Alan (Jon Cryer) was married with a young son, Jake (Angus L Jones). His brother Charlie (Charlie Sheen) was a self-indulgent and footloose bachelor.
When Alan divorced, Charlie had to take care of his nephew, and soon found that his new duties cramped his hedonistic lifestyle.
The sparks came from the three males’ efforts to forge new relationships with one another.
The scenario was good, but the real key to the show’s enormous success lay in the casting of Sheen as Charlie and Jones as Jake.
Although Jones was only nine years old when shooting started, he was already a veteran of ER(1994).
This duo was well complemented by Jon Cryer as Alan and Conchata Ferrell as the men’s sharp-speaking housekeeper, Berta.
From 2005 through 2010, Two and a Half Men was the most-watched comedy on American television. After eight seasons, however, the show crashed and burned spectacularly. Jones – now a born-again Christian – decried it as “filth”, and Sheen needed substance rehab and was fired.
Ashton Kutcher stepped into the breach, but the magic vanished from the final four seasons and the last of the 262 episodes aired in 2015.
Alan Harper
Jon Cryer Charlie Harper
Charlie Sheen Jake Harper
Angus T. Jones Berta
Conchata Ferrell Evelyn Harper
Holland Taylor Walden Schmidt
Ashton Kutcher Judith Harper/Melnick
Marin Hinkle Rose
Melanie Lynskey
The sparks came from the three males’ efforts to forge new relationships with one another.
