mnradiofan said:
If you believe the trades the per episode cost for 2 1/2 are much less than when Charlie Sheen was pulling down $1.2M per and they were also paying an entire cast. Kutcher makes around $700G per episode and I doubt they are paying the rest of the "no-show" cast much, if anything. Ergo, salary costs are down by at least a half million per week and perhaps much more.
OTOH, if you believe the trades viewership is up, and in the desired demo's to boot. I have no idea whether the commercial rates have escalated as well but would think it might be likely. Ergo, revenue is up (or, at least, it isn't down).
The main thing which is killing 2 1/2 is the dismal writing, the absence of Sheen and just plain old time. They had a great run but got into a pissing contest with the star (who, arguably was a bit off his rocker) and was obviously tired of doing the show. Seasons 1-6 were great but you could see the difference in Season 7. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I wouldn't even consider Season 8 part of the same series it is so terrible and most of Season 7 is trash as well. Too bad because it was brilliant at one time.
