Kutcher to play broken-hearted billionaire in 'Two and a Half Men'
Ashton Kutcher will play “an internet billionaire with a broken heart” when he arrives as the new star of 'Two and a Half Men' next month.
CBS Entertainment chief Nina Tassler shared this titbit about the much-anticipated cast change for TV’s biggest sitcom during a session with television reporters yesterday. Kutcher will fill the void left by Charlie Sheen, who made a stormy exit from Men last season.
Kutcher’s character will be named Walden Schmidt, confided the CBS boss, who added that Schmidt has no family connection to the characters played by continuing stars Jon Cryer and Angus Jones. They portrayed the brother and nephew of Sheen’s departed character.
Ms Tassler would not confirm or deny reports that the new season of 'Two and a Half Men' begins with the death of Sheen’s character, Charlie Harper, and a funeral.
“The mystery is part of the marketing,” she said.
Men begins its ninth season in the US on September 19 with the first of a two-part kick-off that establishes Kutcher’s character.
Kutcher’s first week on the job begins a new chapter for 'Two and a Half Men' after a tumultuous conclusion to Sheen’s eight-season run as a fast-living, womanising cad.
Sheen’s portrayal drew inspiration from his own life of sex sprees, serial marriages and substance abuse, which spiralled into clashes with the show’s studio as well as its creator, Chuck Lorre, and CBS. He was fired in March and the season ended early.
Predictably, Ms Tassler voiced excitement about the show’s new star.
Kutcher, she said, “is an extraordinarily professional, talented, funny, gifted actor who comes with a tremendous amount of commitment and enthusiasm”.
“The show will be as irreverent as it has ever been,” she promised. “Our programme practices people are already on high alert.”
Even so, Kutcher and his 'Two and a Half Men' co-stars were conspicuously absent from today’s sessions of the Television Critics Association, which was visited by cast members from several of CBS’ new autumn shows as well as from 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation', the veteran crime drama that is welcoming Ted Danson to the fold for its 12th season.
Asked why the 'Two and a Half Men' cast was not on hand, Ms Tassler replied that the show was in production.
It resumed shooting on Monday, and a break for a meeting with reporters would have been too disruptive, she claimed.
