New 'Two and a Half Men' doesn't add up
Jon Cryer, left, Ashton Kutcher and Angus T. Jones attend the 2011 CBS Upfront party in Manhattan. The three actors are in the cast of the revamped "Two and a Half Men." (May 18, 2011) Credit: AP
Charlie Sheen or Ashton Kutcher?
Ash or Chuck?
Put yet another way: does anybody besides Charlie really care who the new lead is in "Two and a Half Men?" The new show arrived Monday night and to also add "improved" would be a disservice to both the word and the spirit of free enterprise. This is about preserving a cash stream for a pair of major corporations, not preserving a legacy -- such as it was.
If you missed it, the basics: Charlie (Sheen) dies in a metro accident in Paris, and while at the funeral, brother Alan (Jon Cryer) is interrupted repeatedly by his lothario brother's various conquests, as they complain about their sexually transmitted ailments. Cue to Charlie's beach house, now for sale, as potential tenants (John Stamos, Thomas Gibson and Jenna Elfman) arrive. Later as Alan addresses Charlie's urn, he is startled by a face at the door, and the ashes -- pun intended -- are scattered.
Walden Schmidt (Kutcher) is just returning from the ocean after a failed suicide attempt. He ends up buying the house.
Newcomers to the show Monday night were either offended or bored. But it's the fans CBS is worried about. What about them? Off-putting to some of them, no doubt, is the fact that their favorite show -- and the reliable eight-season-long "Odd Couple" shtick -- has turned into a pallid, bland and not particularly funny, image of its former self.
This is no longer "Two and a Half Men," and the sum of the new parts feel like just another . . . sitcom.
