Sheen rant ends Two and a Half Men's season

CBS and Warner Bros. Television say they are ending production on this season of Two and a Half Men in the wake of incendiary remarks by star Charlie Sheen.

In a statement Thursday, the network and studio said they were basing their decision on the "totality of Charlie Sheen's statements, conduct and condition."

The future of the top-rated sitcom was not addressed.

Earlier Thursday, the studio and Sheen's publicist, Stan Rosenfield, had said the show would resume production next week after a hiatus intended to allow the 45-year-old Sheen to seek rehabilitation.

But that was before Sheen gave a rambling, often vitriolic radio interview on syndicated radio's The Alex Jones Show. He blasted Two and a Half Men producer Chuck Lorre, along with other targets including Alcoholics Anonymous, party girls, and his estranged wife, Brooke Mueller.

Productionhad been suspended in January.

The abrupt decision to pull the plug on additional episodes of the lucrative sitcom came after Sheen's increasingly erratic behaviour, including an earlier interview in which he claimed he had sought to return to work but was barred by producers.

Harsh words for show's creator

In his interview with Jones, Sheen repeatedly evoked violent images and ideas. He also derided Lorre, the creator of Two and a Half Men, in an attack that suggested anti-Semitism.

'I have cleansed myself. I have closed my eyes and in a nanosecond I cured myself ... The only thing I'm addicted to right now is winning.' Charlie Sheen

"There's something this side of deplorable that a certain Chaim Levine yeah, that's Chuck's real name mistook this rock star for his own selfish exit strategy, bro. Check it, Alex: I embarrassed him in front of his children and the world by healing at a pace that his unevolved mind cannotprocess," Sheen said.

"Last I checked, Chaim, I spent close to the last decade effortlessly and magically converting your tin cans into pure gold. And the gratitude I get is this charlatan chose not to do his job, which is to write," he said.

Lorre, who was born Charles Levine, is a veteran producer whose hits include The Big Bang Theory, Dharma & Greg and Cybill.

Speaking of himself, Sheen said he has "magic and poetry in my fingertips, most of the time."

Warner had already decided it wouldcut this season's planned 24 episodes to 20 because of the hiatus. Now, CBS is left with a total of 16 episodes of its cornerstone Monday comedy, all of which have aired.

The network and studio had tolerated Sheen's recent misadventures, part of a long-checkered life. He went into rehab in January, reportedly at home, after three hospitalizations in three months. The most recent was a brief hospital stay that followed a 911 call in which he was described as very intoxicated.

Calls AA a 'bootleg cult'

In the interview with Jones, Sheen referred to Alcoholics Anonymousas a "bootleg cult" with afive per cent success rate, compared with his own "100 per cent" success rate.

"I have a disease? Bullshit. I cured it ... with my mind. It's all good guys ... I can't use the word sober because that's a term from those people, and I have cleansed myself. I have closed my eyes and in a nanosecond I cured myself from this ridiculous ... It's just the work of sissies. The only thing I'm addicted to right now is winning."

One of the group's mottos, he said, is, "'Don't be special. Be one of us.' News flash: I am special and I will never be one of you."

When Jones told Sheen he sounded like Thomas Jefferson, Sheen dismissed the U.S. founding father with a rude insult.

"It may be lonely up here, but I sure like the view, Alex," he said.

Sheen referred to himself as a new sheriff in town who has an "army of assassins."

"If you love with violence and you hate with violence, there's nothing that can be questioned," said Sheen, who played a soldier in the war film Platoon.