Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn that originally aired on CBS from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015, with a total of twelve seasons consisting of 262 episodes. Originally starring Charlie Sheen in the lead role alongside Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, the series was about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper, his uptight brother, Alan, and Alan's mischievous son, Jake. As Alan's marriage falls apart and divorce appears imminent, he and Jake move into Charlie's beachfront Malibu house and complicate Charlie's freewheeling life.
Two and a Half Men
Sitcom
"Manly Men"
United States
English
12
262 (list of episodes)
- Chuck Lorre
- Lee Aronsohn
- Eric Tannenbaum
- Kim Tannenbaum
- Andy Ackerman
- Mark Burg
- Oren Koules
- Don Foster
- Eddie Gorodetsky
- Susan Beavers
- Jim Patterson
- Don Reo
- Steven V. Silver
- Alan K. Walker (first pilot)
- Tony Askins (second pilot)
- Mark Davison
- Peter Chakos (pilot)
- Joe Bella
21 minutes
- Chuck Lorre Productions
- The Tannenbaum Company
- Warner Bros. Television
September 22, 2003 –
February 19, 2015
In 2010, CBS and Warner Bros. Television reached a multiyear broadcasting agreement for the series, renewing it through at least the 2011–12 season.[1][2] In February 2011, however, CBS and Warner Bros. Television decided to end production for the rest of the eighth season after Sheen entered drug rehabilitation and made "disparaging" comments about the series' creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre.[3] Sheen's contract was terminated the following month and he was written out of the show after it was confirmed that he would not be returning to the series.[4] Ashton Kutcher was hired to replace him for Season 9 as Walden Schmidt, a billionaire who buys Charlie's house after his death.
In April 2013, CBS renewed the series for an eleventh season after closing one-year deals with Kutcher and Cryer. Jones, who was attending college,[5] was relegated to recurring status but did not make an appearance until the series finale.[6][7] In March 2014, CBS renewed the series for a twelfth season, which was later announced to be the series' last.[8][9] The season began airing in October 2014 and concluded in February 2015 with the 40-minute series finale "Of Course He's Dead".[10][11] The success of the series led to it being the third-highest revenue-generating program for 2012, earning $3.24 million an episode.[12]
Overview[edit]
The series revolved initially around the lives of the Harper brothers, Charlie (Charlie Sheen) and Alan (Jon Cryer), and Alan's son Jake (Angus T. Jones). Charlie is a bachelor who writes commercial jingles for a living, while leading a hedonistic lifestyle. When Alan's wife, Judith (Marin Hinkle), decides to divorce him, he moves into Charlie's Malibu beach house, with Jake coming to stay over the weekends. Charlie's housekeeper is Berta (Conchata Ferrell), a sardonic woman who initially resents the change to the household, but eventually accepts it. Charlie's one-night stand Rose (Melanie Lynskey) was first introduced as his stalker in the pilot episode.
The first five seasons find Charlie in casual sexual misadventures with numerous women until the sixth season, when he becomes engaged to Chelsea (Jennifer Taylor), but the relationship does not last, as Chelsea breaks off their engagement. Afterwards, Charlie flies to Paris with his stalker Rose in the show's de facto eighth-season finale. However, in the ninth-season premiere, Charlie was said to have died after he was struck by a Paris subway train. Hints were made that Rose threw Charlie into the train's path after learning that he had cheated on her.
Alan's experiences are somewhat different. Throughout the series, Alan continues to deal with his son Jake's growing up and the aftermath of his bitter divorce, while having little success with women. His marriage to Kandi (April Bowlby) at the end of the third season was short-lived. In the fourth season, Alan is back at the beach house paying alimony to two women out of his low earnings as a chiropractor. In the seventh season, he begins a relationship with Lyndsey McElroy (Courtney Thorne-Smith), the mother of one of Jake's friends. Their relationship is temporarily suspended when Alan cheats on her, and accidentally burns down her house, but the relationship eventually resumes.
