The Opinion Swinger: "Two and a Half Men"

This is a hard pill to swallow.

I didn't want to admit it for a looooooooong time, but after watching too many episodes where I genuinely found myself laughing, out loud no less, I feel compelled that I must finally admit it.

I like Two and a Half Men.

How did such a thing occur? After the jump!



It's been a good, long while since I last enjoyed a sitcom with a laugh track. In fact, I haven't watched a laugh-track-filled sitcom since the days when Friends was on the air. Since then, I've (very) happily received my sitcom jollies from comedies that can be, at least in the traditional sense, considered very non-sitcomy. Arrested Development. 30 Rock. The Office. Ugly Betty. Extras. All have taken distinctive and inspired approaches to the sitcom format and came away with great success, so much so that many (myself included) have long seen the laugh-track format as dead.

And why not consider it dead? After years of feeling uninspired by a laughing machine trying to force a guffaw out of me, it felt refreshing to see sitcoms where the focus was more on the script and the acting than trying to get a laugh out of the viewer via laugh-track peer-pressure. Since all the laughs I was getting were coming from non-traditional sitcoms, the idea of watching one such as Two and a Half Men, Everybody Loves Raymond, and other "traditional" sitcoms sounded about as pleasant as having dinner with Fred Phelps.

Yet TAAHM has been on for quite a few years now, and it was pretty much unavoidable that eventually, I would see an episode. This was aided by the fact that my roommates love the show and have it on in syndication on a fairly regular basis. I tried to make a valiant effort to dislike the show for several reasons (I'm not a big fan of Charlie Sheen or John Cryer, the laugh track, the fact that every story seems to be something I've seen on any episode of any other sitcom ever created in the history of earth). Yet somehow, unavoidably, no matter how hard I tried, I found myself in the end laughing along to the randomly hilarious storylines of TAAHM.

For this, I credit the most to the strong supporting cast of the show, particularly Holland Taylor (whom I've always loved since her days on The Practice) and Conchata Ferrell, who provide blisteringly funny support as Sheen and Cryer's mother, and Sheen's assistant, respectively. Also, Angus T. Jones as Jake (the "half" from the title) has proven to become very gifted in comedy, especially for such a young actor. Even Sheen and Cryer have become more likable to me, as their odd-couple dynamic is surprisingly fresh.

Props however, should also go to creators Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn for making excellent use of quality guest stars. One particularly great episode featured Elvis Costello and Sean Penn as Sheen's "support group". The one that officially changed my opinion though,was the recent crossover episode with CSI, which deftly lampooned CSI's greatest trademarks with wit and fantastic comic timing (largely thanks to Taylor).

And so, I have no found myself actually enjoying a sitcom with a laugh-track again. Thankfully, it's much easier to do when the show is actually funny enough to inspire one to laugh without the aforementioned laugh-track peer-pressure. So here's to Two and a Half Men, for showing that the "traditional" sitcom isn't dead yet. Consider my opinion swung.