Category: Sitcom
Created By: Sherwood Schwartz
Stars: Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick, Christopher Knight, Eve Plumb, Mike Lookinland, Susan Olsen, Ann B. Davis
Opening Theme: Theme
Number of Seasons: 5
Number of Episodes: 117
Original Channel: ABC
Original Run: September 26, 1969 to March 8, 1974
The show is an American television situation comedy based around a large blended family. The show originally aired from September 26, 1969 to August 30, 1974 on the ABC network and was subsequently syndicated across the world.
Overview
Origins
Sherwood Schwartz, creator of the series, conceived the idea for the series after reading an article in the Los Angeles Times that said "40% of marriages [in the United States] had a child or children from [a] previous marriage."
Despite the similarities between the series and the 1968 theatrical release Yours, Mine and Ours starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, the original script for The Brady Bunch (which was titled Yours and Mine at that early stage) predated the script for the film. However, the success of the film was likely a factor in the network ordering the series.
Plot
Mike Brady (Robert Reed), a widowed architect with sons Greg (Barry Williams), Peter (Christopher Knight) and Bobby (Mike Lookinland), married Carol Martin (née Tyler) (Florence Henderson), whose daughters were Marcia (Maureen McCormick), Jan (Eve Plumb) and Cindy (Susan Olsen). The daughters took the Brady surname. Schwartz wanted Carol to have been a divorcée. The network objected to this, but a compromise was reached whereby no mention was made of the circumstances in which Carol's first marriage ended, but many assume she was widowed. The newly-formed juvenile sextet, parents Carol and Mike, Mike's live-in housekeeper Alice (Ann B. Davis), and the boys' dog Tiger settled into a large, suburban home designed by Mike.
Often erroneously cited as the first series to show a "blended" family (two series which debuted in the 1950s, Make Room For Daddy and Bonanza had step-siblings and half-siblings respectively), it came at a time when divorce and remarriage in America was seeing a surge. Episodes in the first season chronicled the family learning to adjust to its new circumstances and become a unit, as well as typical childhood problems such as dating, rivalries and family squabbles and the fact that their house had two bedrooms for six children.
Subtle references to larger social problems occasionally found their way into the dialogue from time to time. In one social-issue episode, season two's "The Liberation of Marcia Brady," Marcia explores the oppression of the Brady women and sets out to prove a girl can do anything a boy can. The boys find this very upsetting and Peter finds himself joining the Sunflower Girls, Marcia's club, in hopes of making her back down from her 'bad idea'.
Mike did much of his architectural work in an office/design studio within the house, an apparent way of lending some realism to the way in which sitcom dads seem to be almost always at home while nonetheless earning a good living. In the episodes where he was shown in his away-from-home office, he often came home from work about the same time the children got home from school.
The theme song penned by Schwartz quickly communicated to audiences that the Bradys were a blended family though the situation largely was deemphasized from the second season on with a few exceptions. In the episodes "Not So Rose Colored Glasses" and "Jan's Aunt Jenny" mention was made that Mike and Carol had been married for three years. Those episodes were in the third season. In "Kelly's Kids," reference was made to the Bradys' adoptions ("Either way, you adopted three boys and you adopted three girls, right?") when their neighbors, the Kellys, adopted three boys of different races.
Original Run and Subsequent Success
In 1971, due to the success of the Brady's ABC Friday night companion show The Partridge Family, (about a musical family) some episodes began to feature the Brady Kids as a singing group. Though only a handful of shows actually featured them singing and performing ("Doe-Ri-Me" in the third season, "Amateur Nite" in the fourth and "Johnny Bravo" in the fifth), the Brady Bunch began to produce albums. Though they never charted as high as the Partridges, the cast began touring the U.S. during the summer hiatus from the show, headlining as The Kids from the Brady Bunch. Although only Barry Williams and Maureen McCormick stayed in the music business as adults, Christopher Knight readily admits he felt he could not sing and recalls having great anxiety about performing live on stage with the cast.[citation needed]
The Brady Bunch never achieved high ratings during its primetime run (never placing in the top 25 in the five years it aired) and was canceled in 1974 when Greg graduated from high school and was about to enroll in college. Despite its less-than-stellar primetime ratings and having won no awards, the show would, inexplicably to some observers, become a true cultural phenomenon, having lasted in the minds of Americans and in syndication for nearly four decades. The series has spawned several sequel series on all three traditional major U.S. networks, two made-for-theater and three made-for-TV movies, a touring stage show and countless specials and documentaries on both network and cable TV.
