'Men,' 'Theory' are first shows to start filming after writers' strike

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-to.return03mar03,0,6853972.story

By Maria Elena Fernandez
March 3, 2008

HOLLYWOOD - After 100 days on the picket line, this is how Chuck Lorre, the veteran TV writer-producer, brought his two CBS sitcoms back to life.

On Stage 26 last week, at Warner Bros. Studios, Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen writhed on the floor of a pizza joint after having been Maced by a woman. His co-star, Jon Cryer, had it rougher still. His first scene involved underwear as his only wardrobe item and an ice pack on his burned crotch.

"It wouldn't be Two and a Half Men without some fresh assault on my dignity," Cryer said wryly as he sat in the hair-and-makeup room, covering himself with a robe.

The writers' strike has been over for more than two weeks, but the TV industry is just starting to get its groove back. Although the writers for all the programs returning this spring are back at work, only seven series have begun shooting, including Lorre's Men and The Big Bang Theory, which were the first two shows across the five broadcast networks to begin production.

Next door to Men, on Stage 25, Simon Helberg, who plays nerdy Wolowitz on Big Bang, sent signals around the world via the Internet so that a "cybernista" in Bogota, Colombia, could use his computer to grind coffee in Leonard and Sheldon's apartment. In another scene, Jim Parsons tried to make the most of a direction in the script: "Sheldon puts his fingers to his temple and concentrates fiercely, trying to explode Leonard's head."

"That's one instance where plain English doesn't help," said Parsons, who had just received the script with the addition of the brain blast. "That's just more confusing. What do you mean, I'm trying to explode his head? But it's fun to do, actually, now that I know what it is."


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