Two and a Half Men
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Two and a Half Men | |
|---|---|
| Image:Twohalf.PNG The cast of Two and a Half Men | |
| Format | Sitcom |
| Created by | Chuck Lorre Lee Aronsohn |
| Starring | Charlie Sheen Jon Cryer Angus T. Jones Marin Hinkle Holland Taylor Melanie Lynskey Conchata Ferrell April Bowlby |
| Country of origin | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 106 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 22 min. approx. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run | September 22, 2003 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom centered around a freewheeling bachelor, Charlie, whose carefree lifestyle is interrupted when his newly separated brother, Alan, moves in, along with Alan's son Jake. Charlie and his nephew form an "unsuspecting bond" with each other. The show was co-created by executive producers Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn, debuting on Monday, September 22, 2003, at 9:30 p.m., ET/PT. In its third season, starting September 2005, it moved to Mondays at 9:00 p.m. (taking Everybody Loves Raymond's time slot). Two and a Half Men debuted in local syndication in September 2007, also soon to be syndicated on the FX cable network in 2010.[1] Production on the show was halted on November 6, 2007 due to the 2007 Writers' Strike.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Cast and characters
- Charlie Sheen, as Charles "Charlie" Francis Harper, a hedonistic, ladies man, never married jingle-writer/children's song writer
- Jon Cryer, as Alan Jerome Harper, Charlie's twice-divorced chiropractor brother, who is constantly stricken with bad luck.
- Angus T. Jones, as Jacob David "Jake" Harper, Alan's son. He's not too bright, and is often lazy and sarcastic. It is notable that, although not truly intelligent, Jake has shown doses of cleverness in the past.
- Marin Hinkle, as Judith, Alan's first ex-wife
- Holland Taylor, as Evelyn Harper, Charlie and Alan's mother, Jake's Grandmother
- Melanie Lynskey, as their neighbor Rose, a sometime stalker of Charlie (starring episodes 1-84 and episode 100)
- Conchata Ferrell, as their housekeeper Berta (starring Season 2-, recurring Season 1)
- April Bowlby, as Kandi, Alan's young second ex-wife (starring Season 4-, recurring previously)
Only Sheen, Cryer, and Jones have appeared (and been credited) in every episode. Guest stars so far have included Emmanuelle Vaugier as Mia, Ryan Stiles as Dr. Melnick, Jane Lynch as the therapist Dr. Freeman, Jeri Ryan as Sherri, Martin Sheen as Rose's father, Denise Richards as Lisa, Richard Lewis as Stan, Teri Hatcher as Liz, Judy Greer as Myra, Heather Locklear as Laura Lane, and Robert Wagner as Teddy. Sean Penn, Elvis Costello, Harry Dean Stanton and Steven Tyler all appeared as themselves, among other guests.
[edit] Synopsis
Charlie is a successful and affluent bachelor in his early 40's who has a career writing advertisement jingles. Charlie resides in a large ocean front home in Malibu, California, and is portrayed as a chauvinistic, hedonistic womanizer. The pilot begins when his uptight brother Alan becomes divorced from his wife, loses his house to her and has to move in with his brother. Alan's somewhat overweight son Jake (10 when the series began, now 14) often stays for weekends and at other times.
Rose (Melanie Lynskey) is Charlie's zany neighbor and female stalker. We learn Rose had a one night stand with Charlie shortly before the show started and keeps entering his house through the patio in the most inopportune moments, expressing her ambition of obtaining Charlie, and often serving as a good, albeit crazy, friend and adviser. Although obviously troubled herself, Rose has stated a few times that she has a Master's degree in psychology. In various episodes it is insinuated that Rose is very slowly orchestrating a psychological plan to win Charlie back. Early in the series, she's heard to say (to herself) "Phase one, complete".
In one episode, Rose's father Harvey (Martin Sheen) asks Charlie of his intentions with his daughter after an apparent second one night stand between the two. Harvey then meets Charlie's and Alan's mother and has an affair with her, stalking her and popping in just like his daughter does. We then learn from Harvey's mother that "that's what happens when you marry a first cousin," explaining Rose's family's dementia.
Many of the episodes feature Judith misusing her alimony (before she remarried and Alan no longer had to pay her any more) and child support (she got a breast enlargement in one episode with her alimony).
