Two and a Half Men
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Template:Infobox television Two and a Half Men is a sitcom television show of a hip single bachelor whose lifestyle is interrupted when his newly separated brother moves in. Charlie and his nephew form an "unsuspecting bond" with each other.
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Cast and characters
- Charlie Sheen, as Charlie Harper, a lazy-but-successful shlub
- Jon Cryer, as Alan Harper, Charlie's newly separated brother
- Angus T. Jones, as Jakob David "Jake" Harper, Alan's son
- Marin Hinkle, as Judith, Alan's wife
- Holland Taylor, as Evelyn Harper, Charlie & Alan's mother
- Melanie Lynskey, as their neighbor Rose, a sometime stalker of Charlie
- Conchata Ferrell, in a recurring role as their housekeeper Berta
(only Sheen, Cryer, and Jones appear in every episode)
Guest stars so far have included Ryan Stiles (who starred with Sheen and Cryer in "Hot Shots"), Jeri Ryan, Denise Richards, Richard Lewis, Heather Locklear, Camryn Manheim, Sean Penn, Elvis Costello, Emmanuelle Vaugier, and Martin Sheen
Synopsis
Charlie is a successful mid-thirties single guy who apparently has a career writing TV ads and jingles. He lives in a large house in Malibu, California and is a typical womanizer. The plot begins when his uptight brother Alan becomes divorced from his wife Judith, loses his house to her and has to move in with his brother. His 10 year old son Jake often stays for weekends and at other times. Alan also, at one point, finds out that his ex-wife Judith has become a lesbian.
A major comic relief comes from "wacky neighbor" and female stalker Rose, a cute brunette who we learned had a one-night-stand with Charlie shortly before the show started and keeps on "popping in" his house through the veranda in the most unusual moments, openly expressing her goal of conquering Charlie, and often serving as a good albeit crazy friend and advisor.
In one episode, Rose's father, Harvey, (played by Charlie Sheen's real father, Martin Sheen) appears to ask Charlie what are 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 dementiam soon after Rose revealing the one-night-stand was not real, they only woke up together.
Another important recurring character is Berta, the sarcastic and somewhat rude housekeeper with a ferine tongue.
One of the show´s main themes however is the mother-son relationship, whereby the Evelyn character (played by Holland Taylor) enters the picture as the hip early-sixties many-times-divorced slightly slutty 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 where they try everything to avoid seeing her, usually failing.
Another recurring theme in the show 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.
Program information
The show was co-created by executive producers Chuck Lorre (who previously co-created Dharma & Greg) and Lee Aronsohn.
Debut information
The show debuted on Monday, September 22, 2003, at 9:30 PM, EST/PST. In its third season, starting September 2005, it moved to Mondays at 9:00 PM (taking Everybody Loves Raymond's time slot).
Distribution
- Australia on Nine Network
- Austria on ORF
- Brazil on Warner Brothers
- Canada on Global Television
- Denmark on TV3/3+
- Finland on MTV3
- Germany on Pro 7
- Greece on Alpha TV
- Ireland on TG4
- Malaysia on 8TV
- Mexico on Warner Channel
- Netherlands on Veronica
- New Zealand on TV2
- Norway on TV3
- Romania on PRO TV
- Slovenia on Kanal A
- South Africa on M-Net
- Turkey on CNBC-e
- UK on five and Paramount Comedy
- United States of America on CBS
Critical review
- TV Guide gave it "three-and-a-half stars out of four." It was the magazine's sole new show Top Pick for Monday nights in 2003.
Awards and nominations
2004 People's Choice Award for Favorite New Comedy Series
See also
Trivia
In an episode of Two and a Half Men it is shown that there is a hate mail website for Charlie Harper called www.charlieharpersucks.com, and is a functioning website on the Internet.
Vanity cards
At the end of each episode, a message appeared on the screen for a brief moment, so that it is readable only to those who record the program (using a VCR, for example) and pause it. These "vanity cards" were written by producer and show co-creator Chuck Lorre, and express his personal views on a variety of subjects. A complete archive of his vanity cards is available at Chuck Lorre Productions