No Coasting Zone

"I'm not making sacrifices. I'm exhausted a lot, but I don't look at it as making sacrifices. I try and take a moment as often as I can to stop and recognize how lucky I am," Chuck Lorre tells the current issue of The Hollywood Reporter about juggling three hit shows: Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory and Mike & Molly.

"There are showrunners who care about being right, Chuck only cares about the show being good," adds Two and a Half Men executive producer Eddie Gorodestsky. "He gets the bad rap of being blunt or hard, but he treats everybody the way he treats himself. He does not have patience for coasting."

‘Men’ of Success

Lorre has credited Two and a Half Men with being the foundation of his current success and it's notable he has never publicly criticized the show's controversial star Charlie Sheen, even after the actor threatened to quit Men during his contract negotiation this year. Earning an estimated $2 million per episode, Sheen, seen here with Lorre and co-stars Holland Taylor, Jon Cryer, Marin Hinkle, Angus T. Jones and Conchata Ferrell, is the highest-paid actor on TV.

"He's a worker amongst workers," Lorre says. "His personal issues don't come onto the stage, and he's been a good partner for a long time."

The Big Bang Theory

Lorre's shows represent an extraordinary source of revenue for CBS and Warner Bros. Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory (pictured) rank near the top of the chart for advertising rates on broadcast, pulling $207,000 and $195,000, respectively, per 30-second spot. Plus, there are lucrative syndication dollars that Lorre enjoys along with the studio — Big Bang sold for about $1.5 million per episode this year, and Men just resold for another seven years into syndication after initially going for a record $2 million per episode.

Dharma & Greg

Following stints as a writer on Roseanne, Grace Under Fire, and Cybill, Lorre created ABC's Dharma & Greg, a sweet 1997 sitcom about a New Age girl who falls in love with an uptight lawyer. He started reading Zen philosophy as research into Dharma's character and says the teachings changed his life, giving him methods to manage unpredictable stress. Here Lorre is seen on the Dharma & Greg set with the series' stars and crew, including Jenna Elfman, Thomas Gibson, Joel Murray, Bill Prady, Susan Sullivan, Mitchell Ryan and Lillian Hurst.

Mike & Molly

Chuck Lorre's Two and a Half Men is the linchpin to CBS' top-rated Monday comedy block. And once the network paired Men and Lorre's The Big Bang Theory together, the geek-friendly comedy grew into a ratings monster, ranking as last season's highest-rated scripted show. This fall, Men is being used to fuel another Lorre production, Mike & Molly (pictured), which has grown into the fall's highest-rated new comedy. 

Networking With the Networks

"I'm not one to applaud network executives in general, but CBS doesn't screw around with shows when they're working," says Lorre, seen here on the Two and a Half Men set with Charlie Sheen. "We're telling good stories, they leave us alone."

From Pop Songs to Sitcoms

For more than a decade, prior to finding TV success Lorre was a self-admitted "second-string guitar player in third-string bands playing fourth-rate clubs," though he did manage to pen Deborah Harry's 1986 hit "French Kissing in the USA." That same year, he changed gears to pursue a writing career in Hollywood and endured being fired from kids shows like My Little Pony and Muppet Babies before landing his first major gig in 1990 as a writer on ABC's Roseanne, starring Roseanne Barr and John Goodman (pictured). 

Two and a Half Men

Two and a Half Men's Jon Cryer, seen here the episode "Look at Me, Mommy, I'm Pretty" with co-star Charlie Sheen, says Lorre has "a combination of rare talent, control freakishness and authoritarianism." 

The Big Bang Theory

"I don't want to think about the competition — that's time misspent," Lorre says about The Big Bang Theory (pictured) being moved to Thursdays. "No matter where they put you on television, there's going to be other choices for the audience."

Hollywood Hit-Maker

"You can't allow [an episode] to go on television until it's the very best thing you can make, because it's a fragile relationship with the audience. There's no reason for them to tolerate a bad show and come back," says Lorre, seen here attending a March 2009 ceremony honoring him with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.