Cheers for the Men!. Review on Two And A Half Men

English sitcoms have been well known worldwide,specially in the past roughly couple of decades in India with the advent of Cable TV dominating households nationwide.To begin with,right from the 90's,apart from dramas such as Bold and the Beautiful and Santa Barbara,just to name a few,we've also had few comedy's such as Small Wonder,known worldwide for a girl playing a robot(who actually is in the show) cum daughter,programmed by her adopted father.

Next,we've had Different Strokes,which is about a father dealing with his little kids on their day to day affairs as well as a variety of topics,which seems quite interesting as each episode unfolded.Then,there was the ever popular Friends,3rd Rock from the Sun(which airs on Comedy Central channel),Everybody loves Raymond,That 70's Show,The Wonder Years,etc,just to name a few.However,one such unnoticeable show is Two and a Half Men,airing on Star World from Mon-Fri at 11:00 pm.Initially,it did not seem to be a kind of 'turn on' ,but as I followed through,it seemed apt for a perfect 'chill out'.

Plot :-

The story revolves around the Harper brothers,Charlie(Charlie Sheen) and Alan(Jon Cryer)along with Alan's son,Jake(Angus.T.Jones).Charlie is a fun loving,happy go lucky guy living a hedonistic or more appropriately in simple terms,a perverted lifestyle.He makes a living by selling commercial jingles..His profession is to befriend young girls and involves in 'One night stands' with them. In almost every week,you find a different girl with Charlie.

On the other hand,Alan is a divorcee who lives along with his son,Jake in Charlie's house since his divorce with his wife Judith(Marin Hinkle).He is a chiropractor by profession. However,Alan too isnt far behind in terms of flirting with girls.

However,their house keeper Berta(Concheta Farrell) is a loud mouthed,skeptical woman with a large heart.You often find her passing sarcastic comments,but with a sweet touch to it.

Next, comes the 'half man' Jake,Alan's son. An extrovert and fun loving guy in nature, he loves to hang around with both his dad and Charlie,but manages to learn Charlie's clever girl attracting tactics.

Alan's wife Judith,is a go getter,no nonsense woman,but has an affectionate side to her as well. She does manage to keep in touch with Alan,mainly for the sake of Jake.

The first five seasons shows Charlie having casual relationships with different women,but in the sixth season,he gets engaged to Chelsea(Jennifer Taylor).However,his existing long time girlfriend Rose(Melanie Lynskey) is upset with this decision and bullies Charlie to marry her.

Apart from the main character list,the show has several stand alone or new entry characters,many of them side flicks or romantic angles of either Charlie or Alan.In the sixth season,Judith is married to Herb Melnick(Ryan Stiles) who is a fun loving doctor and he however manages to sympathize with Alan after his experiences of living with Judith.In the seventh season,Alan begins a relationship with Lyndsey(Courtney Thorne Smith),one of Jake's friend's mother but their relationship ends when Alan accidentally burns down her house and cheats on her.

Come ninth season,and a world of change appears.It is suggested that Charlie dies in the show before this season begins and his beach house is sold to Internet billionaire named Walden Schmidt(Ashton Kutcher).Walden is no different from his counterparts Alan and Charlie in terms of flirting with young women. However,he too suffers a bad marriage with his ex wife Bridget(Judy Greer),who appeared in season 4 as Herb's sister.

Overview :-

Overall,I feel that this series is a great way to chill out everyday,specially after dinner. Nine seasons have come and gone by,making it one of the longest running television shows.The spontainity of the witty dialogues by each of the characters is a major boon to the show,apart from just the situations or incidents.It somehow does manage to get you to laugh and you cant avoid getting pulled into the story each time it comes over. The show stealers are undoubtedly the Two and a Half Men,namely Charlie,Alan and Jake. They manage to pull off their characters with such absolute ease. The sarcasm displayed in their dialogues and events where they face each other,specially Charlie having a negative attitude towards Jake, is another plus factor

In 2011, a blog hosted by The New York Times referred to Two and a Half Men as the "biggest hit comedy of the last decade".

On May 12, 2012, CBS Broadcasting Inc. (CBS) renewed Two and a Half Men for a tenth season, following the announcement that CBS had closed a one-year deal with stars Ashton Kutcher, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones.

Besides,the show has won countless awards and acknowledgement worldwide from fans and critics alike.

However,due to some of the mature dialogues and scenes,children,atleast below 16 or 18 are not advised to view the show.