Image Credit: Matt Satles/AP ImagesAfter fanning the flames of his growing feud with Charlie Sheen last week with a post-episode vanity card that took aim at his star’s wild lifestyle, Two and Half Men producer Chuck Lorre has dialed it down a notch.
Lorre announced on Monday following an episode of Mike & Molly that he would “take a break for a few weeks” from writing his post-episode cards, saying he would instead “display a photograph of a part of my body that is entirely innocuous.” “No longer will I share some troublesome piece of my mind. Now I will share an actual piece of Chuck that is incapable of offending anyone,” he said, including a picture of his elbow to begin his new (temporary) tradition.
And it appears he’s sticking to his word. On Thursday night after The Big Bang Theory, Lorre’s vanity card was the same message, only this time it featured a picture of his knuckle. (On Lorre’s website, you have to get through a “censored” card before viewing the message.)
Lorre claimed he came to the decision after realizing his musings were “getting scrutinized and criticized” by everyone from network executives to journalists and “it’s gotten out of hand.”
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Chuck Lorre: ‘If Charlie Sheen outlives me…’
Okay, maybe I missed it but I swear after TBBT last night I saw the “CENSORED” label (which i thought was quite funny and timely) instead of an elbow. Did I miss something? Also, hopefully this isn’t permanent on his part. His vanity card regarding Charlie was meant as humorous (I thought) and not cutting. And really, Charlie had it coming with what he’s put his family, the cast and crew through lately. Given his rants yesterday against Chuck, I’m thinking Charlie is just continuing to prove him right…
No! I was really looking forward to next week’s! Don’t do it Chuck! You are clever and very funny. Your public demands it!
I am glad Charlie Sheen told this prick off.
@Flip – Charlie Sheen NEEDS to be taken down a peg or two. He thinks he is untoucable. Until his “bosses” start reprimading him and calling him on all his sh*t he will continue to ruin other peoples lives. Flip you are calling the wrong person a prick. You go Chuck!
sorry “reprimanding”
sorry “untouchable” – wow, I am having a bad morning!
Chuck never was funny. I think I speak for all of us when I say thank god one of his awful shows is no longer on the air. Now we need to focus our efforts on getting his other shows cancelled.
Speak for yourself, Peter…oh wait, you already are.
has everyone forgotten that he was an executive producer for the early seasons of Roseanne? And that show was hilarious!
Wow. I guess after working on a peaceful set with a soft-spoken, shrinking violet like Roseanne, dealing with a diva like Charlie Sheen must have been a complete shock for him.
His current shows all suck, but he also made Grace Under Fire and Cybill, two of the most underrated sitcoms of the 90s.
Do you not watch Big Bang? Brilliant as well as hilarious.
Can we please get over this myth that Big Bang Theory is anything more than an adequate sitcom? Just because the characters are supposed to be brainiacs doesn’t mean that the writing or plots are anywhere near as intelligent or clever as, say, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Community and even How I Met Your Mother.
It’s a good show but most of the time it still has that Chuck “lowest common denominator” Lorre brand of humor.
I don’t even think you speak for yourself on this.
Poor chucky got flack from Brett Butler too. Bret closed tat show down w/ her drinking & drugging.
Grace Under Fire was better than 2 & 1/2 Men.
I can’t tell you how I will miss the vanity cards. I just loved them.
He decided this before Charlie went completely nuts. I suspect we might see something “fresh” in the next few new episodes. I really hope he rips Sheen a new one.
chuck lorre is a man with class.
Naw…he’s just another money grubbing jew in hollywood whose ego got bruised because Charlie told him off.
Wow, Larry, racist much?
Jews are not a race, they’re a religion. And what are “vanity cards”? I don’t watch TV
You’re talking about ego and you’re NOT referring to Charlie Sheen?
Sgt. Rock – they are like title cards, but run after the end credits. Lorre usually used them to muse on something he experienced or observed. The one re: outliving Sheen is the one that set Sheen off (the card read something along the lines of “if, with the crazy, out of control lifestyle he lives, Sheen outlives me, I’m going to kill myself”)
It’s both a race and a religion….it’s possible to be Jewish by race, but not religion….just saying.
That’s a pretty gross remark.
No, he’s a man with ZERO class. Look, Charlie Sheen is a maniac and a very sick, sick man. It’s not “classy” to make fun of that situation. I certainly understand that Lorre is mad at him for making a mess of the lives of the Two and a Half Men cast and crew. Sheen is selfish and doesn’t care who he hurts. All Lorre did with his “vanity card” was make fun of a sick and twisted individual. I get the motivation, but it was classless and inappropriate. The appropriate response is what he did today: shut the show down.
