It looks like Charlie Sheen's uncle Joe won't be taking over his role on 'Two and a Half Men' after all (like that was ever going to happen). While lawyers hammer out a plea deal to end the troubled actor's legal woes comes news that he and CBS are ready to cut a deal to keep him on the hit sitcom.

According to Deadline Hollywood, Sheen and CBS are both "cautiously optimistic" about a new deal that would keep the star cracking wise in bowling shirts for two more seasons on 'Two and A Half Men.' This comes, of course, after Sheen publicly declared that he was ready to leave the show, leading us to speculate on who could replace him (my vote was for James Franco).

Paul Reiser, one of the stars of NBC's "Must See TV" heyday of the 1990s, is reportedly returning to the Peacock Network. Thankfully, he's not producing a hokey reality game show like his pal, Jerry Seinfeld.

Reiser, co-creator and star of NBC's hit sitcom 'Mad About You', is executive producing and starring in a new single-camera pilot backed by Warner Bros. Word is that NBC has picked up the project, possibly to help fill the coming gaps in its schedule thanks to Leno's return to late night.

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the writing team behind last year's best and worst blockbusters ('Star Trek' and, you know, 'Transformers 2'), have inked a three-year deal to develop new shows for 20th Century Fox.

The 'Fringe' scribes will write and produce TV projects under their own company, which Fox hopes they'll populate with creative moneymaking geeks like themselves.

The duo is gonna be very busy for the next few years. They've already signed to write and produce a 'Hawaii Five-O' reboot for CBS, and they're also launching a new 'Transformers' cartoon for Hasbro's The Hub. (Not to mention 'Fringe', which is still going strong on Fox.)

Orci and Kurtzman's movie projects include the much-anticipated 'Star Trek' sequel and the big budget graphic novel adaptation 'Cowboys & Aliens'.

Actors Donal Logue and Eliza Dushku, along with writer/producer David Hemingson, recently signed on for new network projects.

Logue stars in FOX's Barry Sonnefeld-directed comedy pilot, Hackett, as a "bad-boy literary luminary" who goes from teaching at Yale to teaching at a public school in Ohio. The pilot also stars Rachel Boston (American Dreams) and Morgan Murphy. Logue was last seen on ABC's short-lived The Knights of Prosperity. Sonnefeld will work on Hackett, as well as direct episodes of Pushing Daisies, a new series for ABC premiering Wednesdays this fall.

George Lucas is done with Star Wars films but is looking to give the series an even longer life, "with over" 100 television episodes, according to Starpulse News Blog. No word on whether these will be animated, like Clone Wars, or even if it will be one continuous series. He seems pretty definite on the number 100 though, which is the magic number for syndication. Why not look for a deal that guarantees syndication up front, if you've got the clout?

I'm sure Lucas can write his own ticket and generate more Star Wars content in any format he wants. I did love The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, anyway -- though maybe I'm the only one.