More news bits from the Langham Huntington in Pasadena. Chuck Lorre and his two show runners, Lee Aronsohn of Two and a Half Men and Bill Prady of The Big Bang Theory were on stage discussing their shows. Inevitably -- though not right off the bat -- a question about Charlie Sheen came up.

Lorre starts by asking, "What happened with Charlie...?" before saying that Sheen reported for work as usual last week, after being arrested in Las Vegas Colorado on domestic violence charges over the holidays, and that they had one of their best tapings ever.

"Charlie's a consummate pro," said Lorre. "He shows up and delivers."

During the post-panel reporter scrum, Lorre seemed non-plussed by the events reporters' curiosity over Sheen's return to the set, often shrugging his shoulders as if to say, "why are you guys asking me about this?" Sheen showed up, they had a good week, and it's business as usual. That's it. I guess any chatter that was on the set that week will be kept private.

The CSI/Two and a Half Men writers switch was a very clever promotion for CBS. Fortunately, the writers saw the opportunity to change places as more than just a publicity stunt. They really took the scripting seriously and came up with inventive episodes for each program. If this were a competition to see which team would deliver the better show, who would take on the task of writing winning TV in a genre not their own and succeed beyond expectations, the comedy scribes take the gold. Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn's CSI was pure genius, and if it were up to me, CSI should submit it for an Emmy.

But first there was Two and a Half Men. In an episode called "Fish in a Drawer" (and if somebody could explain what that title means, I'd be most appreciative), the story picked up after Evelyn married Teddy. In the teleplay by CSI regular writers Evan Dunsky and Sarah Goldfinger, Charlie and Courtney check out of the reception for a little romp in his room upstairs only to find Teddy's dead bod on the bed. Talk about spoiling the mood. Teddy wasn't only a corpse, he was a corpse with his pants pulled down around his ankles and lipstick stains on his hoo-ha. The cops were called in, a detective who was a dead ringer for Marg Helgenberger -- played by redhead Jamie Rose -- had the vaguely Bondian name of Jagov, Sloane Jagov. Naturally, Charlie had to make a move on her. He couldn't keep his eyes off her cleavage.

%Gallery-22532%

One of the perks of having a top twenty show is that it often gets you a deal to make another show. Such is the case for Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn, creators of Two and a Half Men. CBS is looking at an untitled comedy from the pair starring Allison Janney (West Wing), who has a talent holding deal with the network. There are no details on the show yet, but given the creators and the involvement of Janney, I'd give it a better than average shot at moving forward.

In other comedy news at the Tiffany Network, they have ordered a pilot for a show called Fugly. Written by My Name Is Earl creator Greg Garcia, the show tells the story of three not so attractive sisters who pool their money to get one of them an extreme makeover. The plan is for the three of them to then take advantage of the sister's good looks. It's an interesting premise, and I think Garcia could do a lot with it, but I suspect a name change is coming if the show actually makes it to air. I can't see the management mucky mucks at CBS actually putting a show called Fugly on their schedule.

[ via cynopsis ]