Doggy-Dog World

For the first time in seven seasons, I watched Two-and-a-Half Men last night and couldn’t muster so much as a smile, let alone a laugh or two. It was more embarrassingly awkward than funny, with Alan and Charlie engaged in rapid-fire insults throughout. Even Jake finally called it quits and told them he didn’t want to see either of them anymore. “Tain’t funny, McGee.” And in this episode, we saw nothing or too little of the others that made this show so good—no Rose, no Evelyn, no Dr. Herb, one 20-second scene with Berta, one short acerbic scene with Judith. I realize that most sitcoms run out of gas after seven or eight seasons, but this one came to a jarring halt. It might be that when shows starring a child see that child grow up and out of what was originally cute and funny, the show dies. The jokes about Jake’s stupidity and eating habits are now more cruel than funny. And Two-and-a-Half, like too many other sitcoms these days, is now too much into masturbation, urination, defecation, passing gas, and rampant sex with everyone and anyone (and, I guess, I should include “anything”). “No longer funny, McGee.”