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Two and a Half Men

Benjamin Grimm Mar 03 2011 08:50 AM

I've never seen the show. I've heard it's good, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'd like it. (Sometimes I agree with the popular tastes, and sometimes I don't.) But even though this latest Charlie Sheen mess has not made me interested in watching the show, I am a little curious about its fate. We remarked in the sitcom tournament discussions about how sometimes shows go on even after the main character departs. (Chico and the Man, Eight Simple Rules, Happy Days, and many others.) I find that I'm hoping that Two and a Half Men continues without Charlie Sheen. But I don't have the vaguest idea why.

Edgy DC Mar 03 2011 08:59 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

"Somebody needs me."

metirish Mar 03 2011 09:04 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

Never watched it at all , seen it in passing . I heard one of those experts talking about the firing of Sheen and basically she said that CBS and whoever makes the show have rung about 90% of the value form the show so firing him wasn't all that big a deal for them. Sheen is a complete mess though huh?

soupcan Mar 03 2011 09:13 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

I never watched it when it started because I knew Jon Cryer in junior high school and didn't like him much. Silly sure, but I wasn't about to add a ratings point to his success. Anyhow, I have in fact seen episodes of the show and while it can be funny the humor is very low-brow. Lot's of double-entendre sexual jokes, lot's of masturbation jokes, etc., etc. Not my kind of show. I'm amazed at how popular it has become.

TransMonk Mar 03 2011 09:16 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

Isn't it the #1 sitcon in America? And doesn't Sheen make $10M per episode or some such? I've flipped by it a couple of times now that it is in syndication. Sheen has the acting chops of a piece of cardboard. And Cryer will always make me think of Ducky.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Mar 03 2011 09:27 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

Low-brow is one thing. Unclever, somewhat mean-spirited low-brow, packed with warmed-over dick jokes, ex-wife humor-- EX-WIFE HUMOR!-- and unsympathetic, broadly-drawn characters? Pass. I hope they all find work on other, better shows. And yeah, it's #1, in the same stratosphere as "American Idol" and waves of Bruckheimer-produced crime dramas. SIDENOTE: I wonder if Ted McGinley even bothers with a phone; they should just have a shark-in-silhouette TedSign they shine into the sky above the Hollywood Hills.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Mar 03 2011 09:30 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

never seen it

themetfairy Mar 03 2011 09:30 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

Never watched it. For the most part, my former TV time is now my computer time.

sharpie Mar 03 2011 09:33 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

Lenny was watching TV in a hotel room in Cuzco, Peru. "2 1/2 Men" and "The Big Bang Theory" were the only English language shows and since we were all staying in one room I have seen the show. I just don't get why people would voluntarily watch that show or so many similar shows when they could be doing almost anything else.

Edgy DC Mar 03 2011 09:51 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

if you took 999 random adult people and Charlie Sheen and ranked them by their funniness, I suppose he wouln't finishh in dead last, but... well, bottom 100, certainly (Unless his strange interviews are part of some gonzo comedy routine, then I suppose he might be 350th or so.) What I also think about this ongonig goofiness is that it may be a marker in the death of the sitcom.

Valadius Mar 03 2011 09:52 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

Never seen it. I have no interest. The sitcom has been declared dead many times and has always come back.

Benjamin Grimm Mar 03 2011 10:22 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

People only want to watch sitcoms when they know that the network has a plan.

TransMonk Mar 03 2011 10:25 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

Benjamin Grimm wrote: People only want to watch sitcoms when they know that the network has a plan. BOC~!

Frayed Knot Mar 03 2011 11:04 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

Valadius wrote: Never seen it. I have no interest. I suppose I could ask why this show deserves no interest while 'How I Met Your Mother' falls into any contest which doesn't include it is not worth conducting territory ... but I'm not sure I want to hear the answer. I've seen a handful of T+1/2M - and while I don't particularly like it I've shirley seen worse and, judging by comments made in the sit-com contest thread, a lot of you have watched worse too ... often. Sheen claims that even in his worst days he always was ready for the show but stories about him needing to lean on the set furniture in order to remain upright during lengthy 45 second takes indicate otherwise. Note that CBS didn't suspend the show while all this was going on but did so only when he went after the whatever-his-title-is Chuck Lorre. Sheen may be hot property as the star of a top comedy but Lorre currently has at least two others running right now and the network will likely side with him if/when this comes down to an either/or choice. I suspect that, like ballplayers at times, this may come down to a better dumped a year too early than a year too late situation and that 2+1/2M, already with a decade under its belt, is, like Jeter in 2009, closer to being a burden despite still pulling good numbers. Put that all together with the thought that started this thread about replacement actors rarely being a good idea and I suspect both Charlie & CBS have produced their last episode of the show.

