Charlie Sheen wasted little time letting the world know what he thinks of Ashton Kutcher replacing him on Two and a Half Men.
"Enjoy the show, America," Sheen told the website TMZ after CBS and Warner Bros confirmed that Kutcher would join TV's No 1 comedy. The ousted star added sarcastically that his bosses could "enjoy a 2.0 rating in the [adults ages 18 to 49] demo every Monday" - or less than what episodes with Sheen have done in repeats.
Whether Sheen's prediction proves accurate, with Kutcher on board CBS has helped steady its future after months of high-wire jockeying over Two and a Half Men.
Earlier this year, Warner Bros dumped Sheen after the hard-partying star was forced to enter a lengthy drug rehab and publicly excoriated his bosses.
At 33, Kutcher is more than a decade younger than Sheen and, in one measure of his appeal among young people, has more than 6.6 million Twitter followers, or about twice as many as Sheen. He retains a fan base from his eight years playing the good-looking, dimwitted Michael on That '70s Show and has been an active producer (Punk'd).
But his film track record has been mixed, with stoner comedies such as Dude, Where's My Car evolving into an effort to remould himself as a romantic-comedy leading man.
"It will not be easy because of the popularity of Charlie Sheen over the past eight years," said Brad Adgate of ad firm Horizon Media. "Ashton Kutcher has never headlined a TV show before and these are big shoes to fill."
CBS provided few details about how Two and a Half Men will be reconfigured, other than that Kutcher will be co-starring alongside Jon Cryer, who plays the uptight Alan, and Angus T. Jones, who plays Alan's teenage son.
It's unclear how the producers will explain the absence of Charlie Harper (Sheen), who was Alan's wisecracking playboy brother on the show, or exactly what relationship Kutcher's character will have to the others.
Kutcher sounded a note of guileless exuberance that was at odds with Sheen's aggrieved irony.
"I can't replace Charlie Sheen," Kutcher said in the statement, "but I'm going to work my ass off to entertain the hell out of people!"
Most TV veterans expect the ninth-season premiere of Two and a Half Men to deliver huge ratings, with fans and curiosity-seekers turning out. What happens after that, though, is what really matters.
Hit TV comedies that lose their stars have had mixed results.
After John Ritter died at the start of the second season of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, the series staggered through a difficult season and a half before cancellation.
But Sheen himself successfully replaced Michael J. Fox on Spin City. Cheers also thrived through some major cast changes - including the exit of Shelley Long and the arrival of Kirstie Alley - although as an ensemble sitcom it was less dependent on one performer.
- Two and a Half Men screens Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.30pm and Sundays at 7pm on TV2.
