Many reports of Sheen partying in
Las Vegas,
going on alcoholic binges, and dating pornstars had been over the Internet from early January 2011 and CBS had expressed its concern. Early in the morning of January 27, Sheen was rushed to hospital suffering from severe abdominal pains after holding a party at his house in which he allegedly smoked
crack cocaine. After being released from the hospital, Sheen checked himself into
rehab, causing the show to be put on hiatus, with production scheduled to resume on February 28. The season was originally ordered for 24 episodes, but due to Sheen entering rehab, the episode count was cut to 20. On February 24, 2011, it was announced that the show would shut down production for the rest of the season and cancel the remaining four episodes, due to Sheen making offensive comments about
Chuck Lorre, the creator and lead writer of
Two and a Half Men, on the February 24 edition of a radio broadcast hosted by
Alex Jones. On March 7, 2011, Sheen was fired from the show. After much speculation over whether Sheen would return to the series after all, Lorre announced in April 2011 that he had new plans to
reboot Two and a Half Men with
Jon Cryer in a lead role alongside a new character.
Ashton Kutcher was later hired to portray the new character,
Walden Schmidt. ==Episodes==