Two & Half Men new low

[taylorjsdad]

After really enjoying the show through the first six seasons I gave it a jaundiced eye during the 7th (when Charlie was acting like a 7-year old off screen) and dumped it entirely when Kutcher came aboard. I dumped it for all the reasons you cited and the one that upset me the most was the virtual absence of an excellent supporting cast. How the producers could make a mistake like that is not fathomable.

I don't know how the show maintains its high rankings as it has been absolute trash. Cryer used to be the perfect foil for Charlie. Now he is just a sniveling wimp and no one else in the current cast deserves mention.

As for the musical (which I did not watch), I happened to catch a "news" item on the 'Net a few days ago which featured Cryer talking about why they did it and his explanation was that "they were just having fun". I assume he meant the cast because it appears the audience didn't.

I suspect the milking will end at the season's end. Cryer and Jones certainly have enough money that they never have to work again if they don't want to and Kutcher can go back to his usual pile of crap productions.

Here is the thing... unless the cast does not want to do the show, it is going to be renewed. CBS has to love the numbers it is pulling in - it is keeping most of the audience from Big Bang Theory. I read somewhere that 2 1/2 Men (love it or not) is CBS' number 2 scripted show in the key 18-49 demo.

I agree the show is not as good as it once was... I don't even think the writing is as good as it was when Charlie Sheen was a cast member. But television, like it or not, is a numbers game and as long as the numbers are good and the cast is willing to do the show it will get renewed.

 

[landtuna]

some stations skipped over the bad seasons of Happy Days

And lots of viewers did too. I don't recall exactly when I bailed but it was either sometime during the 2nd or early 3rd season.

 

[onairb]

some stations skipped over the bad seasons of Happy Days

And lots of viewers did too. I don't recall exactly when I bailed but it was either sometime during the 2nd or early 3rd season.

Some viewers preferred the earlier, single-camera episodes with no studio audience, true, but Happy Days really exploded in popularity beginning in season 3, and didn't really start to shed viewers until season 7. During the '74-'75 season, Happy Days went head-to-head against CBS's Good Times, which had premiered a few after HD, and just barely finished behind it in the ratings for their first seasons. HD had also more than held its own against Maude in the Tuesday at 8 slot, so the Eye network figured it was time for a change.

CBS moved JJ and company from Fridays to Tuesdays to take on the Cunninghams, and HD fell out of the top 30 for the '74-75 season, as Good Times hit # 7 in the ratings.
So perhaps it was the popularity and appeal of Good Times' 'star' character, JJ, which influenced the decision for Happy Daysto put even more emphasis on Fonzie, in addition to switching to the 'multi-camera with studio audience' approach(beginning with one episode late in season 2, before making the permanent change the next season.). I can't comment on NBC's short-lived Fay or The Montefuscos or CBS's Big Eddie, but assuming those shows were done in that format, that would mean that by 1975, M*A*S*H was the only remaining filmed sitcom without a studio audience. In '75-76, Happy Days wound up at # 11 for the season, and Good Times dropped to number 21. ABC dropped its long running Tuesday Movie of the Week, and paired HD with another sitcom at 8:30 Eastern, Welcome Back, Kotter.
At midseason, in January of '76, Laverne and Shirley premiered, after the girls had been introduced on Happy Days, and the pairing of both shows turned both of them into white-hot pop culture phenomena.
The significant drop in both shows' ratings in '79 is attributed to viewers starting to get tired of both shows, but ABC must have been at least partly to blame, shifting L & S to Thursday nights(and Mork and Mindy to Sundays), while scheduling Angie in the post-Happy Days slot. The ratings for for all those shows suffered, and even though ABC reversed itself and put L & S and M & M back where they 'belonged', none of them ever really recovered from the damage. And if viewers were somewhat bored with Happy Days, the 'down years' still managed to crack to Top 30, at least until The A-Team came along.

 

[firepoint525]

Apparently, bad publicity (or even negative publicity) is better than none at all. As long as the show continues to generate a buzz (no matter how bad it is), CBS will keep it around. Personally, I am getting a bit tired of seeing "Koocher" every time I turn on the TV, so it wouldn't hurt my feelings if he would just disappear for a while. :

 

[landtuna]

Personally, I am getting a bit tired of seeing "Koocher" every time I turn on the TV, so it wouldn't hurt my feelings if he would just disappear for a while. :

Or forever.

 

[landtuna]

Some viewers preferred the earlier, single-camera episodes with no studio audience, true, but Happy Days really exploded in popularity beginning in season 3, and didn't really start to shed viewers until season 7.

Interesting, but I didn't watch any of the shows you mentioned with the sole exception of Happy Days and that only for a little while.

 

[benwolf]

Ratings are actually up from last season...the CBS memo we got at our affiliate says last weeks episode rating was 15% over a year ago. Any show that is regularly in the top 5 of all rated shows, sometimes top 3, will not be cancelled for quite a while.

 

[quadraphonic]

Apparently, bad publicity (or even negative publicity) is better than none at all. As long as the show continues to generate a buzz (no matter how bad it is), CBS will keep it around. Personally, I am getting a bit tired of seeing "Koocher" every time I turn on the TV, so it wouldn't hurt my feelings if he would just disappear for a while. :

I see very little network tv, so I don't notice Koocher on much, but you are right on with that first sentence there.
It's all about quantity and being "out there" 24 hrs a day, not so much about quality or limiting your exposure any more.

 

[Markxxx]

...while scheduling Angie in the post-Happy Days slot.

I feel Angie had to do with them retooling the show. The whole point of it was "Different Worlds." In the second season they moved Angie and Brad into a small house, made Angie the owner of the diner and basically dropped "Brad's world" and moved him solidly into Angie's world. So the conflict and resulting comedy was gone.

 

[LKellerIII]

Apparently, bad publicity (or even negative publicity) is better than none at all. As long as the show continues to generate a buzz (no matter how bad it is), CBS will keep it around. Personally, I am getting a bit tired of seeing "Koocher" every time I turn on the TV, so it wouldn't hurt my feelings if he would just disappear for a while. :

If "buzz" is another way of saying "big ratings," then yes - you are right - CBS will keep it around. Other than low ratings, the only way a top rated show leaves the air is when either the star or the producer decides s/he has had enough (Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, etc.)

Kutcher has only worked on the show for a couple of years, so he's probably not tired of it, and likes the huge paycheck...his film career has kind of tanked.

Jon Cryer's career wasn't going great guns since he was a teen actor - until the show came along, and is not likely to go great afterward. Meanwhile, he can bank enough money to retire on ten times over.

Angus Whatisname - nobody cares.

Chuck Lorre is not likely to kill the cash cow - especially since Charlie Sheen is now getting so much of the syndication profits.

Two and a Half Men will probably be around at least through the '14-'15 season.

If you don't like it - don't watch it. The last episode I saw was the first Kutcher episode, which I watched out of curiosity. I hadn't seen the show for at least a couple of seasons before that.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I’m glad to read others thought the same thing I did when seeing that “musical interlude” during the airing of Two-and-a-Half Men.
That episode jumped the shark as far as I am concerned when it comes to this show.
Charlie Sheen has to be laughing himself sick after this episode aired.
Pull the plug CBS!

I liked it. That's good music.

When is Mila Kunis going to be on?

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Is Ted Mcginley available?

 

[firepoint525]

Personally, I am getting a bit tired of seeing "Koocher" every time I turn on the TV, so it wouldn't hurt my feelings if he would just disappear for a while. :

Or forever.

Okay, works for me. Keep the show, cancel Koocher!

Is Ted Mcginley available?

Worthy replacement for Koocher right there! ;D