Quick Takes: Sheen plea is delayed

Charlie Sheen gets to remain a free man for at least another month.

A plea bargain under which the actor was expected to be sentenced to 30 days in an Aspen, Colo., jail for assaulting his wife hit a snag Monday, and the court hearing was postponed until July 12.

Sheen, 44, the star of the CBS comedy “Two and a Half Men,” had been expected to plead guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor assault, and to be sentenced to 30 days in jail.

The reported deal would have allowed him to leave jail to coach actors at a local theater during the day, and he could have been freed after 17 days with credit for good behavior, according to legal sources.

But the chief prosecutor in the case told Judge James Boyd that the two sides had not been able to reach an agreement. Prosecutor Arnold Mordkin declined to give details. “It hit a snag,” he told reporters. “I am not going to talk about it.”

—Reuters

‘Ring’ tickets not selling well

Los Angeles Opera’s multimillion-dollar production of “The Ring of the Nibelung” hasn’t been an easy sell. In May, the company acknowledged that box office receipts have fallen below estimates, with ticket income expected to come in $1 million to $1.5 million below target.

In March, the financially strapped company created a “Design Your Own Ring” plan that offers audiences the ability to purchase tickets for as few as two performances instead of the traditional four or mix performances from different cycles.

But apparently there are still a number of empty seats. Tickets for individual “Ring” performances are now on sale on Goldstar at close to 50% off the full price.

For the next complete cycle, which begins Tuesday, you can purchase tickets for all four operas in the Balcony A section for $152 (not including service charges), versus the full price of $300. For the final complete cycle beginning June 18, you can get orchestra seats for as little as $50 per opera.

—David Ng

Changes for ‘Night Music’

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury are handing off Broadway’s “A Little Night Music” to Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch.

Zeta-Jones and Lansbury will give their final performance of the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York on June 20. Performances will resume July 13 with Peters playing Desiree Armfeldt and Stritch as Madame Armfeldt.

—Associated Press

Caine readies another book

Sir Michael Caine hasn’t finished telling us what it’s all about.

The 77-year-old Academy Award-winning actor is working on a second memoir, “The Elephant to Hollywood,” a sequel that will come nearly 20 years after “What’s It All About?”

Henry Holt and Co. said Monday it will release the new book in November.

Caine’s many films include “Alfie,” “Educating Rita” and “The Cider House Rules.”

—Associated Press

MTV sorry for foul language

MTV issued an apology Monday for the four-letter words that were thrown around by participants in its annual “MTV Movie Awards” show Sunday night. Although most were bleeped, a few got through the network’s censors.

MTV apologized to “those in our audience who were offended by any objectionable words that might have slipped by for the live airing” and said it would mute them from future airings.

The swearing didn’t turn off viewers. The telecast drew 4.6 million viewers on MTV. Throw in the other Viacom networks that the event ran on and a total of 16.4 million people watched the “MTV Movie Awards,” a 2% gain from last year.

—Joe Flint

Finally

Book deal: HarperCollins said it has acquired a memoir by actress Demi Moore and will release it in 2012.

Back home: Argentine rock star Gustavo Cerati, 50, who had been hospitalized for more than three weeks in Venezuela after suffering a stroke, was flown to Buenos Aires on Monday and taken to a private clinic.