'Two and a Half Men,' 'CSI' pull a switch on CBS

BY JAY BOBBIN | Zap2it

May 5, 2008

If two of television's top-rated series each feels like the other this week, it's no coincidence.

Writers from "Two and a Half Men" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" tackled an episode of the other's CBS show, and the results are about to be revealed.

Involving the wedding of Charlie and Alan's ( Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer) mother (Holland Taylor), the comedy's example airs tonight at 9 on Ch. 2. The crime drama's tale, about - of all things - the murder of a television sitcom star, follows Thursday at 9 p.m., same channel.

An entirely different genre

The crossover idea originated with Chuck Lorre, who wrote the "CSI" script with his partner in creating and producing "Two and a Half Men," Lee Aronsohn.

"I'm friends with Carol [Mendelsohn, a 'CSI' executive producer]," Lorre explains, "and I've often wondered what it would be like to work in an entirely different genre. About a year ago, I pitched her the idea of the writer swap; they'd write one of ours, and we'd write one of theirs. It was just a silly idea, and it's amazing and terrific that it's gotten this far."

Lorre won't confirm his "CSI" idea was based on his experiences on Cybill Shepherd's and Roseanne Barr's sitcoms, but those in the know can read into the premise of a much-detested actress (played by Katey Sagal of "Married ... With Children" fame) killed in her Las Vegas hotel room.

The plot especially amuses "CSI" star Marg Helgenberger because her husband, Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg, was a regular on "Cybill."

"I thought it probably would be a good fit," says the Emmy-winning actress, who plays forensic sleuth Catherine Willows, "because this particular story lends itself to our show. We've done episodes that have a lighthearted tone, but I think our writers going over there have a little bit more of a task. Most of our shows are self-contained, whereas theirs aren't as plot-driven; they're more character-driven."

Naren Shankar, another "CSI" executive producer, is among the writers of the "Two and a Half Men" story that brings back earlier guest stars Robert Wagner and Jenny McCarthy.

"It just started as a little whim," Shankar recalls, "but more and more, as people kept asking us about it, we started seeing it as something we could do that actually would be a lot of fun. It was just a gag that snowballed into something that has become very real."

A yen for dramatic work

Comedy has been actor Sheen's mainstay in recent years, but with his serious roles in such movies as the Oliver Stone-directed "Platoon" and "Wall Street," he keeps a yen for dramatic work. Still, he stresses the "CSI"-flavored episode doesn't stray too far from the "Two and a Half Men" the show's fans know and love.

"I would like to believe they watch us," Sheen says of the "CSI" team, "because we sure watch them. We are big fans of theirs, and I actually marvel at how difficult their shows must be to produce. The amount of on-location stuff, the dialogue they tackle, how great it looks visually ... they're shooting a little movie every week. I just wondered if the 'Two and a Half Men' energy could completely upend that."

The same thought occurred to Sheen's chief partner in comedy the past five seasons. "In the worst-case scenario," Cryer reflects, "it's just an oddity. It's like the last episode of 'The Prisoner,' where everything just went all crazy. It could be something people will discuss for the next 40 years."

Still, the producers of each show were confident the others would be respectful of the turf they were occupying temporarily. The view also was long-range, since the crossover episodes will be evident time and again for years to come, given the near-constant "CSI" repeats on Spike TV and the weekday presence of "Two and a Half Men" reruns in syndication across the country.