Another important recurring character is Berta (Conchata Ferrell), Charlie's sarcastic and sharp-tongued housekeeper. She trades insults with Charlie and it's clear the household can't function without her. She usually tolerates Alan as long as he doesn't make excessive demands for particular food products, and often refers to him as "Zippy".
Alan and Charlie's mother, Evelyn (Holland Taylor) is a hip, wealthy, early-sixties, many-times-divorced, promiscuous, controlling mother of the brothers. Charlie and Alan attribute their life's problems to the dark manipulative force their mother manages to exert upon them even now, adding to the caustic humor of the show in the situations when depicting their vain attempts to escape her. For all of her selfishness and manipulation, Evelyn does love her kids and grandson.
Another recurring theme is the conflict of personalities between the two diametrically opposed siblings, the relaxed, good-life, woman-catching, commitment-phobic Charlie and the uptight self-conscious nerdy Alan. Alan can sometimes appear to be jealous of Charlie's lifestyle, and can sometimes try to stop Charlie's decisions. This also provides opportunities for comedy in the show, with Alan, having admitted defeat, making comments such as 'it's like talking to a horny chimp', or 'it's like trying to talk Shakespeare to a Hershey bar'. However, every season has had at least one episode where Charlie and Alan are seriously fighting with each other, although the conflicts are generally resolved by that show's end.
A great deal of the humor on the show comes from the real-life experiences of creator Chuck Lorre. In a now-famous Entertainment Weekly interview, Holland Taylor said that Lorre was using the memories of his own less-than-great relationship with his mother for the storylines involving Evelyn and Charlie/Alan. Charlie Sheen also said that it was "no accident...that Chuck finally decided to do a show about men. I'll leave it at that."
[edit] DVD releases
Seasons 1 and 2 have been released in Europe, Australia and Asia. Warner Home Video. has released Season 1 in North America, on September 11, 2007. [1] Warner Bros. announced that Season 2 is to be released on January 8, 2008.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 24 | September 11, 2007 | September 12, 2005 | February 15, 2006 |
| Season 2 | 24 | January 8, 2008 | August 28, 2006 | September 6, 2006 |
| Season 3 | 24 | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Season 4 | 24 | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Season 5 | 24 | TBA | TBA | TBA |
[edit] DVD Extras
Season 1
- Two Adults, One Kid, No Grown-Ups: - behind the scenes with Cast and Crew.
- Backstage tour with Angus T. Jones.
- Gag Reel/Outtakes.
Season 2
- 2½ Days in the Life of 2½: - Viewers are invited for a behind-the-scenes look at a typical day in the life of cast members Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones.
- The Serious Business of Writing Comedy: - A hilarious look at what it really takes to write a comedy show.
- Gag Reel.
[edit] U.S. television ratings
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Two and a Half Men on CBS.
Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.
| Season | Timeslot | Season Premiere | Season Finale | TV Season | Ranking | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st[3] | Mondays 9:30pm/8c | September 22 2003 | May 24 2004 | 2003-2004 | #15 | 15.3 |
| 2nd[4] | Mondays 9:30pm/8c | September 20 2004 | May 23 2005 | 2004-2005 | #11 | 16.5 |
| 3rd[5] | Mondays 9:00pm/8c | September 19 2005 | May 22 2006 | 2005-2006 | #17 | 15.1 |
| 4th[6] | Mondays 9:00pm/8c | September 18 2006 | May 14 2007 | 2006-2007 | #19 | 14.4 |
| 5th[7] | Mondays 9:00pm/8c | September 24 2007 | TBD 2008 | 2007-2008 | #17 | 14.3 |
[edit] References
- ^ Crupi, Anthony. FX Nabs Two and a Half Men Cable Rights. Mediaweek: July 18, 2006.
- ^ Production Stops on at least 6 Sitcoms. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
- ^ "CBS Wins Season", E!Online, May 25, 2001.
- ^ CSI Replaces ER As Season Champ. IMDB. amazon. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
- ^ Joal Ryan. TV Season Wraps; 'CSI' Rules. E! Online. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
- ^ Viewership numbers of primetime programs during the 2003-04 television season
- ^ Viewership numbers of primetime programs during the 2004-05 television season
[edit] External links
- Two and a Half Men at the Internet Movie Database
- Two and a Half Men at TV.com
- CBS site
- "Two and a Half Men" at Yahoo! TV
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