CBS is making room for a new comedy called Rules of Engagement, which is produced by Adam Sandler. Starting February 5th, Rules will have the 9:30 pm timeslot on Monday nights. That's a coveted spot for a comedy, with top-rated Two and a Half Men as a lead-in. The premiere is also the day after CBS airs the Super Bowl, which means you can expect to see a lot of Rules promos during the game.

Rules stars David Spade, Oliver Hudson (Dawson's Creek) and Patrick Warburton ("Puddy" from Seinfeld). It's about two couples and a single guy who "navigate the jungles of dating, engagement and marriage." Moving it into the 9:30 pm slot during sweeps is a vote of confidence on CBS' part.

The move displaces The New Adventures of Old Christine, which be on a brief hiatus in February (they're pulling it for sweeps!). Old Christine will slide into the 8:30 pm slot after March 5th, when The Class finale airs. And it looks like the series finale of King of Queens will air May 21- but that's not definite.

It hasn't been a good week for television-watching Christians. First, the Parent's Television Council drops the bomb that Fox has gone to number one with a bullet in the Christian-mocking competition, and now, Two and a Half Men has gone and crapped all over a Christmas carol.

On the December 11th episode of Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen sang a "vulgar adaptation" of "Joy to the World." The American Family Association is demanding an apology for these altered lyrics:

Amidst all the hoopla about The Office, My Name Is Earl, How I Met Your Mother, and other comedies, people tend to forget that the highest-rated sitcom on TV right now is Two and a Half Men. Yes, its ratings were helped a lot by its old lead-in, Everybody Loves Raymond. But it's truly a funny show, even if it's in the dreaded multicamera "traditional" format. Again, it's a case of good writing and good acting overcoming a tired premise.

CBS knows what it has on its hands; that's why it chipped in to make show star Charlie Sheen the highest paid sitcom actor currently on the air. The Hollywood Reporter writes that Sheen is ready to sign a contract that will pay him between $350,000 - $400,000 per episode, which is twice what he was making before. A network contribution, according to the article, has become common in such high-profile negotiations. No word, though, on if the other one and a half men on the show -- Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones -- got raises, too. I definitely think Jones should get a big raise; he may just be telling fart jokes, but he's doing it with conviction.

[via Pop Candy]

Well, folks, it's time to start arranging your calendars; the networks are beginning to announce the premiere dates for both their new shows and their returning shows. So, if you've been hankering to find out what happened to Lilly and Marshall on How I Met Your Mother, what the new show Jericho is going to be like, or how many new ways CSI is going to show a person's pancreas, then look below and make note of these dates:

9/14: Survivor: Cook Islands
9/17: The Amazing Race 10
9/18: The Class, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, The New Adventures of Old Christine, CSI: Miami
9/19: NCIS, The Unit, Smith
9/20: Jericho, Criminal Minds, CSI: NY
9/21: CSI, Shark
9/22: Ghost Whisperer, Close to Home, Numb3rs
9/23: Crimetime Saturday, Crimetime Saturday, 48 Hours Mystery
9/24: 60 Minutes, The Amazing Race 10, Cold Case, Without a Trace

[via Cynopsis]

Here's a fun read. A Blogspot website called 'How to Write Screenplays. Badly.' has a humorous posting about writing for "the younger retarded sister" of the movie business. That's television, people. Writer Jeremy Slater suggests writing (or Googling) 'spec' scripts and sending them to the executive producers, even if you've never seen the show. Because they love that. Slater even writes up examples of spec scripts for Two and a Half Men, Veronica Mars, and a hilarious series finale script for Lost (complete with Sawyer rubbing his chest in front of a mirror "that came from somewhere").

It's probably a forgone conclusion that the executives at CBS will renew Two and a Half Men. The comedy, which stars Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, is consistently in the Nielsen ratings' top 20 and is about to reach the magical syndication mark. In addition, it is one of the more popular comedies (How  I Met Your Mother being the other) on the drama-heavy network.

And yet, there may be some apprehension amongst the CBS suits about renewal because of the recent antics of star Sheen. First the actor divorced his on-again off-again wife Denise Richards, then Richards obtained a restraining order against Sheen due to, among other things, alleged verbal and physical abuse, excessive gambling, and his frequent visits to child porn sites (maybe he needs to be a guest-star on Law & Order: SVU). To top it all off, he was sued by a woman who claimed that the character he portrays on his sitcom was based on her.

 

This is a first: according to this Wall Street Journal article, Warner Brothers will allow local stations that buy the syndicated reruns of Two and a Half Men to stream the reruns on their web site. The episodes that will be streamed are the ones that aired on the channel the previous week. This may start a trend, as syndicators may start offering episodes of other shows -- the article said "think Friends and Seinfeld" -- for streaming. You know, because those shows are so hard to find as it is.

