I was shocked I took the role in Two and a Half Men. I had no interest — I was doing movies. I was sitting with my old agent, who was at (talent agency) William Morris Endeavour.
They had a piece of the back end of the show, and there was a GIANT motivation to keep the show going, because there was a huge payday that was going to come from syndication. If they got two more years of the show, they got to pull that lever.
And thus, Kutcher went on to take on one of the most difficult roles of his career. Not only did he have to replace a global star who had defined the entire sitcom till then, he also had to do a good job of it in order to keep the show running for a few more seasons.
Marvel Poster Reveals How Charlie Sheen Will Look Like As Iron Man 13 Years Before Robert Downey Jr.
Two and a Half Men can be watched on Amazon Prime.
