'Two and A Half Men': A Fantastic Sitcom

By Tyler Fahey

One of the best TV shows of my lifetime is probably “Two and a Half Men”. Chuck Lorre is a great producer and a fantastic director. “Two and a Half Men”, was a show on CBS from 2003-2015 and at one time one actor on the show, Charlie Sheen, was the highest paid actor on television, making over one million dollars a show. The show is about two men, Charlie Harper and Allen Harper, both brothers, and Allen’s son, Jake Harper. Allen Harper was married to his wife Judith before she kicked him out and divorced him, eventually he and Jake move in with Charlie. Allen Harper is a chiropractor and Charlie is a successful musician who writes jingles for commercials and television shows. One thing to note about Charlie is that he has problems with women and is kind of a womanizer.

Charlie always has great luck in his life. He has a lot of money, a beach house, a Mercedes, and women flock to him. In Allen’s life, he is always getting into bad luck and never gets a break. He loses two wives throughout the show, is abused by his ex-wife Judith, get’s injured, beat up, and gets into trouble with the law, all by accident. Jake is Allen’s only child and he isn’t the most sophisticated boy. He isn’t great at school and struggles with his mother. Judith Harper is Allen’s first wife and she takes advantage of him quite a lot. She makes him pay for everything involving Jake when he has no money. Charlie helps when Allen is in trouble and so does his mother Evelyn. Evelyn is a successful realtor in Malibu and shares a lot of characteristics with Charlie, but also is able to set boundaries and knows when not to do things. Evelyn also is hated by Charlie and Allen. Charlie especially hates her because she “killed” his father emotionally and mentally, and is a pathological narcissist. Evelyn, in later seasons, becomes the grandmother of Allen’s daughter, Jenney. Evelyn also has problems of her own in relationships like Charlie and Allen, but compensates for it by having money and great social skills.

The final main character everyone should know about is Berta, Charlies housekeeper. She’s hilarious, sarcastic, honest, and someone who you could have a lot of fun around. She does a lot of things for Charlie, specifically dry cleaning, laundry, maintaining the beach house, and getting groceries. She loves making fun of Allen and Charlie and calls Allen “Zippy”. She doesn’t like cleaning up for Charlie’s house-guests and girlfriends and doesn’t like being called a “maid”. Charlie calls her family and so does Allen. I love this show and I think it was one of the best shows in the history of television.

When fellow Iowan Ashton Kutcher came in to play Charlie after Charlie Sheen had some mental health issues, Kutcher ruined the whole show. It wasn’t funny anymore and it was dull. When Charlie Sheen was on the show, I could binge-watch for hours, days, months on the show. Charlie Sheen was fired from CBS and “Two and a Half Men” for making derogatory comments about the producer and director Chuck Lorre in 2011. After 2011, the show just “ended”. I refused to watch it after they killed Charlie off the show and to me, it was the end. You have to like satire, comedy and unconventional things to watch this show. You have to have a personality and a sense of humor to get into it. I’ve introduced it to a lot of people including my friend, and he loves it. I would recommend it to anyone who has a sense of humor.