Charlie Sheen has experienced more very public ups and downs in his career than most in the entertainment industry, several of which he experienced during the run of Two and a Half Men. Created by Chuck Lorre, the sitcom launched Sheen into network TV stardom to the point of becoming the highest-paid actor on television. He was ultimately fired from the show in Season 8, and didn't hold back his feelings about Lorre during their feud before they'd eventually collaborate again in 2023. The target of that ire on one occasion? The Big Bang Theory.
Sheen's most recent project was aka Charlie Sheen, a documentary available streaming now with a Netflix subscription, but I only just learned about some comments he dropped about Chuck Lorre and The Big Bang Theory while Jim Parsons' series was still on the air. Speaking with The Guardian at the time, the Major League vet said:
You gotta think about the shows that my show launched. I should have added in a clause that said anything that uses me as a lead-in, cut me in. I'm sorry, but Big Bang Theory is a piece of shit – it's a stupid show and it's just lame, about lame people.
Charlie Sheen did have multiple shows over the course of The Big Bang Theory's twelve-season run from 2007-2019. His time on Two and a Half Men lasted from 2003-2011, and both Chuck Lorre shows were airing on CBS on Thursdays. Anger Management ran for 100 episodes between 2012-2014 as Sheen's follow-up to Two and a Half Men. Sheen actually made a cameo on Big Bang as himself back in 2008, which wasn't quite substantial enough of an appearance to earn him a slot on the list of best Big Bang Theory guest stars.
While Sheen would go on to work with Chuck Lorre again on HBO Max's Bookie (and even participate in a wild Two and a Half Men reunion on the show), the actor didn't mince words about the famed sitcom creator when speaking with The Guardian years ago. Continuing to address The Big Bang Theory, he said:
I like the kids in it, but that show without us as a lead-in is… goodbye. And I'm rooting for those kids, because I know who they're dealing with. The fact that they're still sane is crazy. You know? He's a bad man. And I've backed off from him for a while.
"A while" didn't last forever, with Charlie Sheen appearing in three episodes of Bookie during its two-season run. While the show was among the disappointing TV cancellations of 2025, both seasons are still available streaming with an HBO Max subscription. Lorre also appeared in the aka Charlie Sheen documentary, as well Sheen's former Two and a Half Men costars Jon Cryer, Angus T. Jones, and Melanie Lynskey.
Sheen and Lorre being on better terms now is certainly an improvement from where they were while The Big Bang Theory was still airing on CBS, but Sheen hasn't gone on the record on whether or not his thoughts on that sitcom have changed by this point in the 2026 TV schedule. You can find Sheen's years on his hit CBS comedy (as well as the four seasons starring Ashton Kutcher opposite Jon Cryer) streaming with a Peacock subscription now.
