Jon Cryer, Ashton Kutcher, and Angus T. Jones united at the CBS upfronts in New York and posed for photos this week as the new “Two and a Half Men” cast. They look at a little awkward.  (Not that there’s any pressure at all on them to make this work, given that everyone will be watching that first episode to determing within 10 minutes if it’s a colossal failure or possible success… And yes, even if that first episode is really good, people will be reluctant to call it a success until a whole season has performed well.)
Now that the replacement for Charlie Sheen has been announced, the big question is how the writers will explain away the loss of Sheen and the sudden entrance of Kutcher. (I vote for a tongue in cheek parody that invovles an accident and drastic plastic surgery. Or surprise brother no one knew about… wait, these have all been done on soap operas.)
Reportedly, at the same time CBS was courting Kutcher, they were also courting two other actors simultaneously, including Hugh Grant. Grant apparently kinda got freaked about the scrutiny and backed out.
This could be a career definer and saviour for Kutcher. If the show is a success, it will be a major career coup for an actor whose recent films have had lackluster box office numbers. Still, Kutcher will make major bank either way, taking in between 625,000 and 700,000 and episode! (A far cry from “That Seventies Show” money!)