I’ll miss them. I hope this is a temporary decision. One of my favorite traditions in watching “Big Bang Theory” on DVD is pausing the vanity card and getting a final big laugh out of every episode.
You don’t get out much do you?
Says the troll who has time to reply to other people’s comments.
it’s a bit late for that don’t you think? the only thing that will work is an all out apology and a promise to keep his nose out of Sheen’s private life. Obviously Sheen is struggling with enough demons , Lorre’s action remind me of junior highschool bullies. We expect television show producers to be on the side of their created stars and to be adult in their business dealings. Chuck Lorre blew it.
Sheen’s ‘private life’ is affecting hundreds of Lorre’s people; so Lorre has every right to intervene. One might expect Sheen to ‘be adult in their business dealings’ since he is the highest paid (overpaid) actor in TV. He’s an employee who should have been canned long ago.
You think Chuck cares about anyone but himself?(check his Vanity Cards if you don’t believe me)
He didn’t intervene – he made jokes at Sheen’s expense. Very junior high. Not saying Sheen’s response was at all appropriate!
You’re right, clearly Charlie Sheen is being the mature one here.
Calling Charlie Sheen mature??? Says alot about YOU! SEriously, the guy acts like a pouting 16 year old who is being grounded and no longer allowed out.
You can’t be serious. Charlie Sheen’s holier than thou, arrogant self will get what he deserves. The show, while still fun, was getting stale anyway.
I believe “whatevs” is being sarcastic..
Yeah Jeff, but that would imply that anyone around here had the brains to figure that out.
WOW,cara and dsd, you honestly thought that whatevs was serious? Again, WOW! You really didn’t get that the comment was SARCASTIC? This is one of the reasons the world is like it is…people don’t LISTEN nor do they bother to READ and UNDERSTAND the entire picture before forming a completely absurd opinion and then go and spew off at the mouth in public only to end up looking foolish! Come on people use those brains…properly!
I agree!
People like you are the reason that Charlie Sheen gets away with it. Enabler and making excuses.
Actially, Lorre’s poke at Sheen was both funny and self-deprecating, and totally hilarious. It’s sad that Sheen is off his rocker, but the show comepltely blow, so I’ll be thrilled if it goes away. Lorre’s other work will go on, and so will he.
I agree with the first sentence of this. But I like Two and Half Men. The stuff with Allen specifically.
OK, am I the only one with no idea what a vanity card is?
Vanity cards appear at the end of each episode (after the credits). It appears for a couple seconds and is hard to read unless you pause your DVR to read it. It is the writers thoughts and comments.
I see this guy has 4 family members.
i am not a fan of 2.5 men and didn’t know about these vanity cards until all the news about the one re: charlie sheen. i have to say, i think i would be pretty offended if my boss made a joke about such serious problems i was experiencing. don’t get me wrong, i laughed at the vanity card (def. more than i’ve laughed at anything on 2.5 men) but if i were sheen, i’d be pissed
Maybe, but then again if you were Sheen, you’d be falling down drunk, coked up and have a porn star cowering in your closet.
I think at that point maybe you should have bigger concerns than the fact that your employer made a mild reference to that behavior.
awesome reply – LOL
But Sheen hasn’t admitted he has a serious problem!
The card was hardly offensive. He listed everything Sheen did and then pointed out the irony if Sheen in fact outlived him. It would be different if Lorre made it all up.
The vanity cards will be missed. Sometimes outrageous, always entertaining, they provide an original coda to his sitcom episodes that’s been missing from network TV since opening themes, montages, closing credits, jokes etc have been downsized in lieu of another 30 second commercial. Lorre’s millisecond of humor was often more original than many episodes of competing shows. They will be missed.
Hopefully this is just temporary and they’ll be back, smarter and funnier than ever.
let me tell you…
Sheen richly deserves a good dope-smack (oops, too late) but Lorre’s ‘vanity card’ dissing Sheen was not a swift move.
If Sheen were anyone else, he’d have a right to be pissed. But his actions show that he feels he’s above reproach. Humility is not a word in his vocabulary. So Lorre is right on target, and it’s up to Sheen to prove him wrong. Instead, he chooses to mock his bosses by calling their bluff, and now he’s going to be out millions and the 2.5 crew will be out of work. If those fine folks are smart, they’ll find another series to become part of, and 2.5 can become history. And Chuck Sheen can go flail around with rehashes of old ideas and sputter himself into irrelevance. Not that he hasn’t reached those depths already. Moron.
Whatever.
Aww man that is just sad news….most of them were nothing but rambling nonsense anyways.