Gwinnett Daily Post

Sheen returns to sitcom

LOS ANGELES — Charlie Sheen is returning to work, putting the top-rated TV comedy ‘‘Two and a Half Men’’ back into production.

Spokesman Stan Rosenfield said Sheen plans to be on the set Tuesday. Production will begin the day before, with taping set to resume March 4, series producer Warner Bros. Television said Thursday.

Four episodes are expected to be completed for this season, the studio said. That would leave the series four short of the 24 episodes that were planned.

The CBS comedy went on hiatus last month after Sheen sought rehab for undisclosed reasons after a recent tumultuous period in his checkered life, including three hospitalizations in three months.

‘Idol’ adding online voting

LOS ANGELES — ‘‘American Idol’’ is taking democracy online.

Viewers will be able to cast votes through Facebook, along with the previous options of phone and text message, when the singing contest shifts from judges’ to audience’s choice next Tuesday.

It’s the first time Internet voting will be part of the Fox series, which is in its 10th season. Toll-free phone and AT&T text-message voting, at standard rates, will continue, the network said Thursday.

Online participation will be limited to viewers in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands who have a Facebook account, Fox said. Each person can cast up to 50 online votes.

Oscars to use new cameras

LOS ANGELES — Celebrity watchers won’t need to dress up to feel like they’re at the Oscars this year.

For $5, they’ll be able to gaze around at whomever they wish, focus in on a dress or a bowtie and watch A-listers brush past them up the steps to the Kodak Theatre — all on the Internet.

And for the first time, viewers will be able to peek at an exclusive after-party called the Governors Ball and watch winners have their name plates engraved and attached to their statuettes.

Half a dozen 360-degree cameras have been set up for the task.