Since its first airing in syndication in September 1975, an episode of the show has been broadcast somewhere in the U.S. and abroad every single day of every single year through at least 2007[citation needed]. Reruns were also shown on ABC in the daytime from July 9, 1973 to August 29, 1975, at 11:30 a.m. Eastern/10:30 Central. The run was interrupted only once, between April 21 and June 27, 1975, when ABC ran a short-lived game show, Blankety Blanks, in that time slot.
When the episodes were repeated in syndication, they usually appeared every weekday in late-afternoon or early-evening slots on local stations. This enabled children to watch the episodes when they came home from school, making the program widely popular and giving it iconic status, strangely enough, most among those who were too young to have seen the series during its prime time run. The show's longevity in the public mind largely owes to that phenomenon, which was a unique aberration from the traditional norm of a previously-run network program being sold to stations as schedule filler between network programming blocs.
According to Schwartz, the reason the show has become a part of Americana despite the fact that there have been other shows that ran longer, rated higher and were critically acclaimed is that the episodes were written from the standpoint of the children and addressed situations that children could understand (such as girl trouble, jealousy towards their older siblings and meeting a famous baseball player). The Bradys also comprised a harmonious family (compared to the likes of the Bunkers, the Bundys, the Simpsons, etc...), though they did run into problems occasionally, when one of the children did not cooperate with his or her parents or the other children. In fact, anticipating the likelihood that some children might "act out" some plotlines, the producers had a form letter they sent to children who wrote stating their desires to run away from their own families and live with the Bradys. It has also been noted that the Bradys, while not wealthy, lived well by the middle-class standards of the early 1970s, having a live-in housekeeper and taking frequent trips.
The show presently airs on the TV Land cable network.
Cast
The regular cast appeared in an opening title sequence in which video head shots were arranged in a three-by-three grid, with each cast member appearing to look at the other cast members. The sequence has been widely imitated and lampooned since.
Marcia Brady/Maureen McCormick Carol Brady/Florence Henderson Greg Brady/Barry Williams Jan Brady/Eve Plumb Alice Nelson/Ann B. Davis Peter Brady/Christopher Knight Cindy Brady/Susan Olsen Mike Brady/Robert Reed Bobby Brady/Mike Lookinland
A recurring character was Alice's boyfriend, Sam Franklin (Allan Melvin), the owner of a local butcher shop. (By the time of The Brady Girls Get Married, a made-for-TV movie in 1981, Alice and Sam were married.) Sam is incorrectly perceived to have appeared in many of the show's episodes. While he is frequently mentioned in dialogue and Alice occasionally went out on dates with him when she wasn't needed around the house, Sam actually appears in only eight episodes, although his appearances span all the seasons.
Although many actors who become type-cast into the roles they played on a particular series sometimes resent this, it is exactly the opposite with the actors and actresses who played on the Brady Bunch series. Recently on a TV Land documentary, the actors revealed that they all remain close friends, and most have remained in regular contact with one another. On several episodes of Christopher Knight's reality show series, My Fair Brady, Florence Henderson made guest appearances, and gave advice on Chris' ongoing relationship issues. Knight also invited Williams, Susan Olsen, and Mike Lookinland to a wedding party, during which most of his time was spent hanging out with them, away from the party, and he stated that it was important that his fiance accept that his Brady Bunch friends are an important part of his life.
