• Huffington Post, Monday, March 14, 2011 1:45 PM

On the assumption that "Two and A Half Men" creators will replace their problem man with another actor -- presumably playing a new character -- Entertainment Weekly worked up a photo gallery "of "18 TV Shows That Replaced A Star." This exercise reminds us that sometimes this tactic works really well (Jimmy Smits for David Caruso in "NYPD Blue") and sometimes, especially when it's an iconic star, it bombs (Dennis Farina for Jerry Orbach in "Law & Order").

Meanwhile, on the opposite assumption -- that the breach with CBS and Warner Bros. can still be repaired -- Alec Baldwin gives advice, actor to actor, to Sheen in a thoughtful HuffPo post about the vagaries of his profession. "The movie and television business are filled with some of the most wonderful and talented people you could ever know," he writes. "It is also the rock under which you find the biggest, lyingest, thievingest scumbags on Earth."

Bottom line, according to Baldwin: "Sober up, Charlie. And get back on TV, if it's not too late. This is America. You want to really piss off Chuck and Warner Brothers and CBS? Beg for America's forgiveness. They will give it to you. And then go back."

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