“You’ve got somebody that everyone has a whole lot of interest in, who’s doing some interesting things, to say the least, and we always
look for interesting programming by featuring interesting people doing interesting things,’’ said Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner who on Sunday before the Grizzlies-at-Mavs game confirmed his
discussions with Sheen about a new show that could appear on Cuban’s TV network, HDNet.. “So, I reached out and we’ve had some
conversations and I’m going to work on trying to do some things.”
Sheen, the star of the unplugged hit “Two And a Half Men,’’ has spent the last two weeks seemingly unplugged himself, his loony media
rants creating a new form of infamy for the celebrity.
Said Cuban: “We’re trying to decide (on the type of show). I mean, right now we’re taping a lot of different things that he’s doing and
we’ll try to figure it out. I mean, it’s still not 100 percent certain. You know, we’ll do something together, but it’s not certain
that it will be a show.
It will come down to what he wants to do and what his situation is, and you know we’ll just figure it out from there, but it’s a unique
opportunity.’’
Sheen himself has said that he’s had talks with HBO about a show that would pay him $5 million per episode. Reports have HBO denying
any involvement in such talks.
"There are a couple of companies who want it badly, it's in a bidding war and of course they (HBO) don't want to do anything that's
going to undercut their power," Sheen said.
Sheen was making a record $1.2 million per episode for “Two and a Half Men’’ before CBS ceased production of the show, citing Sheen’s
addiction problems and behavior. All that coincided with Sheen’s rants, which alternated between racist, hedonistic and zany as he made
declarations about having “tiger blood’’ and riding a “mercury surfboard’’ and calling Alcoholics Anonymous a “cult.’’
It’s impossible to separate the publicity-stunt aspects of Sheen’s two-week-long behavior from real concerns about his mental health.
But certainly, he wants the attention. Either in the form of a return to “Two and a Half Men’’ (“Absolutely the gig's coming back, I
have absolute faith in that," he said) or in the form of a deal with someone like Cuban, who has long embraced the idea of
entertainment oddities with a knack for spotlight-grabbing.
“Actually,’’ Cuban said, “I like Charlie. He’s pretty cool.’’
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