Cousin Oliver Robbie Rist as Cousin Oliver
In 1974 during the show's final season, the producers decided to add a younger character, Cousin Oliver (Robbie Rist), since the Brady children were now all 12 or older (Barry Williams was 19 during the show's final season) and a lot of the fifth season was aimed towards Greg going to college. In the episode in which Oliver was introduced ("Welcome Aboard"), Carol explains that her brother—Jack Tyler, Oliver's father—took a four-month engineering assignment in a South American jungle where there would be no schools. He was taking his wife, Pauline, with him and Oliver couldn't go.
At first, the Brady kids think that accident-prone Oliver is a "jinx," and this discussion is overheard by Oliver. Oliver later tells Mike what he heard, and Mike sits down with the kids for a discussion about the importance of making Oliver feel welcome in their family because, like it or not, Oliver was staying. The kids express their concerns that Oliver is the reason they keep getting into trouble, but Mike assures them that these are merely accidents. The kids promise their father to try harder to be nice to Oliver and make him feel like he belongs and, true to their word, they do try to include Oliver more. Oliver overcomes his accident-prone life when the Brady kids, along with Alice and their mother, Carol, get to guest star in a movie because they had Oliver with them. The movie roles were a prize given to a person in line for the studio tour, which was the last member of their group. If Oliver were not with them, the people behind them would have won. Oliver is overjoyed.
Oliver appeared in the series' last six episodes; ratings were not boosted enough to keep the show from being canceled. (This also parallels The Partridge Family, which brought in a younger character named "Ricky" for six episodes of its final season that same year, in an unsuccessful attempt to revitalize the show.) Because of this, Cousin Oliver is sometimes jokingly referred to as the character who "killed The Brady Bunch" and is sometimes viewed as the reason for the show "jumping the shark," though, realistically, the show had run its course and would have ended regardless, due to the mediocre ratings and tensions between the producers and Reed (see below). Rist also played Ted and Georgette Baxter's son on the last year of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, but the child actor has never been seriously blamed for causing its demise.
"Cousin Oliver" has become television slang for a new character (especially a cute kid) introduced late into a show's run to boost interest and ratings, particularly when the show features child actors who have supposedly grown out of the age of cuteness.
The Bradys' Dog, Tiger
The dog that played Tiger was hit by a car and killed early in the first season. When a replacement dog proved problematic, the producers decided the dog would only appear when essential to the plot. Tiger appeared in about half the episodes in the first season and about half a dozen episodes in the second season. The dog last appeared in "What Goes Up," which aired in 1971, and was not shown or mentioned again.
According to Barry Williams, the doghouse remained visible in the backyard set because it was used to cover holes in the artificial turf caused by a falling stage light.
In The Brady Bunch Movie, after Carol tells Mike "Go get 'em, tiger" she remarks to herself, "Tiger... Tiger... whatever happened to that dog?"
At the end of A Very Brady Sequel, a dog runs through the yard where a party is occurring. Cindy and Bobby turn to each other and say "Tiger?" Cousin Oliver chases the dog offscreen, which is followed by the sound of an unseen car crash. Cindy and Bobby seem unfazed.
The series pilot contained the only appearance of Fluffy, a cat that belonged to Carol's girls prior to her marriage to Mike. No explanation was given for the cat's absence in subsequent episodes.
The Brady House
The house used in exterior shots, which bears little relation to the interior design of the Bradys' home, is located at 11222 Dilling Street, North Hollywood, within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. According to a 1994 article in the Los Angeles Times, the San Fernando Valley house was built in 1959 and selected as the Brady residence because series creator Schwartz felt it looked like a home where an architect would live.
The real house is a split-level ranch home. A false window was attached to the front's A-frame section to give the illusion it had two full stories during filming of the series' many establishing shots, all of which took place before the program debuted.
The address of the house in the series was given as 4222 Clinton Way (or Avenue). Although no city ever was specified, it was presumed from references to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Rams, and a Hollywood movie studio, among many others, that the Bradys lived in Southern California, most likely Los Angeles or one of its suburbs. In the 2002 TV movie The Brady Bunch in the White House, Cindy's map and Mike's speech state that the family lived in Santa Monica, California.
