Rob Lowe Gets Charlie Sheen Endorsement for 'Two and a Half Men'

"Rob's an old friend and a brilliant actor," he says

Published on March 9, 2011 02:45 PM

Charlie Sheen, casting director?

The troubled actor and recently deposed star of Two and a Half Men, 45, has told his ongoing radio confessor Dan Patrick, amid excoriating broadcast interviewers for what he considers their judgmental tone, that he really likes John Stamos and Rob Lowe as possible replacements on the CBS sitcom.

“I think they’re both fabulous,” said Sheen, “and my apologies to John. I was rude to him earlier, John Stamos. That was unnecessary.” Last week, when news surfaced that Stamos, 47, may be hired as a successor to Sheen on the show, Sheen called the move a “tragic joke.”

“And Rob’s an old friend and a brilliant actor. And he’s a beautiful man,” Sheen continued. “What I would advise them to do, though, is just make it their own. Don’t, don’t, don’t think about anything that I’ve done brilliantly on the show for 177,000 episodes but I would just tell them, make it your own.”

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Stamos, in his own good humor, Tweeted, “contrary to the rumors, i am not replacing charlie sheen on two and half men. however, martin sheen has asked me to be his son.” Meanwhile, sources tell PEOPLE that Lowe and Men creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre have been seriously discussing the possibility of Lowe’s joining the show.

Lowe and Sheen’s History

Besides being founding members of the ’80s group of young actors nicknamed the Brat Pack – along with Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy, Mare Winningham, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald and Sheen’s older brother, Emilio Estevez – Sheen and Lowe both went to Santa Monica High School, as did Sean Penn and Robert Downey Jr.

Lowe, too, has had some bad boy moments – a 1988 sex tape and a 2008 harassment case filed by two of his nannies, which settled out of court.

While Lowe, 46, remains under contract to NBC’s Parks & Recreation (and also has a gig on Showtime’s Californication), a source says, “Rob is the obvious choice and he is at the top of the list” for Two and a Half Men.

Sources at Warner Bros., which produces Two and a Half Men, declined to comment on the situation.

• With additional reporting by KEN LEE, ELIZABETH LEONARD and CYNTHIA WANG

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