As I'm sure most people remember, Charlie Sheen went pretty crazy around the start of 2011, which led to him being fired from "Two and a Half Men." Then he went on a media bender showing people just how crazy he had really gotten. He would call himself, and I'm paraphrasing here, a warlock with tiger blood in his veins. And who could forget his hashtagable use of "WINNING!" Eventually, it seemed that Sheen had cleaned himself and got a new show on FX loosely based on the Jack Nicholson comedy, "Anger Management." More on that later.
In the meantime, CBS decided to continue "Two and a Half Men." Charlie's character would be killed off, presumably murdered by Rose, and a new character, billionaire Walden Schmidt, played by new lead Ashton Kutcher, would buy his house and for some reason allow Alan to keep living there. I watched most of Kutcher's first season on the show and did find it, for the most part, entertaining. It was a good experiment and I did not bat an eye to when the show was renewed for another season.
The latest season, however, did not impress me. It mostly had to do with character and plot development. For the two seasons he's been on, Walden has been in two meaningful relationships that ended in him being dumped, with attempts reconciliation in both of them ultimately being sabotaged by Rose. It makes me feel bad for the guy, but if this is going to be pattern, it makes it hard to care for any relationship he has.
As for Alan, he has, in the simplest way of putting it, devolved into a total loser. When he was sponging off Charlie, it made sense because they were brothers. While the start of the Walden era on the show made sense at first for Alan to keep living there, I really find it hard to believe Walden would still have him there. Besides that, did his chiropractor practice just dissolve? To the best of my recollection, he has not been at his office or even mentioned going to work in the two years he's lived with Walden. It seems like he is sponging off Walden for everything, which does not make him very likable in my opinion. Then there is his on again/off again relationship with Lyndsey the last three years. This past season, they become engaged (I assume because it wasn't a very formal proposal) but then she just dumps him out of nowhere. This was practically the longest relationship Alan's had in the show's history and it ends just like that? Like I said, it makes it hard to care for characters' relationships you start to become invested in and then suddenly have them separate. I felt the same way with Charlie and Chelsea's relationship.
While Jake has not been on this much this past season since he joined the army at the end of the previous season, anytime he does appear, almost everything he says is insanely idiotic that I repeatedly smack myself in the forehead and check to see if I left a red mark by the end of the episode. I know this is supposed to be an absurd comedy, but no one is that stupid.
You can probably imagine my surprise when I found out the show had been renewed for another season. Along with that, it was announced that Angus T. Jones (Jake) would be downgraded to a recurring role, even though it seemed that way this past season anyway. If Jake is hardly around anymore, why is the show still called "Two and a Half Men"? He isn't even a "half" any more. As the show no longer has anything to offer me, I will not be watching this fall. If it is renewed after this coming season, I will have no words.
Now, on to "Anger Management." They made 10 episodes for the first season, and I enjoyed it for the most part. Then they made the deal for 90 more episodes, a surprising amount to say the least. While I did continue to enjoy the show, I felt it has been lacking lately, prominently in the Charlie/Kate relationship, which has been my favorite aspect of the show. They start out as friends with benefits, even though they both seem to have real feelings for each other, but Kate doesn't want to get serious and decides to go back to being just friends with Charlie, but now they have to work together on a grant funded sex study which makes things totally awkward for them. Yes, it is as convoluted as it sounds. But with the whole "will they or won't they" aspect gone, I just haven't found the show as enjoyable lately.
This week, it was announced that Selma Blair (Kate) was fired from the show, per Sheen's orders.
Now, I had thought that Sheen had gotten his act together after getting fired from "Two and a Half Men" and would start behaving a little differently. But as sources say, he is apparently being just as big a drama queen on his new show as he was on his last one, with many of the cast and crew becoming frustrated with him. Since Blair was the most vocal, Sheen issued the ultimatum that either she goes or he goes. I guess FX saw Sheen as a bigger a bigger loss than Blair. It doesn't end there though; Sheen apparently fired her through an expletive filled text message. Now the show is searching for a new female lead to replace her character.
I actually like Selma Blair, particularly in the Hellboy films. It seems like the show is taking a big loss letting her go. I think she'll be fine though; she's a talented actress. I wouldn't say that I'm that big of a fan of her that her exit would make me stop watching "Anger Management", but it's part of the reason I am. I feel as though that if I continue watching, I will be supporting Sheen's supposed reign of terror on the set. Like I said, the show hasn't been as entertaining as when it started so I don't feel like I'll be missing out.
So I say goodbye to a show that is long past its prime and another that I sense is going to start spiraling, of which I have seen the early signs. There's plenty of other shows for me to watch.
You can call this a rant about television shows if you want, but I thought this would be a good idea for a piece of writing.
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