Two and a Half Men

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Two and a Half Men
The cast of Two and a Half Men
Genre	Sitcom
Creator(s)	Chuck Lorre Lee Aronsohn
Starring	Charlie Sheen Jon Cryer Angus T. Jones Marin Hinkle Holland Taylor Melanie Lynskey Conchata Ferrell April Bowlby
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	90 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	22 min. approx.
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	September 22, 2003 – present
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Two and a Half Men is an Emmy Award nominated television sitcom centered around a freewheeling bachelor, Charlie, whose carefree lifestyle is interrupted when his newly separated brother, Alan, moves in, along with Alan's son Jake. Charlie and his nephew form an "unsuspecting bond" with each other. Two and a Half Men won the 2004 People's Choice Award for Favorite New Comedy Series, the 2006 People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy, and was the highest rated sitcom of the 2005-2006 season on American television.

1 Cast and characters
2 Synopsis
3 DVD Releases
4 Program information
5 International Broadcasters
6 Trivia
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Cast and characters

Charlie Sheen, as Charlie Harper, a hedonistic, never married jingle-writer
Jon Cryer, as Alan Jerome Harper, Charlie's twice-divorced Chiropractor brother
Angus T. Jones, as Jacob David "Jake" Harper, Alan's son
Marin Hinkle, as Judith, Alan's ex-wife
Holland Taylor, as Evelyn Harper, Charlie and Alan's mother
Melanie Lynskey, as their neighbor Rose, a sometime stalker of Charlie (starring Season 1, recurring through Season 4, written-out in Season 4)
Conchata Ferrell, as their housekeeper Berta (recurring previously)
April Bowlby, as Kandi, Alan's young second ex-wife (starring Season 3 Episode 13, recurring both before and after)

Only Sheen, Cryer, and Jones have appeared (and been credited) in every episode. Guest stars so far have included Emmanuelle Vaugier as Mia, Ryan Stiles (who starred with both Sheen and Cryer in Hot Shots!) as Dr. Melnick, Jane Lynch as the therapist, Jeri Ryan as Sherry, Martin Sheen as Rose's father, Denise Richards as Lisa, Richard Lewis as Stan, Teri Hatcher as Liz, Heather Locklear as Laura Lane. Also, Sean Penn, Elvis Costello, Harry Dean Stanton and Steven Tyler all appeared as themselves, among other guests.

[edit] Synopsis

Charlie is a successful and affluent bachelor in his mid-thirties who has a career writing advertisement jingles. Charlie resides in a large ocean front home in Malibu, California and is portrayed as a chauvinist womanizer. The plot begins when his uptight brother Alan becomes divorced from his wife Judith (whom he thinks may be a lesbian), loses his house to her and has to move in with his brother. His 10-year-old son Jake often stays for weekends and at other times.

Rose is Charlie's zany neighbor and female stalker. We learn Rose had a one-night-stand with Charlie shortly before the show started and keeps entering his house through the patio in the most inopportune moments, expressing her ambition of obtaining Charlie, and often serving as a good albeit crazy friend and advisor. Although obviously troubled herself, Rose has stated a few times that she has a Master's degree in psychology. In various episodes it is insinuated that Rose is very slowly orchestrating a psychological plan to win Charlie back. Early in the series she's heard to say (to herself) "Phase one, complete", after revealing to Charlie her excessive wealth.

In one episode, Rose's father, Harvey, (played by Charlie Sheen's real-life father Martin Sheen), asks Charlie of his intentions with his daughter after an apparent second one-night-stand between the two. Harvey then meets Charlie's and Alan's mother and has an affair with her, stalking her and popping in just like his daughter does. We then learn from Harvey's mother that "that's what happens when you marry a first cousin," explaining Rose's family's dementia soon after Rose revealing the one-night-stand was not real; they only woke up together.

Another important recurring character is Berta, the sarcastic cleaning lady with an acid tongue.

Alan and Charlie's mother, Evelyn (played by Holland Taylor) is a hip, wealthy, early-sixties, many-times-divorced, slightly slutty, controlling mother of the brothers. Charlie and Alan attribute their life's problems to the dark manipulative force their mother manages to exert upon them even now, adding to the caustic humor of the show in the situations when depicting their vain attempts to escape her.

Another recurring theme in the show is the conflict of personalities between the two diametrically opposed siblings, the relaxed, good-life, woman-catching, commitment-phobic Charlie and the uptight self-conscious nerdy Alan. Alan can sometimes appear to be jealous of Charlie's lifestyle, and can sometimes try to stop Charlie's decisions. This also provides opportunities for comedy in the show, with Alan, having admitted defeat, saying comments such as 'it's like talking to a horny chimp', or 'it's like trying to talk Shakespeare to a Hershey bar'

[edit] DVD Releases

DVD cover art for Two and a Half Men Season 1

Warner Bros. has yet to release Two and a Half Men on DVD In North America, although Seasons 1 and 2 have been released in Europe and Australia.

DVD Name	Ep #	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
Season 1	24	TBA 2007	September 12, 2005	February 15, 2006
Season 2	24	TBA	August 28, 2006	September 6, 2006
Season 3	24	TBA	TBA
Season 4	24	TBA	TBA

[edit] Program information

The show was co-created by executive producers Chuck Lorre (who previously co-created Dharma & Greg) and Lee Aronsohn.

