Update 7:10 pm PST:
Conversations with Warner Brothers Television insiders suggested that they have no intention of paying Charlie Sheen the remaining salary for his contract as the lead of “Two and a Half Men,” TheWrap has learned.
Sheen earns $1.8 million per episode, but is out of work as of Thursday, when CBS and Warner Brothers cancelled the remaining four shows of the season.
Lawyers will still have to fight out the matter, but television’s highest paid star would have to sue the production company to get the rest of his fee, which was re-negotiated last spring.
Update 7 pm:
Charlie Sheen sent a letter to TMZ in response to the decision by CBS and Warner Brothers to pull the plug on his show, once again attacking Chuck Lorre. This time he called the producer "a contaminated little maggot."
A TMZ insider said that Sheen threatened to take his letter elsewhere if the gossip site did not print it.
Meanwhile, a Warner Brothers insider said it was unlikely the television production company would ever work with Sheen again.
"Do you really think this guy is gonna come back from the Bahamas and turn his life around?" the insider asked.
Previously:
It’s over for Charlie Sheen.
After a day of unhinged and unsolicited comments ripping his show’s executive producer Chuck Lorre and assorted enemies -- Alcoholics Anonymous and Thomas Jefferson, among others -- the star finally went further than CBS and Warner Brothers Television could take.
The network and TV production company announced Thursday that they had pulled the plug on television's top-rated comedy, "Two and a Half Men," which was scheduled to restart production on Monday.
"Based on the totality of Charlie Sheen’s statements, conduct and condition, CBS and Warner Bros. Television have decided to discontinue production of “Two and a Half Men” for the remainder of the season," the companies said in a joint statement.
A spokesman for Sheen -- not that he appears to be relying on one these days -- had no immediate comment.
The show, which airs on Mondays at 9 pm and has been on hiatus since Jan. 28, has shot 16 of 24 episodes this season. The final eight will apparently not be shot.
To replace "Two and a Half Men," CBS has ordered more episodes of "Mike and Molly," another Lorre-produced show, and "Rules of Engagement."
But even with Sheen's public misbehavior, his show has been performing in the ratings, remaining the most-watched comedy on TV with about 13 million viewers per week.
Last Monday, the show was again the top-rated comedy of the week, with even a repeat episode garnering 11.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings.
Needless to say, Sheen does not appear to be following a rehabilitation program that he'd supposedly committed to in the past few weeks.
