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 From left to right: David Berman (coroner David Phillips on CSI), Lee Aronsohn (creator, writer and executive producer for Two and a Half Men), William Petersen (Gil Grissom on CSI), and Chuck Lorre (creator, writer and executive producer for Two and a Half Men) on the set of the CBS hit show CSI. Are you following any of this? |
At first glance this seems as crazy as the menu of phone numbers on Charlie Sheen's speed-dial.
But you know, TV always can use a little creative craziness.
How else would one describe the fact that a pair of apparently polar-opposite shows -- CSI and Two and a Half Men -- will engage in "crossover" episodes next week?
Before you get too excited, this isn't being billed as a "big-star" crossover. Sheen isn't scheduled to be on CSI, and William Petersen isn't scheduled to be on Two and a Half Men, although some surprise crossover cameos definitely are possible.
What's written in stone, however, is that this is a writing and conceptual crossover.
Monday on the sitcom Two and a Half Men (CBS, A-channel affiliates in Canada), CSI executive producers Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar have written a new Two and a Half Men episode titled Fish in a Drawer. A CSI team will investigate a mysterious death at the home of Charlie (Sheen), with guest stars Robert Wagner and Jenny McCarthy. It has been confirmed that CSI's George Eads (who plays Nick Stokes) will make a cameo appearance, but who knows, there could be more.
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Then Thursday on the procedural police drama CSI (CBS, CTV), Two and a Half Men executive producers Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn have written a new CSI episode titled Two and a Half Deaths. Grissom (Petersen) and the CSI team find themselves immersed in the world of Hollywood comedy when a sitcom diva, played by Katey Sagal (Married With Children), meets an untimely demise while filming her show in Las Vegas.
"There are some wonderful little cameos in both episodes that are a little wink at the audience," Lorre said during a conference call on Wednesday that also included Aronsohn, Mendelsohn and Shankar. "But we didn't go beyond that."
Aronsohn provided a little more intrigue, though, when he added, "You'll find Easter eggs, I think we'll call them, if you watch the episodes."
Lorre expressed amazement that something as bizarre as a writing crossover between a dark drama and a breezy sitcom actually has occurred.
"I really hadn't thought it through at all," Lorre said. "It was a really half-assed idea when I pitched it to Carol. And the fact that it has taken hold and we're having this conversation now defies every sense of reality that I have."
By the way, on a different subject, Mendelsohn raised a few eyebrows during the conference call when asked if CSI -- which already has spawned two TV spinoffs, CSI: Miami and CSI: New York -- might be ready to make the jump to movie theatres.
"There has been a little talk over the years, nothing concrete," Mendelsohn said. "But I wouldn't be surprised if that happens one day."