Chuck Lorre

NEW YORK — One of television's most successful sitcom writers is joining with Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello to create a musical based on the artists' 1998 album "Painted From Memory. " Bacharach said Tuesday that Chuck Lorre, creator of "Two and a Half Men" and "The Big Bang Theory," contacted him and said he wanted to write a story to go with the music. The dark and lush album was an unusual collaboration between a pop classicist and an Englishman who usually traffics in rock ‘n' roll.

NEW YORK — One of television's most successful sitcom writers is joining with Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello to create a musical based on the artists' 1998 album "Painted From Memory. " Bacharach said Tuesday that Chuck Lorre, creator of "Two and a Half Men" and "The Big Bang Theory," contacted him and said he wanted to write a story to go with the music. The dark and lush album was an unusual collaboration between a pop classicist and an Englishman who usually traffics in rock ‘n' roll.

Ashton Kutcher made his debut as Charlie Sheen's replacement on the sitcom "Two and a Half Men" on Monday as Internet billionaire Walden Schmidt, marking the end of the Sheen era with several jokes at the former star's expense. As Lisa de Moraes reported : Throughout the civilized world, and in portions of Hollywood, one question alone has been on every lip for weeks: How will "Two and a Half Men" creator Chuck Lorre kill Charlie Sheen's character, Charlie Harper, and will viewers accept...

Angus T. Jones, the "Half" on CBS's "Two and a Half Men," wants us to know how sorry he is if we misunderstood him when he described as "filth" the show that's paying him millions of dollars a year, and begged people to stop watching it. Also weighing in Wednesday on Jones's biting of the hand that feeds him — you know this one's coming: "Men's" 2011 career-killer Charlie Sheen, who said it is impossible for anyone to spend 10 years in show creator...

Charlie Sheen is being replaced on the CBS sitcom " Two and a Half Men " — again. This time by a 63-year-old woman. The increasingly tedious nose-thumbing that's been going on between Warner Bros. and Sheen, its former "Two and a Half Men" star, suddenly got interesting again when CBS announced that an upcoming episode of "Men" will feature the return of Sheen's character, Charlie Harper. Except Harper will be played by Academy Award-winning actress Kathy Bates. It's...

Angus T. Jones, the "Half" on CBS's "Two and a Half Men," wants us to know how sorry he is if we misunderstood him when he described as "filth" the show that's paying him millions of dollars a year, and begged people to stop watching it. Also weighing in Wednesday on Jones's biting of the hand that feeds him — you know this one's coming: "Men's" 2011 career-killer Charlie Sheen, who said it is impossible for anyone to spend 10 years in show creator...

The same night Ashton Kutcher makes his debut as The Solution to CBS's Charlie Sheen Problem, Charlie Sheen will be back on TV, playing the star of Comedy Central's latest made-for-TV roast. Comedy Central announced Tuesday that it will telecast the "Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen" on Sept. 19 — just 30 minutes after CBS returns " Two and a Half Men " to its schedule for the sitcom's first Sheen-less season. "Charlie has assured us that nothing will be off...

Record crowds turned out Monday night to watch Charlie Sheen be killed off on one television network and resurrected on another. Nearly 29 million people caught Monday night's expunging of Sheen from the CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men. " That's the long-running show's largest audience — ever. It's also the biggest season-debut audience for any scripted program on television since 2005. Also making money off Sheen on Monday night: Comedy Central, as 6.4 million...

By Lisa de Moraes Tuesday will be known as the day we heard from The Receiving End of Charlie Sheen's Scorched Earth Media Tour. While Sheen continued to talk to pretty much any media outlet with a microphone — on Tuesday, he explained to Howard Stern that his "two goddesses" share a bedroom and that he has his pick of the litter each night, kind of like HBO's "Big Love," only without the separate houses — parties of the second part began...

