Two and a Half Men is not a show that I would have believed could last five years. First, being the pessimist I sometimes can be, I thought Charlie Sheen would have bailed out on the project by now; either because of boredom or legal problems. Second, on the face of it, the premise of the show seemed to skimpy to last more than a season or two. But alas, Charlie’s still around and he’s one of televisions highest paid stars and as I write this, Two and a Half Men is currently going strong in its sixth season on CBS.I guess that tells you how much I know!
Co-created by executive producers Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn, Two and a Half Men centers on a laid-back bachelor named Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen). An advertising jingle writer, Charlie has been able to amass a small fortune to live a fairly carefree life. He has a house on the beach and a maid (Conchata Ferrell). This is interrupted when his newly-separated brother Alan (Jon Cryer) moves in along with his son, Jake (Angus T. Jones). Alan is the polar opposite of Charlie–a hardworking chiropractor, he’s incredibly uptight and despises his brother’s “live in the moment” approach toward life. Alan also prefers long term relationships despite the fact that they usually end up in divorce. Because of some very large alimony payments, Alan was forced to choose between bunking in with their insufferable mother (Holland Taylor), or Charlie and he chose his brother.
This has likely been said but Two and a Half Men is sort of like an updated version of The Odd Couple, plus a son and a sassy maid. The idea has been redone countless times in the past but the contrast between Charlie and Alan is so great, that it automatically leads to humorous moments. With the fifth season comes a whole new array of snappy one-liners, as Charlie actually starts to date some women his own age and that can carry on an adult conversation, rather than the parade of Barbie dolls he preferred in the past.
What also gives the series a boost this season, is the ongoing maturity of Angus T. Jones, as Alan’s son, Jake. Though he has always been a strong part of the show, the older Jones gets, the more he has really become a central part of things. In the fifth season, Jake enters Junior High and begins to go through all the angst that comes with being that age. Much to his father’s chagrin, Jake is a lot like Charlie–a major underachiever, he spends most of his free time sleeping, eating and playing video games. During the fifth season, Jake starts dating and sneaking out of the house; he also starts to clearly gravitate towards his Uncle Charlie, who he sees as the cool guy who will give him a little more freedom.
One of the most noteworthy episodes from season five is titled “Fish in a Drawer.” The episode was part of an ‘episode swap’, where the writers of CSI and Two and a Half Men switched writing duties for a week. The CSI writers designed this episode to be a spoof of their own series and focuses on investigating a death that occurs in Charlie’s home during his mother’s wedding reception. This is truly funny stuff.
So, after sitting down and watching another entire season of Two and a Half Men, I was presently surprised to come away feeling like the series has actually gotten better as the seasons have wore on. Yes, the premise is simple but the cast play their characters with healthy doses of humor and a pinch of humility that makes the show a fun experience to watch. The producers should also be commended for bringing a slate of guest stars along for the fifth season that just adds to the fun: Jenny McCarthy, Janeane Garofalo, and Robert Wagner are just a few of the famous faces that pop up during the fifth season.
The series is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and the transfer is fairly solid. Color levels show an impressive level of saturation, while skin tones consistently remain accurate. The contrast ratio is pretty impressive, be it during day or night sequences. The blacks never look murky. There are some compression issues, although nothing major. The artifacts that can be seen are minimal and provide a quality to the picture that is reminiscent of grain. There is also some edge enhancement every now and again. Other than that, this is a nice transfer overall.
the show sports a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track. It sounds goodugh, as dialogue is always crisp and clean, and the show never really uses any outstanding sound effects or vibrant enough music to warrant anything more.
Two and a Half Men: The Complete Fifth Season does have a slate of special features:
• Two and a Half Men at 100 – 23 Emmy nominations throughout its first five seasons, Two and a Half Men also reached its one hundredth episode this season. At just over five minutes in length, this featurette shows some behind the scenes footage of the cast and crew party that happened on set to mark the occasion.
• The Lore of Chuck Lorre: Must Pause TV – There are some vanity cards at the end of every end-credit roll, it’s a card that really has nothing to do with the show. It’s a bunch of gibberish and is really only there for someone’s amusement. This is just an explanation of the vanity cards from Chuck himself, as well as some examples of what’s appeared at the end of certain shows throughout the series.
• Two and a Half Men – Dying is Easy, Comedy is Hard – This is a little over ten minutes in length, and this feature is of great interest as it chronicles the experience of swapping episode duties with the people of CSI.
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – Two and a Half Deaths – Probably the most interesting bonus we can expect for a television series on DVD, the crossover episode the guys of Two and a Half Men did for CSI is also available. Katy Segal is one of the central characters in this episode. She plays an actress (who is married to a man named Bud, an obvious tip of the hat to her Married With Children days) who is found dead with a rubber chicken down her throat. The rest of the episode plays out like any normal episode of CSI would.