The show debuted on Monday, September 22, 2003, at 9:30 p.m., ET/PT. In its third season, starting September 2005, it moved to Mondays at 9:00 p.m. (taking Everybody Loves Raymond's time slot).

In 2010 FX Network will have the rights to Two And A Half Men for reruns.

[edit] International Broadcasters

Country	Alternate title/Translation	TV Network(s)	Series Premiere	Weekly Schedule
United States		CBS Television	September 22, 2003	Mondays 9:00pm ET
Canada		CH Television	September 22, 2003	Mondays 9:00pm ET
Argentina		Warner Channel
Australia		Nine Network
Austria		ORF
Belgium		Kanaal Twee
Brazil	Dois Homens e Meio ("Two and a Half Men")	Warner Channel	January 5, 2004	Tuesdays 8:30pm
Bulgaria	Двама мъже и половина	bTV and Foxlife
Chile	Dos Hombres y medio	Warner Channel and RedTV		Monday To Friday 13:30 (RedTV)
Costa Rica		Warner Channel
Croatia	Dva i pol muškarca ("Two and a Half Men")	HRT2
Denmark		TV3/3+
Finland	Miehenpuolikkaat	MTV3	September 1, 2005
France	Mon oncle Charlie ("My uncle Charlie")	Canal Jimmy	February 1, 2005
Germany	Mein cooler Onkel Charlie ("My cool uncle Charlie") during Season 1, then "Two and a half men"	Pro 7	March 12, 2005	Saturdays 1:30pm CET
Greece		Alpha TV
Guatemala		Warner Channel
India		Star World		Thursday 10:30pm IST
Indonesia		Jak-TV
Ireland		TG4 and Paramount Comedy
Iceland	Tveir og hálfur maður	Stöð 2
Israel		yesSTARS (until 2007) yes stars 3 (2007 - )
Italy	Due uomini e mezzo	Rai Due
Malaysia		Ntv7 and Star World
Mexico		Warner Channel XHGC-TV		Tuesday 08:30pm Monday to Friday 18:00pm
Netherlands		Veronica	March 4, 2005
New Zealand		TV2		Wednesday 8:00pm
Norway		TV3	March 18, 2004
Pakistan		Super Comedy
Paraguay		Warner Channel
Peru		Warner Channel
Philippines		Studio 23
Poland	Dwóch i pół	TVN Siedem
Portugal	Dois Homens e Meio	RTP 1 and RTP 2
Romania	Doi barbati si jumatate	PRO TV
Slovenia	Dva moža in pol	Kanal A	October 27, 2005
Serbia	Dva i po čoveka ("Two and a Half Men")	RTV Pink
Singapore		Channel 5
Slovakia	Dva a pol chlapa	Markiza
South Africa		M-Net and SABC 3 (Note: M-Net is one season ahead)
Spain	Dos hombres y medio ("Two and a Half Men")	La 2
Sri Lanka		MTV Channel 1
Sweden	2 1/2 män	TV6	February 6, 2004	Mondays 09.00 - 09.55pm
Switzerland		SF2
Thailand		True Series and Star World
Turkey		CNBC-e	September 13, 2004	Mondays 8:30pm
Ukraine	Два з половиною чоловіки ("Two and a Half Men")	1+1
United Kingdom		Paramount Comedy and Five (Five begin re-running season 2 of the show weekdays at 6:30pm from Easter Monday 2007	July 5, 2004
Uruguay		Warner Channel
Venezuela		Warner Channel

[edit] Trivia

One episode centers on a website called www.charlieharpersucks.com; as of 2007 this site still exists.
In the Family Guy episode "North by North Quahog" (the first episode of Family Guy that aired after Fox renewed it), this show is on the family TV, with a more literal take on its title: it shows the Harper brothers screaming in horror as another man, who is cut in half, pleads, "Kill me!"
Each episode's title comes from a line of dialogue from that episode; for example, "Go Get Mommy's Bra". In at least one case the scene containing the referenced line was cut before the show actually aired.
At the end of each episode, a message appeared on the screen for a brief moment, so that it is readable only to those who record the program (using a VCR or DVR, for example) and pause it. These "vanity cards" were written by producer and show co-creator Chuck Lorre, and express his personal views on a variety of subjects. A complete archive of his vanity cards is available at Chuck Lorre Productions. The vanity cards were first seen at the end of episodes of Dharma & Greg, also a Chuck Lorre Production.
Alan Harper occasionally claims to be Matthew Broderick in order to get preferential treatment in certain situations. He has even apologized (as Broderick) for not making a sequel to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Since Charlie Sheen, Charlie Harper's portrayer had also starred in the movie, it is ambiguous as to whether (in the show's continuity) it was in fact Harper who appeared in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, or Charlie Sheen and Charlie Harper coexist as two separate individuals. The latter technique has been seen in other media, such as the television show The Nanny where Fran Drescher and Fran Fine are two unique people who happen to share a similar appearance. This technique was also used as a major plot device in the recent blockbuster Ocean's Twelve, where Tess Ocean (Roberts) impersonates Julia Roberts.
Main character Charlie (Charlie Sheen) is frequently seen drinking Corona (beer).