In the years since the show first aired, those who have owned the house have had problems with visitors who trespassed on the property to peep into the windows, or who came to the front door asking to see the fictional Bradys. As a result, the property has been extensively re-landscaped, so someone casually driving by most likely would not recognize it as the house shown in the TV show. For many fans, however, it is indeed still recognizable as the Brady house.
Contemporary establishing shots of the house were filmed with the owner's permission for the 1990 TV series The Bradys. The owner refused to restore the property to its 1969 look for The Brady Bunch Movie in 1995, so a façade resembling the original home was built around an existing house.
Spin=Offs and Sequels
Several sequels to the original series were made, featuring all or most of the original cast.
The Brady Bunch Hour
A variety show called The Brady Bunch Hour was spun-off in 1977. It was canceled after only nine episodes. Eve Plumb was the only regular cast member from the series who declined to be in the series and the role of Jan was recast with Geri Reischl. The entire cast took part in sketches and musical numbers, including the very non-musical Reed and Davis (in one memorable bit, a game-for-anything Reed even appeared in drag as Carmen Miranda). Produced by Sid and Marty Krofft, the sibling team behind H.R. Pufnstuf, Donny and Marie and other glitzy variety shows and children's series of the era, this show was an infamous disaster that has been much parodied since and enjoys an avid cult following. The show was intended to air every fifth week in the same slot as The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, but ended up scheduled sporadically throughout the season, leading to very inconsistent ratings, since fans could not remember when it was on or more likely saw a promo with Mike and Carol stating "The Brady Bunch Hour won't be seen this week, but we will back again soon".
This show was famously parodied on the Season 3 episode of That '70s Show (Red Sees Red). The entire family, due to a forced curfew is sitting around watching the show and each one leaves separately in anger (Red himself remarking that "This show is crap!"). Kitty then daydreams that her own family are the stars of a similar show. The show was also more directly parodied as part of "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" wherein the Simpsons star in a variety show spin-off of their show. It's noted during the show that Lisa Simpson had refused to participate, so she was replaced with a much older prom queen type who also claimed to be Lisa Simpson.
The Brady Girls Get Married / The Brady Brides
A TV reunion movie called The Brady Girls Get Married and a spin-off sitcom were produced in 1981 and aired on NBC. The reunion movie featured the entire original cast; this would prove to be the only time the entire cast worked together on a single project following the cancellation of the original series. The ensuing series (titled The Brady Brides) featured Maureen McCormick (Marcia) and Eve Plumb (Jan) in regular roles. The series had Marcia and Jan both married and both couples living together. The clashes between Jan's uptight husband, Phillip Covington III (a college professor who was several years older than Jan), and Marcia's more slob of a partner, Wally Logan (played by Jerry Houser) (a salesman who could never seem to keep a job), were the pivot on which many of the stories were based. Ten episodes were aired before the sitcom was canceled.
A Very Brady Christmas
A second TV reunion movie A Very Brady Christmas featured all the regular cast (except Susan Olsen; the role was played by Jennifer Runyon), as well as three grandchildren, Peter's girlfriend and the spouses of Greg, Marcia and Jan (Nora, Wally and Phillip, respectively).
Mike is still an architect and Jan has followed in his footsteps to become one herself; Carol is a realtor; Greg is a physician; Marcia is a stay-at-home mom; Peter works in an office; Cindy is in her last year of college; Bobby was in graduate school studying for business but dropped out to drive race cars.
After a series of pratfalls to get the family together, everyone comes home harboring various secrets (e.g., Jan and Phillip are considering separation; Wally is out of work again, having lost his job in a merger at his toy company; Greg's wife Nora wants to spend Christmas with her family; Cindy felt pressured to come home in lieu of a skiing trip with her college friends; Peter feels inferior to his girlfriend, who is also his boss; and Bobby hasn't revealed his leaving graduate school for a racing career). Alice, meanwhile, temporarily moves back in with Mike and Carol after her husband, Sam, runs off with another woman. (Allan Melvin did not reprise the role; he had retired from acting and was replaced in a single scene by Lewis Arquette.)
