When I Watched Two and A Half Men

 

Two and A Half Men used to come on Star World a lot when I was in school, but I was never much interested in watching the show. I used to wait for the Simpsons, instead. Although I thought I heard my brothers saying it’s quite funny. So these past months, when I saw the show on Netflix, I thought I might as well give it a go.

 Two and a Half Men is one of the most popular sitcoms to have aired for 12 years. And I have only two questions after watching it.

1.      Why on earth is it so popular?

2.      How on earth did it run for 12 years?

 It is possibly the most sexist show I have ever watched; it makes me think a lot of misogyny was there in the creation. I’m no hardcore feminist, but if you have ever watched even a few seasons of the show, you would know what I am talking about. All female characters are shown degrading, dumb, mean, evil or bad in one way or another. The plot, albeit was a good one to start, with a brother taking shelter under his elder brother’s home when he is kicked out by his ex-wife after the divorce. The young child of the brother comes to the Malibu beach house on weekends, hence the title of the show.

The humor is mostly based on how their lives change drastically after this: on how the older brother Charlie is a rich, alcoholic womanizer who lives the best life has to deal with an envious, struggling, pushover, cheap, who thinks he is a nice guy and deserves more, younger brother Alan who thinks life is being unfair to him. Alan has to pay a huge amount of child support and alimony every month after the divorce. At first, it is made to seem that the influence of his younger, family-person brother who knows his way around housework and finances and is/was independent will rub in a good way on the older irresponsible and carefree brother Charlie who hires people to do everything for him. You might even think that having his young nephew over on weekends will make him more responsible. But alas, it does not last long. The show makes it seem like there is going to be character development on the part of Charlie, but no, there is only downgrading of character in this show although it is shown at times that Charlie has a good heart despite everything.  Not only this, Jake, Alan’s son who is shown to be witty and quite smart in the first season only grows dumber in the later seasons.

 You feel sorry for Alan in the first few seasons, with his ex-wife and what not but as the show drags on and most jokes are based on his cheapness and his inability to move out of the house, it honestly gets exhausting after a point. He just never seems to learn.

Both of Charlie and Alan’s behavior is largely pointed out to due to the upbringing of their mother who is a rich, narcissist, selfish woman in the show. And with Judith, Alan’s ex-wife having him by the leash even after the divorce, supporting women characters in the show are shown in a bad light.

 The show got even worse in the later seasons when Charlie is killed off by a train and Walden Schmidt, a billionaire, buys the house instead and yet, Alan, the younger brother and his son Jake still manage to live there rent free. At this point, not only are there numerous plot holes in the show but the writing gets lazier and lazier. Earlier, if nothing else, the chemistry between the brothers was what made the show but after Charlie’s ‘supposed’ death, even that is thrown down the hill. You might as well give up.

I might have just ranted a little bit too much but if you’re still here. Do you think Two and a Half Men is worth watching? Let me know.