In the ninth-season premiere (after Charlie's death), the beach house is sold to Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher), an Internet billionaire going through a divorce from Bridget (Judy Greer). Alan leaves to live with his mother Evelyn (Holland Taylor) when the house is sold, but Walden invites both Alan and Jake back to live in the beach house. Walden is lonely, and the three form a close surrogate family.
At the end of the ninth season, Jake joins the US Army; he appears occasionally during season 10, briefly dating Tammy (Jaime Pressly), who is 17 years his senior and has three kids, as well as Tammy's daughter Ashley (Emily Osment). In the 10th season, Walden proposes to his English girlfriend Zoey (Sophie Winkleman), only to be turned down and discovers she has another man. He becomes depressed. Meanwhile, Alan gets engaged to his girlfriend Lyndsey, while Judith leaves her second husband Herb Melnick (Ryan Stiles) (to whom she had been married since the fourth season) after he cheats on her with his receptionist (they later reconcile). Alan and Lyndsey's relationship of three years ends as she wants to move on. Rose returns and briefly dates Walden, later stalking him as she did to Charlie. Walden begins to date a poor but ambitious woman named Kate (Brooke D'Orsay) and changes his name to "Sam Wilson", pretending to be poor to find someone who wants him for him, not for his money. They later break up when he reveals who he really is, though Kate realizes that Walden's money helped her become a successful clothing designer. Jake announces he is being shipped to Japan for at least a year, so he and Alan go on a father-son bonding trip. Other than a cameo in the series finale, this is the last time Jake appears on the show, though verbal references are made to him.
In the 11th season, a young woman arrives at the beach house, announcing that she is Charlie Harper's biological daughter, Jenny (Amber Tamblyn).[13] She moves in with Walden and Alan, and later displays many of Charlie's traits, including a love of women and alcohol. Lyndsey begins dating a man named Larry (D. B. Sweeney). In an attempt to learn more about Larry, Alan takes on the pseudonym "Jeff Strongman". His double-life becomes complicated when "Jeff" begins dating Larry's sister, Gretchen (Kimberly Williams-Paisley).
In the 12th season, after a health scare, Walden decides to reprioritize his life by adopting a baby. He realizes that the only way to do this is to be married, but does not know anyone who will marry him. He asks Alan to marry him and pretend that they are a gay couple, thus ensuring success at adopting. Jenny moves out of the house, and moves in with Evelyn, due to Walden and Alan's preparing to adopt. They adopt a child, Louis (Edan Alexander), and subsequently divorce to pursue relationships with women. Alan proposes to Lyndsey a second time and she accepts, while Walden begins a relationship with Louis' social worker, Ms. McMartin (Maggie Lawson). Charlie is revealed to be alive, having been kept prisoner by Rose until escaping, but he is killed before he can reunite with Walden and Alan.
Production[edit]
Sheen's dismissal and replacement[edit]
Following a February 2010 announcement that Sheen was entering drug rehabilitation, filming of the show was put on hiatus, but resumed the following month.[14][15] On April 1, 2010, People reported that after seven seasons, Sheen announced he was considering leaving the show.[16] According to one source, Sheen quit the show after filming the final episode of season seven, purportedly due to his rejection of CBS's offer of $1 million per episode as too low.[17] Sheen eventually stated that he would be back for two more seasons.[18] On May 18, 2010, the New Zealand website Stuff.co.nz reported that a press release issued by Sheen's publicist confirmed that Sheen had signed a new contract for two years at $1.78 million per episode. "To put a fitting end on the two and one-half months of whirlwind speculation, I'm looking forward to returning to my CBS home on Monday nights," Sheen was quoted as saying.[19]
On January 28, 2011, Sheen voluntarily entered a rehabilitation center for the third time in 12 months. According to Warner Bros. Television and CBS, the show was put on hiatus for an indefinite period of time.[20]
The following month, after Sheen's verbal denunciations of Chuck Lorre in a radio interview with Alex Jones and an online interview with TMZ.com, CBS announced that Two and a Half Men would cease production for the rest of its eighth season.[21] This affected an estimated 200 employees, and caused Warner Bros. Television, CBS, Lorre, Sheen and other profit participants an estimated $10 million loss from the unmade eight remaining episodes.[22][23] Afterward, Sheen was interviewed on ABC's 20/20, NBC's Today and CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, where he continued to criticize Lorre and CBS.[24] On March 7, CBS and Warner Bros. Television jointly announced that they had terminated Sheen's Two and a Half Men contract, citing "moral turpitude" as a main cause of separation.[25] No further decisions about the show's future were released.
