Before I start, I need to let you know that I have never been Two and a Half Men‘s biggest fan. It’s always baffled me as to how it’s managed to stay on the air for so long. I really hoped that Charlie Sheen’s meltdown would have ended this show – but no such luck.
For what seems like forever, CBS have been getting lots of free advertising for the show, thanks to Sheen’s melt down and warlock antics, and his subsequent replacement by Ashton Kutcher. Off the back of that, CBS have been running lots of teaser ads, and naked Ashton Kutcher pictures, to get people talking and, hopefully, tuning into Season 9 of Two and a Half Men.
Audiences have been asking “Will Two and a Half Men be the same without Sheen? How will the transition from Sheen to Kutcher go? How will Charlie die? Will the show still be funny? (my question – was it ever?). Last night/tonight (depending on which part of the world you live in) the questions were being answered. It was finally enough hype, time to get to work.
CBS must be thrilled because the hype worked. In the US alone, 27.7 million people tuned in for the Season 9 premiere.
The show opened at Charlie Harper’s funeral. His standard uniform of shorts and shirt were on display, as was his casket, and the congregation was packed with his Ex-girlfriends. There was no sadness in this scene. It tried to be funny but it wasn’t. It just felt like the writers were getting back at Charlie Sheen by being as mean as they could possibly be.
How did they kill him off? After Charlie Harper ran off to Paris to marry his stalker Rose, she caught him bedding another woman and the next day somehow “He slipped on the Metro Platform and fell in front of an oncoming train. Charlie didn’t suffer. His body just exploded like a balloon full of meat.” Was that line supposed to be funny because I didn’t even crack a smile?!
Even though the beginning was appalingly bad, I thought it might improve when Ashton Kutcher’s billionaire Walden Schmidt appeared. No such luck. It was just going from bad to worse. I think the writers thought that if they give viewers enough naked Ashton Kutcher (and there was quite a lot of naked Kutcher), the viewers would forget that the show just wasn’t funny.
The producers must have also thought that if they throw in lots of fake, canned laughter, the viewers may be brainwashed into thinking that the show was actually funny. Unfortunately this didn’t work. The canned laughter was just as annoying as the “jokes” themselves!
I wonder whether the 27.7 million, and millions of other people around the world, that tuned in this week, are all going to tune in again next week? Chuck Lorre and co. must have been thinking the same thing as they ended the episode on a cliff hanger (not), with “To be continued” appearing on screen.
That’s not enough to get me back. Curiosity got the better of me and I tuned in to watch tonight but I won’t be wasting my time again next week.
(Unfortunately) That’s Entertainment!
Sarina 🙂
The new show was infantile. They attempted to sell it with nudity. Ashton Kutcher acted dumb as usual. No magic like Charlie Sheen. Also Lorre genuinely stuck it to Sheen in the way he died and individuals being disrespectful at the funeral and at his residence. Especially his mother. Really who does thatThe display is two along with a half males, but the kid is larger now than his father. They should have just ended the show if they couldn’t get a great actor to replace Sheen. I realize that Hugh Grant would have been a far better pick. Can’t blame him for turning it down. I’ll just maintain watching the reruns until I get sick of it. I thought that Two as well as a Half Guys was the most effective comedy display around the planet.not any more.