CBS will reveal to viewers Sept. 19 what happened to Charlie Harper. That's the date the network has set for the return of "Two and a Half Men" to its Monday lineup — sans Charlie Sheen, who played the jingle-writing, Malibu-home-owning butterfly. Current speculation has show creator Chuck Lorre mulling over the idea of having Harper drive his car off a cliff. You can see Lorre's point, given the things Sheen said about the show runner during the actor's Ranting on the Radio period, shortly before Warner Bros.

Charlie Sheen is being replaced on the CBS sitcom " Two and a Half Men " — again. This time by a 63-year-old woman. The increasingly tedious nose-thumbing that's been going on between Warner Bros. and Sheen, its former "Two and a Half Men" star, suddenly got interesting again when CBS announced that an upcoming episode of "Men" will feature the return of Sheen's character, Charlie Harper. Except Harper will be played by Academy Award-winning actress Kathy Bates. It's...

Record crowds turned out Monday night to watch Charlie Sheen be killed off on one television network and resurrected on another. Nearly 29 million people caught Monday night's expunging of Sheen from the CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men. " That's the long-running show's largest audience — ever. It's also the biggest season-debut audience for any scripted program on television since 2005. Also making money off Sheen on Monday night: Comedy Central, as 6.4 million...

Ashton Kutcher made his debut as Charlie Sheen's replacement on the sitcom "Two and a Half Men" on Monday as Internet billionaire Walden Schmidt, marking the end of the Sheen era with several jokes at the former star's expense. As Lisa de Moraes reported : Throughout the civilized world, and in portions of Hollywood, one question alone has been on every lip for weeks: How will "Two and a Half Men" creator Chuck Lorre kill Charlie Sheen's character, Charlie Harper, and will...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. The Reporters Who Cover Television timidly asked CBS programming chief Nina Tassler about new " Two and a Half Men " star Ashton Kutcher on Wednesday during Summer TV Press Tour 2011. Kutcher will play heartbroken Internet geek/billionaire Walden Schmidt when the show debuts its first Charlie Sheen-less season. The show's reboot will be a two-episode arc, Tassler volunteered. That, much to the surprise of TRWCT, who had not dared to kick off the Q&A session with Kutcher questions.

The same night Ashton Kutcher makes his debut as The Solution to CBS's Charlie Sheen Problem, Charlie Sheen will be back on TV, playing the star of Comedy Central's latest made-for-TV roast. Comedy Central announced Tuesday that it will telecast the "Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen" on Sept. 19 — just 30 minutes after CBS returns " Two and a Half Men " to its schedule for the sitcom's first Sheen-less season. "Charlie has assured us that nothing will be off...

CBS will reveal to viewers Sept. 19 what happened to Charlie Harper. That's the date the network has set for the return of "Two and a Half Men" to its Monday lineup — sans Charlie Sheen, who played the jingle-writing, Malibu-home-owning butterfly. Current speculation has show creator Chuck Lorre mulling over the idea of having Harper drive his car off a cliff. You can see Lorre's point, given the things Sheen said about the show runner during the actor's Ranting on the Radio period, shortly before...

CBS became the hottest chick at next week's Broadcast TV Upfront Week Orgy of Excess, when it announced Friday that Ashton Kutcher is replacing Charlie Sheen on "Two and a Half Men. " So far as we know, this has never happened before — CBS being the hottest chick at Upfront Week, that is, not the whole younger sitcom star replacing sacked cantankerous older sitcom star thing. "I can't wait to get to work with this ridiculously talented 2.5 team and I believe we can fill the stage with laughter that will echo in...

CBS became the hottest chick at next week's Broadcast TV Upfront Week Orgy of Excess, when it announced Friday that Ashton Kutcher is replacing Charlie Sheen on "Two and a Half Men. " So far as we know, this has never happened before — CBS being the hottest chick at Upfront Week, that is, not the whole younger sitcom star replacing sacked cantankerous older sitcom star thing. "I can't wait to get to work with this ridiculously talented 2.5 team and I believe we can fill the stage with laughter that will echo in...