Cast members Marin Hinkle and Holland Taylor expressed sadness at Sheen's departure and personal problems.[26] Jon Cryer did not publicly comment on the matter. In response, Sheen called him "a turncoat, a traitor, [and] a troll" in an E! Online interview, although he later issued a "half-apology" to Cryer for the remarks.[27][28] Sheen sued Lorre and Warner Bros. Television for $100 million, saying that he had filed the lawsuit on behalf of himself and Two and a Half Men's cast and crew; however, only Sheen was named as a plaintiff in court documents.[29]
In April 2011, Sheen mentioned during a radio interview during his tour's stop in Boston that CBS and he were discussing a possible return to the show.[30] Lorre announced the same month that he had developed an idea for a revival of Two and a Half Men, excluding Sheen, with Cryer in a key role alongside a new character.[31] Hugh Grant was approached to replace Sheen but he declined.[32][33] On May 13, CBS announced Ashton Kutcher would join the cast. Kutcher stated, "I can't replace Charlie Sheen, but I'm going to work my ass off to entertain the hell out of people!"[34]
On August 2, 2011, it was reported that the season nine premiere would begin with Sheen's character killed off and his ex-girlfriends attending his funeral. Afterward, Charlie's Malibu home would be put up for sale; interested buyers would include celebrities from Lorre's other sitcoms and John Stamos, as well as Kutcher's character, Walden Schmidt, "an Internet billionaire with a broken heart." Reviewers compared the situation to what happened in 1987 to Valerie Harper, who was fired from the sitcom Valerie (later titled Valerie's Family: The Hogans and then The Hogan Family). Her character was killed off-screen and she was replaced the following season.[35][36][37][38]
Sheen said he would watch his "fake funeral attended by [his] fake ex-girlfriends, from [his] very, very real movie theater, with [his] very real hotties in tow."[39][40] His response to the season-nine premiere was very positive.[41] He reportedly felt Charlie Harper's funeral was "eerie but fun", and that the introduction of Kutcher's character in a cloud of his own character's ashes was particularly enjoyable.[42]
Reception[edit]
Critical reception[edit]
Two and a Half Men received mostly mixed reviews from critics throughout its run.[74][75][76] The New York Daily News has described the sitcom as "solid, well-acted and occasionally funny."[77] Conversely Graeme Blundell, writing for The Australian, described it as a "sometimes creepy, misogynistic comedy".[78] Ashton Kutcher's debut was met with mixed reviews,[79] and reviews for season nine were also mixed.[80] However, it has been labeled as "one of America's most successful comedy shows."[50] Ellen Gray of Daily News praised the shows' legacy just before the premiere of the finale. The show is credited as being the reason The Big Bang Theory, Mike & Molly and Mom were all made. Men's success was what enabled these other Chuck Lorre shows to be made and be successful.[81] Following the filming of the final episode, Stage 26 of the Warner Brothers lot was renamed the "Two and a Half Men stage".[82] After the finale, Two and a Half Men fans launched a global petition under the name "Yes To The Harpers", to have Charlie Sheen reprise the role of Charlie Harper alongside his former co-star Jon Cryer. This idea surfaced after fans saw Chuck Lorre's vanity card about Charlie Sheen's idea of a spinoff show named The Harpers.[83]
Potential revival[edit]
When Sheen appeared on the April 2019 broadcast of Loose Women, he expressed interest in a potential revival, hoping to make two more seasons to tie up loose characters ends.[101] In response, Jon Cryer expressed reluctance to return to working with Sheen full time, comparing it to a roller coaster.[102]