[Thanks for the tip, Todd!]

Wow, this isn't a good week for Charlie Sheen.

First he's going through the divorce nastiness with wife Denise Richards, and now a woman is suing him, claiming that the character Sheen plays on Two and a Half Men is based on her.

Not really sure how you sue an actor for a character created by someone else, but whatever.

[via TV Tattle]

Ok, we've done our lists of the hottest female TV personalities over 40 and the hottest over 50. We were happy to see that we came up with plenty of names for both lists. But would we be able to come up with five women to make hearts go thump amongst the TV ladies over 60? No problem!

For this list, I decided to consider all women over 60, not just the ones that were between 60 and 69. The reason for that was simple: can you think of any woman on the air that's over 70 or 80? I can only think of two over-70 women, both of whom are on the Honorable Mentions list. And the one over-80 woman I can think of is Betty White, whom I've never really considered to be all that sexy (covers head waiting for the tomatoes to fly in). Oh, and for those who say "Diane Keaton": I love her and think she's extremely sexy, but I still primarily think of her as a film actress, even though she's been doing a lot of TV movies lately.

So, after the jump, my list of women who would make for a hot date and get a discount at the movies at the same time. Who could beat that?

Just when it seemed like Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards had reconciled, they filed papers asking for a private arbitrator to handle their divorce. Richards, who had a brief stint last year in the quickly-cancelled UPN show, Sex, Love and Secrets, filed for divorce from Sheen in March when she was still pregnant with the couple's second child. There were all sorts of rumors that Sheen, who still stars in CBS's Two and a Half Men, cheated on Richards but nothing was ever confirmed. Last November, Charlie Sheen even showed off his wedding ring on Letterman and said they were getting back together. And, over Christmas, gossip magazines said Charlie, Denise, and their two daughters were happily vacationing in Barbados. Representatives for both actors confirm the report that divorce proceedings are continuing.

I'm almost wondering why some people would bother having a television at this point. Two CBS sitcoms have joined the ever-growing list of television shows available either for download or viewing online: Two and a Half Men and How I Met Your Mother. Dubbed as CBS's "Comedy Bowl", starting today and ending January 2nd, you're able to view these shows via Yahoo! as streaming media, for free and without commercials. Previous episodes of each show will be available for viewing next Monday, though it's not yet clear how far back they will go (since Two and a Half Men has prior season episodes as well).

I really enjoy this show. I didn't think I would, but it's actually quite funny. Alan borrows money from his mom (never a good idea) and buys a Porsche. Oh, sorry, Porcsh-a. Charlie knows that mom is going to want something in return ("I love the smell of brimstone in the morning" he says, referring to his mom's evil), and he's right. She wants to set him up with the daughter of the man she's dating. A bitter woman on leave from her Palm Springs rehab stint. I don't know about the whole running joke about a red Porsche (sorry, Porsch-a) being a chick car. I mean, is it? Just because it's red? I think a Porsche would be looked upon as a Porsche no matter what color it is and no matter if that's the style a lot of women have. Oh, sorry: Porsch-a. But I like this show. 

I don't mean to sound anal or anything, but there's a scene in the first 3 minutes of this episode I want to talk about, Columbo-style. Alan and Charlie are in the living room talking when their mother calls and they do odd/even to figure out who will talk to her. Charlie loses, and just then someone is at the door so Alan goes to answer it. It's his ex-wife and their son Jake. Question: why doesn't Jake have a key of his own, since he's there all the time (he's the "half" in the title)? And don't give me that "he's too young" argument. He's old enough to have a key or simply walk in the door (doors are always unlocked on sitcoms anyway). It's probably a minor detail (probably?), but it just seemed like a sitcom set-up to get Alan out of the room so the Charlie/mom scene didn't go on too long and seem even less labored than it was (too late). I like this show though; it's actually funny when it doesn't go for the easy joke (and the laugh track seems to be in hyperdrive sometimes).  This ep had the brothers arguing about...well, everything, and it gets cruel. The insults really fly, and it's great the show doesn't get overly sentimental. Charlie to Alan, about his ex-wife's spending habits: "You're like an Alzheimer's victim in a whorehouse. Constantly surprised you're being screwed, and then you forget that you have to pay for it."

That's right, the CBS Monday night sitcom is the only comedy to actually increase viewers this season. Everything else, from Will and Grace to The Simpsons to Everybody Loves Raymond is showing a slide. Hey, I actually like Two and a Half Men. I think it's a pretty funny show (more so than, say, Yes Dear or Joey or heaven help us, Listen Up), but I find it incredibly depressing that an article about the state of TV comedy doesn't even mention Arrested Development.