Stations unveil fall debuts

CBS will reveal to viewers what happened to Charlie Harper on Sept. 19.

That's the date the network has set for the return of Two and a Half Men to its Monday lineup - sans Charlie Sheen, who played the jingle-writing, Malibu home-owning butterfly.

Current speculation has show creator Chuck Lorre mulling over the idea of having Harper drive his car off a cliff.

You can see his point, given the things Sheen said about Lorre during the actor's "Ranting on the Radio" period, shortly before Warner Bros. TV, which produces the show, decided to give Sheen the hook.

Others say that speculation is just wishful thinking.

Anyway, Two and a Half Men will have some explaining to do with Sheen out and Ashton Kutcher moving in. The episode, scheduled for 9:30 that night, is sure to pack a ratings wallop.

That's great news for 2 Broke Girls, the new CBS sitcom scheduled to air at 8:30 p.m. Mondays. For its debut only, 2 Broke Girls gets the plum time-slot right after Two and a Half Men.

CBS programming chief Nina Tassler told reporters in May 2 Broke Girls was CBS's highest testing series pilot ever.

CBS announced plans Wednesday to roll out almost all its new and returning series during the week of Sept. 19, the start of the official TV season, a.k.a. Premiere Week. That could be bad news for ABC's Dancing With the Stars. The competition show is scheduled to debut that same Monday night, in the teeth of Two and a Half Men.

Clever Fox - no doubt anticipating that CBS would, as usual, unspool its schedule during Premiere Week - had already announced it would steer clear of the night, waiting until Sept. 26 to air the two-hour premiere of its new sci-fi series, Terra Nova.

That means House, the regularly scheduled competition to Two and a Half Men, won't take on the CBS sitcom until Oct. 3.

Likewise, CW had already announced it would stand down Sept. 19 and wait until the next Monday to unleash its Two and a Half Men competition: a show called Hart of Dixie.

In Dixie, Rachel Bilson plays a sophisticated New York doctor who finds herself practicing medicine in a small Southern town, where the other women her age are snobs in hoop skirts.

At press time, NBC had not yet announced its new-season debut plans, but the fourth-place network has scheduled the two-hour singing competition series The Sing-Off for Monday nights at 8.