Even Mike has problems: Contractor Ted Roberts, wanting to save money on a downtown office complex project (at 34th St. and Oak) where Mike is the architect, demands that he redesign the building to omit important safety specifications. Mike advises against it and causes his firm to lose Roberts' services. On Christmas Day, the building crumbles, and Roberts, unable to contact anyone at the new firm he hired, must rely on Mike to find what caused the building's structure to become unstable. While inside, the building continues to crumble, trapping Mike and two security guards inside. Of course, everyone turns out to be okay, and Alice and Sam reunite.
The movie, which aired on CBS in December 1988 to high ratings, renewed interest in the Brady clan and set out the current careers and family situations which were continued in The Bradys.
The fact that this movie aired on CBS gave the Bradys a rare feat: the original show and reunions aired on all of the "big 3" networks — ABC, CBS and NBC.
The Bradys
The dramedy series The Bradys was produced in 1989 and premiered on February 6, 1990; Maureen McCormick was pregnant at the time and decided not to participate in this series; her role of Marcia was filled by Leah Ayres.
With this short-lived series came a brand new opening sequence and theme song. The visual still featured the familiar blue squares of the original series, and reunions (with the exception of the variety hour); then they all divide and move off-screen in different directions, with current episodic clips with the actors' names on the box they contain and a clip (from the Brady Bunch 1969 opening) of each actor superimposed in the back of a colored backdrop as a full clip opens up afterwards. Florence Henderson and Robert Reed appear side to side, the rest of the cast appear solo. After the last cast member (which is Mike Lookinland's "Bobby") is seen the familiar squares move back on screen with Ann B. Davis appearing in her spot; her clip blinks out and the squares divide staying on screen this time with the title appearing in the familiar title area (Alice's space).
The theme music used an instrumental version for the (CBS) network run and a lyrical version for reruns. The theme lyrics no longer featured the "That's the way we all became The Brady Bunch" lyrics and also the theme was no longer sung by The Brady Kids, it was performed by the Brady mom Florence Henderson.
Specials, Documentaries, and Other Revivals
The Brady Bunch has met with a remarkable amount of television coverage, although most of this did not happen until the series had been off the network for more than 20 years.
The Brady Kids, animated 22-episode series, aired 1972–74, about the Brady kids living in a tree house without any adults but with various pets. The first 17 episodes feature the voices of all six Brady kids, but Barry Williams and Christopher Knight are replaced for the last five episodes due to a contract dispute. The World of Sid & Marty Krofft at the Hollywood Bowl, 1973. Aired on Saturday morning on ABC. The kids sing in the famous Los Angeles venue, while Robert Reed and Ann B. Davis watch from box seats.
Donny and Marie Show, ABC, October 1, 1976. Florence Henderson, Maureen McCormick, Mike Lookinland, and Susan Olsen appear as their Brady characters on an episode of Donny and Marie Osmond's variety show, without permission of the copyright owners of The Brady Bunch. They appear in several comedy sketches and the kids sing Cole Porter's We Open in Venice.
The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, ABC, November 28, 1976. From the producers of Donny and Marie comes this special. It leads to The Brady Bunch Hour as a series on ABC.
The Brady Bunch Hour, ABC, January–May 1977 (8 episodes). Details above.
The Brady Girls Get Married, NBC, January–February 1981 (made for TV movie shown in three parts). Details above.
The Brady Brides, NBC, February–April 1981 (7 episodes). Details above.
The Love Boat, ABC, circa 1984. Although the name 'Brady' is not mentioned, Robert Reed and Florence Henderson appear in a cameo and talk about how they can take a cruise since the kids are all grown up. Other famous TV couples appear in the episode.
A Very Brady Christmas, CBS, December 18, 1988. The highest-rated TV movie of the 1988–89 television season.
Day by Day: A Very Brady Episode, NBC, February 5, 1989. Robert Reed and Florence Henderson reprise their roles as Mike and Carol in this episode of a short-lived sitcom starring Linda Kelsey and Courtney Thorne-Smith. Other Brady veterans appear, including (a then pregnant) Maureen McCormick. In the episode, a teenage boy in the family (Christopher Daniel Barnes) dreams he's Chuck Brady and escapes to the Bradys' world after he's yelled at for his poor scholastic habits (he was watching a Brady marathon); however, Chuck's dream comes apart when various Bradys begin repeating comments made only a few minutes earlier. Art came to imitate life when Barnes was cast as the new Greg Brady in the theatrical Brady Bunch movies in 1995 and 1996.
