Jon Cryer Recalls Wanting to End 'Two and a Half Men' Amid Charlie Sheen's Downward Spiral (Exclusive)

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aired its series finale, and closed the book on a 12-season run filled with more behind-the-scenes drama than most soap operas.

Now, star Jon Cryer is looking back at his time on the show, and the infamous high-profile blow-up with his longtime co-star Charlie Sheen.Cryer recently sat down with ET's Kevin Frazier and looked back on the drama and downward spiral that almost brought the megahit sitcom to an untimely end.«In the early years, the life with Charlie Sheen was great.

We got along great, he had been sober for two years when we started the show, and it was really important to him to keep sober,» Cryer shared. «And for those first few years, the show was also going so smoothly.»As Cryer recalled, he was «struck by how great Charlie Sheen was at performing in front of an audience,» because being a movie star and being a TV star with a live audience to play to are very different skills. «He just had it straight out of the box like it was genetically programmed into his body.

That was fun and very self-assured.»«For those first couple of years, it was, you know, an incredible joy,» he shared.Throughout the show, Cryer said Sheen had other projects and obligations, but he «understood that coming back to the show was home, and it was great.»«Then, in later years, when we started noticing things were getting stranger for him, and his marriage fell apart, he was still lovely to work with, he still showed up on time and knew his lines and was doing the job.