Sheen's woes a costly threat to CBS, Warner Bros.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — CBS is scrambling to replace a "Two and a Half Men"-sized hole in its current schedule, a problem that is eclipsed by the threat of losing the lucrative sitcom forever because of troubled star Charlie Sheen.

The network and series producer Warner Bros. Television have potentially hundreds of millions of dollars at stake in the return of TV's top-rated comedy.

With Sheen in rehab after a 911 call and brief hospitalization last week, filming for this season was halted with 16 of the season's planned 24 episodes completed. CBS, Warner and Sheen's publicist, Stan Rosenfield, wouldn't comment on if or when Sheen might return to work.

Only two of the Monday night show's finished episodes are unaired, and they're scheduled to be broadcast Feb. 7 and 14. To cover after that, CBS has ordered two extra episodes of "Rules of Engagement" and may increase its order for another sitcom as well as rely on "Two and a Half Men" repeats.

No other comedy has the drawing power of "Men," which even in reruns averages bigger audiences (10.6 million, according to the Nielsen Co.) than first-run episodes of other network comedies, except for ABC's "Modern Family" (14.6 million).