The Dangers of keeping shows past their expiration date
I wouldn’t say I was ever a huge Two & a Half Men fan; however, when
it first came out, it was a comedy I enjoyed. I thought it was a new and
interesting idea for a sitcom, the cast was good and the writing was funny. I
watched every episode for at least 3 seasons but then I slowly started to lose
interest. I still watched it occasionally and had a good time, but now… I feel
like throwing something at my TV set every time an episode is on.
I started to think about it… and I tried to pinpoint where
exactly this show went wrong.
Was it the changes in the cast? I
am not entirely sure… it is probably a factor. Say whatever you want about
Charlie Sheen, but he is a good comedic actor. He was a good leading man and
for the time he was on the show he did a good job (on camera, whatever happened
behind cameras I don’t know). Charlie leaving was definitely not good for the
show, although I don’t think it was the only issue. I do like Ashton Kutcher,
I think he did an amazing job for 8 years on That 70s Show, so we know he has what it takes to work on a
sit-com. However, I believe he could be doing something better right now, something
younger and fresher instead of taking over an aging show which is creatively on
decline.
The Charlie Sheen debacle wasn’t
the end of the behind the scenes drama for this show. This year, it was the
turn of Angus T. Jones to make headlines calling the show “filth” and creating
a media scandal. Even if you agree with him, that is no way to talk about the
show that pretty much made your career (or that IS your career, since I have no
idea what other things that kid has done). The whole thing was very unclassy
and just added to the negative image of the show. Angus will not be a part of the
next season, which leaves Jon Cryer as the only original cast member. So pretty
much, out of the two and a half men, we were left with “a man”. Some ensemble
shows get away with constantly rotating casts (Grey’s Anatomy for instance), but this is not the case for Men. It is a show based on the premise
of an unconventional three person family, which is no longer in existence.
And speaking of family, there is
another deeper issue with the show. Two
& a Half Men started going downhill even before all the cast drama. It
probably had something to do with how the dynamic changed over the years. The
show was always mildly racy and had its share of sexual innuendos, but it was
toned down thanks to the fact that there was a kid (the half man) in the mix. This
provided balance for the humor and added a ‘family’ element, making the show
more appropriate for a wider audience and the characters more human and
relatable.
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| Two and a half men Season 1 |
Of course we know that kid
eventually grew up and now is a young man. Whatever innocence was completely
went away. Now, not only every character has an active sex life, but also their
entire existence seems to revolve around it. Watching one of the latest
episodes was just painful. It was a succession of sexual jokes one after the
other, not even funny or racy. Most of the jokes were plainly offensive and
there wasn’t any recognizable plot in the entire episode.
I have no issues with racy
comedies, but in the right setting and with good writing. If you are going to
make a racy comedy, the jokes have to be edgy, smart and well written. None of
which applies to Two & a Half Men anymore.
The fact that they renewed the show for another season (based on ratings not
quality, obviously) is just one more reason I think the current programming
practices are flawed.
While I understand that, in the end,
it is all about the money; keeping shows on the air for too many years just
hurts the art and quality of television. We can find many other examples of
aging TV. CBS has a knack for prolonging shows more than needed… at this point,
does anyone care who the mother is on How
I met your mother? I would much rather see my beloved Neil Patrick Harris
move on to a new and fresh project (full length Dr. Horrible sing along blog
anyone?).
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| How I met your mother |
And let’s not even start about
reality TV… I confess, I watched many seasons (more than I should) of American Idol, I even stuck around for
the Stephen Tyler/JLo season, but at this point it is just unbearable to watch.
Not only we have 5 million other singing shows polluting the TV market, but
also we know that most of them will probably be around for a few more years. More
examples of shows that should have been cancelled and finish when they were
actually good are everywhere on broadcast television. I have to give it to
Shonda Rhimes though, Grey’s Anatomy may
not be in its glory days, but she has managed to find new storylines and not
repeat herself.
While CBS has the problem of
having an old line-up, its baby network, The CW, may have the opposite Supernatural no other
scripted show is beyond its third season. Now, the CW has a history of being a
little trigger happy when it comes to cancelling shows, but at least its
line-up feels fresh.
In summary, I am not happy about Two and a Half Men getting another season. Even sadder, if I was the CBS programmer I would have probably ended up
doing the same. It is hard to argue with the ‘money making’ ratings. I just
wish that creative quality could be a bigger deciding factor when it comes to
programming decisions. I also wish the general public would watch more quality
TV shows and that quality and ratings could go hand in hand… but we don’t live
in an ideal TV world, much to my dismay.
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| Arrested Development |
We can take comfort on the recent
empowerment of fans and increasing importance of new media platforms, which are
changing the way we consume television. Hey, talking about good underrated
comedies, Arrested Development is
coming back later this month… so I guess not everything is lost yet.
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