Celebrity Justice
Warner Bros Sues CBS Over "Men"

Posted Dec 24th 2008 1:15AM by TMZ Staff

Warner Bros. Television has filed a massive lawsuit against CBS over "Two and a half Men."



According to the suit filed Tuesday in L.A. County Superior Court, W.B. claims CBS owes it more than $49 million. The suit claims W.B. and CBS struck a deal -- that CBS would pay a lower-than-marketplace fee in seasons 5 and 6, but if the show was a hit CBS would reimburse W.B. for certain losses.

Here's the deal. According to the suit, CBS paid W.B. a fee of $750,000 per episode in the first season, with modest increases thereafter. That amount wasn't enough to cover the cost of production. W.B. claims the average cost per episode for the first season was $1,219,894. W.B. claims during the first four seasons it incurred a loss of $61,097,418.

W.B. alleges CBS was obligated to reimburse the company for some or all of the deficits, depending on the national ranking of the show. W.B. claims in spite of the fact that the show is a success and currently in season 6, CBS refuses to pay more than $49,000,000 it's owed.

CBS could not immediately be reached for comment.

Filed under: Celebrity Justice


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1. Oh my Warner Brothers testify.

Posted at 9:33PM on Dec 23rd 2008 by Perkoff.comunism

2. And 2nd.

Posted at 9:34PM on Dec 23rd 2008 by Perkoff.comunism

3. 3rd but it's really only cool to comment first on stories people care about.

Posted at 9:34PM on Dec 23rd 2008 by Perkoff.comunism

4. ... had comments re grammar... now... just... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Posted at 9:45PM on Dec 23rd 2008 by :[

5. BTW... I LOVE THE SHOW.. re this topic though, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Posted at 9:47PM on Dec 23rd 2008 by :[

6. 21 minutes of show for 1.2 million bucks. It's a good show but not THAT good.

Posted at 10:10PM on Dec 23rd 2008 by Roger C.

7. I love the show but I cannot fathom why it would cost over a million bucks to produce ONE half an hour episode. Must be Sheen and Cryer are making some huge bank per show and that is included in this ridiculous cost?

Posted at 10:18PM on Dec 23rd 2008 by Ms_Tell_It_Like_It_Is

8. Show sucks, Same jokes. The actors suck. Very predictable and boring..

Posted at 11:03PM on Dec 23rd 2008 by dirty white boy.

9. Great show, but not as good as Life, Wednesday's on NBC.

Posted at 11:59PM on Dec 23rd 2008 by greg216

10. The costs are high because of the salaries, BUT CBS makes a killing on the advertisers...it's THE hit show, so it's going to be costly...look at friends those last few seasons.

Posted at 12:13AM on Dec 24th 2008 by RBaldwin

11. This a non-story for the fly-over states. It's only news in LA and NY. It should be on Variety's or Hollywood Reporter's sites. The masses aren't into this kind of "inside baseball" reporting.

Posted at 2:49AM on Dec 24th 2008 by Mix It Up

12. I think this show is funny, keeps us all cracking up. Even the reruns are hysterical. A lot of money though. They will have to takes cuts in pay like everybody else has.

Posted at 6:45AM on Dec 24th 2008 by Still laughing

13. I love this show, will be so dissapointed if it get canceled.

Posted at 7:37AM on Dec 24th 2008 by Teri

14. #12 A pay cut you say? NEVER will happen my friend!!

Posted at 10:43AM on Dec 24th 2008 by 5thbeatle

15. i luv the show and the epsidoes keep gettin better but the price to make one epsiode i mean come on

Posted at 12:26PM on Dec 24th 2008 by brad