Well, it looks as if the “half man” will get his wish. Angus T. Jones is out of the renewed Two and a Half Men.
At least as a regular cast member.
CBS renewed the venerable sitcom last week for an 11th (!) season and the 19-yearold Jones has been demoted to a “recurring” cast member. That’ll cost him a reported $300,000 a week, which was not a bad paycheck for a teenager.
Series stars Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer each signed new one-year deals. They’re the highest-paid actors on the tube. Kutcher pulls in about $700,000 an episode, with Cryer coming in at a little less than that.
And there’s no heavy lifting.
There’s also precious little creativity left in the series. The sitcom exhausted its energy several seasons ago and seems to be cruising along on autopilot. Nonetheless, as long as viewers keep tuning in, the show will be on the air - only without Jones aboard as Jake Harper.
You may recall how Jones bit the hand that fed him a few months back with an online video soul cleansing on a religious website.
“I’m on Two and a Half Men,” he confessed. “I don’t want to be on it. Please stop watching it. Please stop filling your head with filth. Please.”
And later: “You can’t be a true God-fearing person and be on a television show like [Two and a Half Men]. I know I can’t. I’m not okay with what I’m learning and what the Bible says and being on that television show.”
The adult comedy, which is rated TV-14 for language and sexual situations, has featured Jones in episodes where his character, Jake, dated a 36-year-old tattoo parlor owner (Jaime Pressley), and cheated on her with her 18-year-old daughter (Emily Osment). Jake also had casual sex with family friend Missi, played by Miley Cyrus, before she dumped him when he wanted a serious relationship.
So, what is Jones “learning” from the series? One thing he learned is that you don’t diss the network and expect to sail on unscathed. Charlie Sheen could have told him that.
Only 24 hours after his video rant, Jones came back with a public apology.
“Without qualification,” he wrote, “I am grateful to and have the highest regard and respect for all of the wonderful people on Two and Half Men with whom I have worked over the past 10 years who have become an extension of my family.”
It went on a while and finished, “I apologize if my remarks reflect me showing indifference to and disrespect of my colleagues and a lack of appreciation of the extraordinary opportunity of which I have been blessed. I never intended that.”
We’ll see just how much air time Jones gets as a recurring character. My guess is not much. Jake was cute in the early seasons as a flatulent little kid, but it’s time for Jake - and Jones - to get on with life.
NBC renewals. Beginning next week we’ll find out all the networks’ official fall plans, but last week NBC put five more series out of their anxiety.
Getting early renewal for the 2013 fall season were Revolution, Chicago Fire, Parenthood, Grimm and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Parenthood fans, especially, are breathing a sigh of relief.
All five series were rewarded with full 22-episode seasons.
Summer plans. NBC also has announced what it will do with its summer vacation. There will be a new summer drama and a couple of alternate series.
Crossing Lines will debut at 8 p.m. June 23. The drama “taps into the charter of the International Criminal Court to investigate serialized cross-border crimes and to hunt down global criminals.”
The series stars William Fichtner, Donald Sutherland, Marc Lavoine, Gabriella Pession, Tom Wlaschiha, Moon Dailly and Richard Flood.
The show switches to 9 p.m. Sundays beginning June 30. There will be 10 episodes for the summer tryout.
And how about more from Nick Lachey? Lachey will host The Winner Is …, a series that “infuses the performance of a singing competition series and the strategy of a game show.”
That kicks in at 8 p.m. July 11. Each episode features six acts singing for a shot at a $1 million grand prize.
At 9 p.m. July 11 will come Hollywood Game Night. Hosted by Jane Lynch, the show “features A-list celebrities partaking in a cocktail party atmosphere that is based on the real-life game nights of creator Sean Hayes.”
Warning: Take the term “A-list” with a grain of salt.
TV tonight. The first (and probably last) season of ABC’s Red Widow concludes at 8 p.m. today. The network will make it official next week.
Meanwhile, The Mentalist sails on over on CBS. Season 5 ends at 8 p.m. today, but the show has already been renewed for the fall.
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Style, Pages 46 on 05/05/2013