one and a half men

I only have three or four current TV shows that I watch regularly, and one of them is Two and A Half Men, a show in which Charlie Sheen plays the part of a character who is a wild irresponsible drunk who spends inordinate sums of money on prostitutes. Charlie Sheen himself is also a wild irresponsible drunk who spends inordinate sums of money on prostitutes, and occasionally he makes the real-life news for getting into some sort of trouble involving his real-life excesses. Until this week. Now he has reportedly checked himself into rehab, and the network has announced that the show is on hiatus until Charlie the actor gets back (because a show named Two and a Half Men obviously can't go on with just one and a half men).

And everybody, including me, is wishing Charlie the actor good luck in rehab and hoping it "takes" (which it usually doesn't -- right, Lindsay?). But when he returns to the show (which he will, since this is one of the most popular shows on television), what happens to Charlie the character? Will an in-recovery Charlie Sheen still play an out-of-control drunk? Or will the Charlie character on the show have a re-awakening and get sober? In which case, what would the show be about? And how did I let myself get tangled up into even using my brain on such questions?