‘Two and a Half Men’ not up for an Emmy this year.

CBS executives have decided not to submit ‘Two and a Half Men’ for a Best comedy Series Emmy Award due to all of the drama surrounding the show.

With 16 shows airing and being produced it did qualify, but an insider has said it was not appropriate due to all of the controversy. ‘Two and a Half Men’ has been nominated for the award three times in the past.

Though the show is not up for the award this year, CBS says actors Jon Cryer, Angus T. Jones, Conchata Ferrell and Holland Taylor will be supported in category nominations.

The show shut down production in February after Charlie Sheen flew off the handle. Sheen has been fired from the show and it was reported that Ashton Kutcher will be on the ninth season of the show.

Charlie Sheen Going Back to Two and a Half Men and Will Earn Almost $2 Million Per Episode

Charlie Sheen laid rumors to rest recently and confirmed that he will be returning to the hit CBS sitcom, Two and a Half Men. Of course, we also learned that his salary will be bumped from $825,000 per episode to almost $2 million per episode. Sheen thanked CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves for his support and made the following statement: “To put a fitting end on the two and one-half months of whirlwind speculation, I’m looking forward to returning to my CBS home on Monday nights.”

Of course, CBS may have to work around the likely jail time Sheen could receive for assaulting his wife, Brooke Mueller.

CBS new round of layoffs

Dozens of employees at CBS News were laid off in recent days amid a new round of budget cuts at the third-place network’s news division.

Some employees were reassigned and others were demoted in the process. Speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared further layoffs, CBS employees said the cuts affected network programs like “The Early Show” and “60 Minutes,” and its news-gathering bureaus. Only a handful of on-camera employees were affected.

CBS executives said reports that roughly 100 people were dismissed were inflated, but declined to say how many employees were affected. The news division, which loses money for its parent, the CBS Corporation, says it employs about 1,400 people.

Sean McManus, the president of CBS News and Sports, said of the cutbacks, “We’re doing what every other media company in the world has done.”

“Periodically we make adjustments to our work force. It’s a necessity based on what is happening across the media landscape,” Mr. McManus said in an interview. “I am totally confident that it’s not going to affect the quality of the work that CBS News is putting on the air now, which I think is the best work we have done in years.”

NY Times

CBS and ManCrunch.com

Score one for Focus on the Family in the Social Values Super Bowl — the advocacy advertising contest that will fill the airwaves between scattered moments of NFL football February 7.

CBS has rebuffed the publicity-seeking entry from a new gay dating service, Mancrunch. The company had pounced on a chance to present their ad when they heard time was still for sale for the big game.

Ah, but they missed the fine print: CBS’s newly announced ad standards are for advocacy ads promoting a point of view. So far, the only one booked for the family audience is one starring Tim Tebow and underwritten by conservative evangelical Focus on the Family.

CBS spokeswoman Shannon Jacobs is quoted by CNN Money saying:

After reviewing the ad, which is entirely commercial in nature, our standards and practices department decided not to accept this particular spot … We are always open to working with a client on alternative submissions.

OK folks, if you want to advocate for gay rights or marriage, perhaps — but don’t appear to enjoy same sex contact in an ad airing during a game where grown men will be knocking each other nearly senseless — you still have an opening.

Dan Rather Loses Lawsuit

Dan rather won’t be seeing any of the money from his $70 million dollar lawsuit. Yesterday the NY Supreme Court decline to hear the case and said the lower courts ruling (in which his case was dismissed) will stand.

Dan Rather was removed from the CBS anchor chair over the President Bush/National Guard story. It turned out most of the documents sited had been fakes.

“I believed then and I believe now that it’s important the public understand how much influence in collusion big government and big business can have in affecting how the news is handled,” Rather said in an interview Tuesday. “And that should not be.”

“Nobody likes to lose,” he added. “But I thought carefully before I went into this. I decided, win or lose, some things are worth fighting for. And this is worth fighting for. And I have no intention of giving up the fight.”

A CBS spokesman declined to respond, saying simply, “We will let Dan have the last word on his lawsuit.”

Dan Rather’s $70M lawsuit against CBS thrown out

A New York court on Tuesday dismissed Dan Rather’s $70 million breach of contract lawsuit against CBS Corp., noting that the network continued to pay the anchor $6 million a year even after he left the evening news broadcast.

Rather sued CBS and its top executives in 2007, claiming he had been removed from his “CBS Evening News” anchor post over a report that examined President George W. Bush’s military service.

The Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court — New York’s trial-level court — said the complaint “must be dismissed in its entirety.”

The five-judge panel ruled unanimously that a lower court “erred in declining to dismiss Rather’s breach of contract claim against CBS.”

The court said there was no breach of contract, because CBS still paid Rather his $6 million annual salary after the disputed 2004 broadcast under the “pay or play” provision of his contract.

Rather’s lawyer, Martin Gold, said he was “extremely disappointed” in the decision and would appeal it to the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.

CBS said in a statement it was pleased with Tuesday’s ruling.

“The lawsuit is now effectively over,” CBS said.

The dispute began with a piece Rather narrated for the now-defunct “60 Minutes II,” in which he reported that Bush got preferential treatment during his Vietnam War-era service in the Texas Air National Guard.

Rather cited new documents CBS had obtained, but the authenticity of the documents later came under attack.

Rather kept reporting for “60 Minutes” but was dumped by CBS in June 2006 after 44 years with the network.

His 2007 lawsuit claimed fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, as well as breach of contract. A court threw out the fraud claims in September 2008.

CBS said it expects Rather’s related lawsuit against CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves and Andrew Heyward, former head of CBS News, to be dismissed, as well.

General counsel Louis Briskman said that action “is technically still pending, but it’s hanging by a thread.”

Rather, 77, now produces an hourlong news program for cable channel HDNet.

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