Edgy DC Mar 03 2011 11:10 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

If it's been a decade, shouldn't this be called, like, Three Men now? Or has Sheen been since downgraded to a half?

Frayed Knot Mar 03 2011 11:13 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

Looking it up --- the show is in its eighth season and the kid/actor recently turned 17

G-Fafif Mar 03 2011 11:21 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

My dad, whom I've always considered possessor of a pretty sharp intellect, swears by this show, but does so apologetically.

soupcan Mar 03 2011 11:37 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

My intelligent dad likes it too.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Mar 03 2011 11:39 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

My patent lawyer/raging autodidact grandfather used to like farting in his hand and blowing it at the grandkids. There's no accounting for taste. /Except mine. Mine rules.

batmagadanleadoff Mar 03 2011 11:42 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

This is weird because a friend of mine ... one of the smartest guys I know .... a workaholic and a very busy man ... will rework his entire schedule just to see the next episode of Two and a Half Men.

Willets Point Mar 03 2011 12:07 PM Re: Two and a Half Men

Never seen it. My father passed long before it's debut, so he never watched it either.

Fman99 Mar 03 2011 01:24 PM Re: Two and a Half Men

It's utter shit.

Vic Sage Mar 03 2011 01:28 PM Re: Two and a Half Men

i'm a pretty smart entertainment lawyer, and i like it, too. so there. I don't arrange my schedule around it, but if i'm surfing and a re-run happens to be on, i'll watch. Look, it's not Shakespeare. that's a given. But as an ongoing look into the lives of 2 brothers who, despite their dysfunctional upbringing damaging them beyond repair, still try to put up with each other and deal with women, children and the world, it's pretty ok. Yes, the guys do have hateful quirks but they were raised by a gorgon of classical proportions, making them more forgivable and understandable as characters. Further, CHARLIE has let his brother and nephew into his life when he didn't have to, which suggests both the capacity for and need for familial love. And ALLEN is pathetic and neurotic, but he still idolizes his big brother and tries to do right by his son. The son is never sentimentalized, like alot of tv kids are... he's a loutish, slightly dim fellow trying to grow up and survive a broken home. But neither his father or his uncle has given up on him. And so neither of these brothers are beyond redemption, and every episode grants them a little... sometimes, very little. But it's enough, and its done without moralizing or messages. And whatever you may think of Sheen and Cryer professionally and/or personally, they've never been better (take that how you will). Plus there are a lot of hot broads in bikinis and loungerie on the show, and dick jokes. No, its not THE ODD COUPLE, but as FK noted, based on the Sitcom thread, alot of youse are fans of shows alot crappier than this one, so i'm puzzled by the vitriol.

RealityChuck Mar 03 2011 02:10 PM Re: Two and a Half Men

I watched it regularly the first year or so, especially because I wanted to see the great Conchata Ferrell (she was great years ago in The Hot L Baltimore (both play and TV show) and should have gotten an Oscar nomination for Heartland). It deteriorated with time, and Ferrell was never given enough to do, so I quit watching.

seawolf17 Mar 03 2011 02:32 PM Re: Two and a Half Men

I'm with Vic entirely on this, except that I'm not an entertainment lawyer.

Edgy DC Mar 03 2011 02:38 PM Re: Two and a Half Men

I hardly see any vitriol.

G-Fafif Mar 03 2011 03:32 PM Re: Two and a Half Men

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: My patent lawyer/raging autodidact grandfather used to like farting in his hand and blowing it at the grandkids. As family sitcom concepts go, this one has potential.

seawolf17 Mar 04 2011 07:22 AM Re: Two and a Half Men

G-Fafif wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: My patent lawyer/raging autodidact grandfather used to like farting in his hand and blowing it at the grandkids. As family sitcom concepts go, this one has potential. "Shit My Grandfather Blows."

Frayed Knot Mar 07 2011 03:04 PM Re: Two and a Half Men

Acc to TMZ -- "After careful consideration, Warner Bros. Television has terminated Charlie Sheen's services on 'Two and a Half Men,' effective immediately." WB is the production company that produces the show, so this effectively preempts whatever CBS was thinking about.

metirish Mar 07 2011 04:04 PM Re: Two and a Half Men

#losing

Lefty Specialist Mar 07 2011 06:35 PM Re: Two and a Half Men

Watched it once, which was enough to insure that I never watched it again.