Wedding bells coming for Walden and Alan on CBS' 'Men'

BEVERLY HILLS – The two men on Two and a Half Men are looking to get married.

The characters, Walden (Ashton Kutcher) and Alan (Jon Cryer), aren't gay, but a marriage between them is seen as a means to achieving Walden's goal of adopting a child, CBS program chief Nina Tassler said Thursday at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.

As Walden, who begins the comedy's final season in "a bit of an existential crisis," enters the adoption process, he "realizes it's very difficult to adopt a child as a single, straight man. So, once and for all, he decides, 'I'm going to propose to Alan. We're going to get married and adopt a child as a gay couple,' " Tassler said.

Asked if some might find such a story line offensive, Tassler said it reflects progressive developments in the culture.

"I think it's a very positive statement. 'You know what, I am going to adopt a child as a gay couple. The reality is we can do that,' " she said. "In a universe where at one point you couldn't do that and now you can do that, I think that's a much more positive statement."

Tassler said there have been no conversations about bringing back the show's former star, Charlie Sheen, for the final season.