Kutcher replaces Sheen in Two And a Half Men

The latest Hollywood star to be linked to Charlie Sheen's role in the hit sitcom Two and a Half Men is Ashton Kutcher. The actor, who is best known for his love of Twitter and being married to Demi Moore, is reported to have signed a deal to join the CBS show for its ninth season.
 
Kutcher, who also presented MTV's celebrity practical joke show Punk'd, has a chequered acting history, but is apparently seen by the producers as an adequate replacement for Sheen, who was fired from the show earlier this year after coming off the rails in spectacular fashion. He has since launched a $100m lawsuit against them.
 
Hollywood industry website Deadline.com reported that a deal had been struck the day after it revealed that attempts to bring Hugh Grant on board had fallen through. And Kutcher appeared to confirm that he was joining the show on Thursday night by Tweeting a message to his 6.5 million followers that read: "What's the square root of 6.25?" The answer, of course, is two-and-a-half.
 
It is not clear whether Kutcher will command a similar fee to his predecessor Sheen, who was reputedly being paid $1.8m an episode to play an alcoholic, womanising bachelor called Charlie, but the website reports that he is seen as a safe pair of hands for the role. "Because Kutcher is both a producer as well as an actor, he has a good reputation as a responsible showbiz professional," it points out.
 
He also has sitcom experience, having made his name in That 70s Show, which ran from 1998 to 2006, and a clean cut and likeable public image. That is in contrast to his predecessor, who has been accused of smoking tennis-ball sized lumps of crack and trapping terrified porn stars in hotel bathrooms.
 
But whatever his merits in other areas the producers will have their work cut out trying to coax a convicing performance out of him. Kutcher's movie career has bombed in recent years and in February he was awarded the Razzie for worst actor of 2010 thanks to his performances in Killers and Valentine's Day, a romcom which Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw said "makes Love, Actually look like Citizen Kane". ·