Does Two and a Half Men minus Charlie Sheen equal zero?
Executives at CBS and Warner Bros. TV — who on February 24 decided to shut down production for the remainder of the season — are just beginning to sift through the carnage left in the wake of Sheen's tirades, in which the actor trashed his boss, Two and a Half Men creator Chuck Lorre, among other targets. But so far, the prognosis isn't good for TV's most-watched comedy.
Every time Sheen throws another slur at Lorre — whose given name is Charles Michael Levine, even though Sheen insists on calling him "Chaim" — the door to a ninth season ofthe show comes closer to shutting for good....
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As I first reported last week, Oscar host and nominee James Franco is in talks with the Three's Company estate holders about developing the 1977-84 sitcom into a feature film and Broadway play — possibly with a dramatic take, after presenting this unusual concept as ...
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John Ritter's family lost their wrongful-death lawsuit against the late actor's doctors on Friday, and the jury cleared the radiologist and cardiologist of negligence charges. Ritter died unexpectedly in 2003 from a torn aorta. Jurors on the case, which was worth $67 million to the Ritter family, believed that Ritter did not follow the advice of his radiologist, Dr. Matthew Lotysch, to seek the advice of a physician following a 2001 body scan. Dr. Joseph Lee, who treated Ritter the night before his death, was the other defendant in the case.The case was brought by Ritter's widow, Amy Yasbeck, and his four children. The family has collected $14 million in previous settlements regarding Ritter's death. Ritter was starring in ABC's 8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter when he died.What's your view on the ruling? Should the doctors have been found negligent, or were they unfairly accused? — Anna DimondUse our Online Video Guide to see clips of John Ritter.Related:•...
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Amy Yasbeck sobbed through much of her testimony as she told jurors about husband John Ritter's last moments before he was wheeled into surgery for what they thought was a heart attack, but what turned out to be a shredded aorta. The AP notes that Yasbeck's words were the final testimony heard for the plaintiff's side in the $67 mil wrongful-death suit Ritter's family filed against Dr. Joseph Lee and radiologist Dr. Matthew Lotysch. Dr. Lee was the physician at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center who told the family that Ritter was in the middle of a heart attack and as such needed an angiogram. Dr. Lotysch had performed a body scan on the actor two years prior to his death and concluded that his aorta was normal. Along with Yasbeck, Ritter's first wife of 19 years, Nancy, also testified. Ritter had told her his body scan had gone well, but she then offered, "Maybe he was trying to protect me."Yasbeck's testimony concluded with her account of the unthinkable moment of having to tel...
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Henry Winkler, longtime friend and colleague of John Ritter, testified on Wednesday at the late actor's wrongful-death trial. Winkler told the jurors that he had just spoken with Ritter shortly before he was rushed to the hospital. The AP reported Winkler's last encounter with Ritter: "'We were reminiscing,' Winkler said. 'He was sweating [and said], 'I really need to get some water.' I said, 'I really need to memorize my lines.' And he went one way and I went the other. And that was the last time I saw him."It was clear that Winkler's testimony was trying to strike an emotional chord with the jurors, as he explained Ritter's love for his work and his family. When Winkler was asked about what he thought Ritter's kids would miss most about their dad, he said, "His passion for life. His excitement for being on the Earth. Any conversation we had wrapped around his children, the pride and the love."The lawsuit for $67 million is against a radiologist who had given Ritter a body scan ear...
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