Finally, Farewell Finale of Two and a Half Men

Two and a Half Men (CBS Network) started fast and strong like a finely-trained purebred out of the gate and seldom showed any slowing up for 12 seasons. Today in the "television war zone," that is over a primetime lifetime. I mean, if your new sitcom goes for four seasons, it's amazing, but 12 seasons? I know, and yes, I include M*A*S*H, Barney Miller and other television marathon runners in this comparison, that 12 seasons has to be the "new" record. I will credit executive producer, Chuck Lorre for that.

I wasn't sad to say farewell to Two and a Half Men. In fact, I was giddy like a young boy on a school playground when a pretty blond winks at him. I suppose that if Charlie Sheen had not been so chemically-abusive with alcoholic tendencies risking the integrity of this CBS "monster" sitcom, with Chuck Lorre facing a hard fact to fire him, I would have shed a tear or two, but I didn't. I share what millions of the show's fans felt that the show lost something when Sheen left the production.

Two and a Half Men began broadcast on CBS on September 22, 2003 and ended on February 19, 2015, for those of you with scrapbooks. For a little while, I guess I will miss Two and a Half Men, but if I want to see the gang living in Charlie's Malibu beachside home, all I have to do is catch the reruns on most all television stations for when it was announced that Feb. 19 would be the last airing of the show, these ratings-hungry local stations started spending money to buy as many shows as they could. Let's face it. With all of the plot twists (that showed a warped genius in writing), Two and a Half Men "ran like a champion," and won the "Television Triple Crown," if one exists.

Gotta hand it to Chuck Lorre who also produces "Mom," starring Anna Farris of the hilarious Scary Movie(s) series as well as The Big Bang Theory, for allowing the writers of Two and a Half Men to test all of the visible and moral boundaries while producing a funny show week after week which is tough on any writing staff. But even with the near-devastation of Charlie Sheen being fired, Lorre and his writers dealt with the hole in the dyke and moved on hiring a young audience "magnet," Ashton Kutcher, now who has grown into a bona fide actor starring in real films such as "The Guardian," and "Jobbs," and left the drug-using "Dude, Where's My Car," genre in the dust of his growth.

As Sheen and co-star Jon Cryer, who was "Alan Harper," "Charlie Harper's" brother who was suddenly-divorced, out of a home and with a son, "Jake," to raise. As a side note, Angus T. Jones, played the part so well that I found it tough to respect his newly-found faith prompting him to leave the show and calling it "filth." Maybe he was right to a certain extent based on your ability to look closely in Two and a Half Men as a clear mirror of today's society. Now we can only wonder.

I admit it. I did not like the hiring of Ashton Kutcher to "replace" Charlie Sheen. Although his timing with punch lines with Jon Cryer was sharp, I just couldn't get by Kutcher's past roles as a lazy, jobless slacker. At least "Charlie Harper," worked enough to afford his booze and women. That to me, was the deciding difference. At times, Charlie could be a bit self-centered, but with his brother and nephew actually mooching off him, I couldn't blame Charlie.

Toward the end of the show's run, some of the scripts were hard to unravel and that was not the fault of the actors, but the writers who loved being "out there," by bringing in old loves of Charlie who had forgotten them or "Alan's" ex-wife, "Judith," surprising him by being nice to him--only to pull the rug out from under him with her ulterior motive. But that's show business.

"Jake's" character was sometimes irritated me with his obvious lack of respect for his dad who was certainly not a successful jingle writer as "Charlie Harper," and smoking weed with his buddies inside his bedroom. Sure, "Alan," was no "Jim Anderson," of "Father Knows Best," but I did see the dim image of a human spirit that tried to hard to impress his son even though he failed that I found myself feeling sorry for "Alan."

It was reported that Ashton Kutcher drew $500,000.00 per show. Seriously? And here we are the "children of television," who once thought that Ted "Mayday Mallone" Danson's $20,000.00-per episode of Cheers was excessive. Oh, and the cast of "Friends," the "sitcom standard" of the 90's all drew 1 million bucks per show. It almost gives me a cardiac arrest.

Dealing with Charlie Sheen both being fired from One and a Half Men and him refusing to come back for the final show upset me. And I stayed in my upset-condition until I heard about the Two and a Half Finale on Feb. 19 and suddenly I just felt like shouting, "Thank God for "Anger Management."

Two and a Half Men: The history

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that began broadcast on CBS on September 22, 2003 and ended on February 19, 2015 after twelve seasons. Originally starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake. After Alan divorces, he moves with his son to share Charlie's beach-front Malibu house and complicate Charlie's free-wheeling life.
• In 2010, CBS and Warner Bros. Television reached a multi-year broadcast agreement for the series, renewing it through at least the 2011–12 season.[1][2] But, on February 24, 2011, CBS and Warner Bros. decided to end production for the rest of the eighth season after Sheen entered drug rehabilitation and made "disparaging comments" about the show's creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre.[3] Sheen's contract was terminated on March 7.[4]
• The ninth-season premiere, "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt", killed off Sheen's character and introduced Ashton Kutcher as Walden Schmidt, his replacement.[5] Alan is shown moving on with his life after the death of Charlie. He has a new best friend and housemate, Walden, who is dealing with his own troubles following a bad divorce. Walden, Alan, and Jake eventually bond, becoming close friends and forming a surrogate family unit. Jake, who joins the army at the end of season nine, leaves for Japan at the end of season ten.
• On April 26, 2013, CBS renewed the series for an 11th season after closing one-year deals with Kutcher and Cryer. Jones, who is attending college,[6] was relegated to recurring status for Season 11, but eventually departed from the show without making a single appearance in Season 11.[7][8] He was replaced by Jenny (portrayed by Amber Tamblyn), Charlie's previously unknown daughter.[9] Season 11 premiered on September 26, 2013. On March 13, 2014, CBS renewed the series for a 12th season,[10] which CBS subsequently announced would be the final season.[11] The season premiered on October 30, 2014 with the episode "The Ol' Mexican Spinach"[12] and concluded on February 19, 2015 with the forty-minute finale "Of Course He's Dead".[13]

You might want to check out these links:

www.cbs.com/shows/two_and_a_half_men/episodes

www.cbs.com/shows/two_and_a_half_men/

www.imdb.com/title/tt0369179/episodes

www.tv.com/shows/two-and-a-half-men