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Two and a Half Men is an Emmy nominated television sitcom centred around 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.
Cast and characters
- Charlie Sheen, as Charlie Harper, a lazy-but-successful shlub
- Emmanuelle Vaugier, as Mia, Charlie's girlfriend
- Jon Cryer, as Alan Harper, Charlie's newly separated, socially inept brother
- Angus T. Jones, as Jakob David "Jake" Harper, Alan's son
- Marin Hinkle, as Judith, Alan's ex-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, April Bowlby, 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, thinks that his ex-wife Judith is a lesbian.
A particularly funny character on the show is Rose, Charlie's zany neighbor and female stalker. We learn Rose had a one-night-stand with Charlie shortly before the show started and keeps on 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 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 dementia 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.
DVD Releases
At Current Warner Bros have not released Two And A Half Men on DVD In North America, however Season 1 is available in Europe, and Season 2 is scheduled for release on August 28 2006 in Europe.
| DVD Name | Region 1 | Region 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Two And A Half Men Season 1 | N/A | September 12 2005 |
| Two And A Half Men Season 2 | N/A | August 28 2006 |
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 p.m., EST/PST. In its third season, starting September 2005, it moved to Mondays at 9:00 p.m. (taking Everybody Loves Raymond's time slot).Distribution
- Australia on Nine Network
- Austria on ORF
- Belgium on Kanaal Twee
- Brazil on Warner Channel
- Bulgaria on BTV
- Canada on CH
- Croatia on HRT2
- Denmark on TV3/3+
- Finland on MTV3
- France on Canal Jimmy
- Germany on Pro 7
- Greece on Alpha TV
- Ireland on TG4
- Israel on YesSTARS
- Italy on Rai Due
- Malaysia on 8TV
- Mexico on Warner Channel
- Netherlands on Veronica
- New Zealand on TV2
- Norway on TV3
- Peru on Warner Bros.
- Philippines on Studio 23
- Romania on PRO TV
- Singapore on Channel 5
- Slovenia on Kanal A
- South Africa on M-Net
- Swedem on TV3
- Turkey on CNBC-e
- UK Shown first on Paramount Comedy in double bills then shown on five at 6.30PM weeknights
- United States of America on CBS
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.
- Jon Cryer was Michael J. Fox's choice to replace him on Spin City. The role ended up going to Charlie Sheen.
- Jon Cryer was also a favorite to play the part of Chandler Bing from the hit sitcom Friends. He wasn't able to make it to the auditions, so the role was given to Matthew Perry.
- Unlike traditional sitcoms, Two and a Half Men doesn't have episode titles. Instead, a quotation from the episode is used — e.g., "Go Get Mommy's Bra"
- Won the 2004 People's Choice Award for Favorite New Comedy Series.
- 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.
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
See also
External links
CBS network shows | Global network shows | 2000s TV shows in the United States | TV shows produced/distributed by Warner Brothers
"Two and a Half Men"