Two & a Half Men: Charlie's a Perv

Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer star every Monday night in Two and a Half Men. The premise of Two & A Half Men is simple: Sheen is Charlie Harper, a jingle-writer who lives to have sex, drink, and do other things one shouldn't do in front of a kid. Cryer plays his chiropractor brother Alan, the second of the Two & A Half Men, a guy who landed in his brother's spacious Malibu home after a divorce from the shrill, neurotic wife he fathered his son Jake with.

Jake, the plump and endearing Angus Wilson, is about eleven these days and picks up Uncle Charlie's life lessons on women, betting and other things one shouldn't do in front of a kid. That's where the laughs come in. That and the Odd Couple existence of the brothers.

Actually, no, that's where the laughs should come in, but instead, every week, Two & A Half Men fans tune in for jokes involving male anatomy (mentioned at least once a week), sex, sex, boobs, sex, getting sex, casual sex, how to get a woman to have sex with you, how to get several women to have sex with you, ex-sex, crazy woman sex, sex with Wiccans and some occasional references to sex.

Get the jist?

Watching Two & a Half Men, a reasonable adult has reason to call into question whether, along with Angus Wilson, other adolescent boys work for the show as writers. But now, it seems it's adults, yet more adults who think good comedy that pushes the envelope only requires saying "scrotum" a few times and talking about sex.

Two & A Half Men's two recurring females, Holland Taylor as Charlie and Alan's mom, and Conchata Ferrell as the sardonic housekeeper Berta, got Emmy nominations for best supporting sitcom actress. Obviously, these actresses are very good. Obviously, their roles were waaaay too small to warrant Emmy consideration over other actresses. That's a subject for another article.

The subject at hand is, despite the presence of these award-winning actresses, Two & A Half Men is incredibly sexist, generally. I can't think of one sitcom on Tv, even the ones about geeks who manage to get pretty girlfriends, that objectifies women like this. In fact, I don't think I really even got what "objectify a woman" meant until I watched this show. Outside of the two just named and next door neighbor Rose, average looking women are never seen on these shows.

Every episode is about some scantily clad woman who Charlie or Alan wants to get into bed. There's no romance, either, it's all about "getting some". Casual sex laces every episode. Charlie's probably slept with fifty women in the last two season. Even average looking Alan never dates average looking women. Well-known pretty women Jeri Ryan and Jenna Elfman are among his dates.

Charlie is meant to be a cad, so maybe it's expected he treats women like objects. Alan's supposed to be more down-to-earth, but frequently turns into a horndog. The show can't deny it treats women like objects as much as Charlie does. Taylor and Ferrell aside, women are conquests, prizes, pretty things to look at on Two & A Half Men. Poor Jake, his chances for a healthy romantic relationship some day are zero to none.

Charlie Sheen is hailed by some critics as a very good comedic actor. Never got that. Never will. He seems half asleep sometimes, and wooden, and his timing is questionable. Maybe that's what is character's supposed to be like. Jon Cryer is just as good, likable, and does some good physical comedy sometimes.

Wilson is one of the best kid actors in TV. In any case, all three actors and the supporting women deserve better material. As long as the show remains the country's highest rated sitcom, it doesn't seem likely any big changes will be made. But if you doubt a show can be funny and popular with more diverse, cleaner subject matter, at least some of the time, think back to the last show that held the Monday 9PM timeslot on CBS. Seems to me that show did okay.