Two and a Half Men

Two and a Half Men has got to be one of the few American TV sitcoms that has several dramatic real-life events behind the camera. There is, of course, the highly-celebrated firing of Charlie Sheen, who plays the lead character Charlie Harper, and his equally-celebrated entry into drug rehabilitation. Other than that, there were the nasty remarks made by Sheen against Chuck Lorrie, the executive producer of the show.

In spite of all these dramas, Two and a Half Men went on to produce an amazing nine seasons, eight of them having Sheen in the lead role. This effectively shows how good an actor Sheen is if only he can focus on the job at hand and not be distracted by his vices. Unfortunately, Sheen will be unable to prove this anymore in the show as his character died after season 8.

Perhaps, what has made Two and a Half Men such a huge success is because many of the characters possess qualities that many people can relate to. Charlie Harper has been painted as a hedonistic type of guy, and there are actually a lot of men like him in real life. Men who live without a care in the world, but living on the thought that tomorrow, death will come, so why not enjoy life today.

This approach has been made more effective with the use of comedic punches, and although you may laugh out loud at those crazy dialogues being dished out, they are actually intended to show what goes on in every day life. For this, Two and a Half Men has consistently landed in the top 20 TV shows since its pilot episode on September 22, 2003 on CBS.

Of course, season 9 will be significantly different following the demise of the lead character. The entry of Walden Schmidt played by Ashton Kutcher is welcomed, but there is the question of whether this can sustain the interest of viewers given the new twist in the story.