Free Spirit: The New Secretary, ABC, December 10, 1989. Although the name Brady is never mentioned, Robert Reed and Florence Henderson play a couple seeking a divorce in an episode of this short-lived sitcom about a witch (Corinne Bohrer) working as a nanny to a widowed lawyer.
The Real Live Brady Bunch stage show in the early 1990s featured re-enactments of series episodes. Andy Richter played Mike Brady, and appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on November 9, 1992 almost a year before becoming the sidekick on Late Night with Conan O' Brien.
The Bradys, CBS, February–March 1990 (six episodes). Details above.
The Brady 500, CBS, February 9, 1990. Bobby is injured in a car race and is paralyzed from the waist down. All original cast except for Maureen McCormick. This is actually the first two episodes of The Bradys and are also known as Start Your Engines Most of the cast, except Robert Reed, promoted their new series on the Sally Jesse Raphael series. Their live Florida broadcast was interrupted by rain.
Bradymania: A Very Brady Special, 1993. Based loosely on Elizabeth Moran's book Bradymania, this special was hosted by Florence Henderson and include clips comparing Brady behavior with that on other sitcoms.
The Brady Bunch Movie, 1995. Theatrical release. A parody of the original series. Most Brady veterans appear in cameos, except for deceased Robert Reed. Scenes with Mike Lookinland and Susan Olsen were shot, but were cut from the final film.
A Very Brady Sequel, 1996. Theatrical release. Same cast as previous but with Tim Matheson playing a villain impersonating Carol's first husband (at the end of this film, Cousin Oliver is run over by a car).
Brady Bunch Home Movies, May 23, 1995. During the original series run, Robert Reed gave each of the juvenile cast members an 8 mm movie camera. This special includes footage the Brady kids shot in those days and is their tribute to Reed. Susan Olsen was executive producer.
Attack of the Bradys, 1998. Another VH1 special.
E! True Hollywood Story: The Brady Bunch, June 6, 1999. Members of the cast retell their anecdotes for the benefit of this E! Network series, including an extensive discussion of Robert Reed's homosexuality.
Unauthorized Brady Bunch: The Final Days, May 16, 2000. A made for TV movie looking at the making of The Brady Bunch focusing on the final season which was marred by dissension among the cast pertaining to their business arrangements and the creative direction of the show.
Growing Up Brady, May 21, 2000. A made-for-TV movie of Barry Williams's hit 1992 book.
Pop-Up Brady, VH-1, July 18, 2001. Several episodes of The Brady Bunch with textual commentary added in the form of on-screen balloons.
The Weakest Link, NBC, September 24, 2001. All members of the Brady cast, except Reed and Davis, compete on this game show, including Robbie Rist, who joked during introductions, "I hope I don't kill this show, too!" Topics included Brady trivia.
The Brady Bunch in the White House, November 29, 2002. Made-for-TV movie parody in the mould of The Brady Bunch Movie but with a mostly new cast.
The Brady Bunch 35th Anniversary Reunion Special: Still Brady after All These Years, September 29, 2004. Reunion special featuring entire surviving cast, hosted by Jenny McCarthy.
My Fair Brady, 2005. A reality TV series starring Christopher Knight and Adrianne Curry (The first America's Next Top Model Winner) and their relationship post a stint on VH1's The Surreal Life. Barry Williams, Florence Henderson, Susan Olsen and Mike Looklinland all appear in the series as well.
Coming Together under One Roof, 2005. Sherwood Schwartz narrates this documentary about the creation of The Brady Bunch for the DVD release of the first season.
Biography: The Brady Bunch, A&E Network, June 24, 2005. A&E's popular documentary program, having earlier profiled both Florence Henderson and Robert Reed, devotes an episode to the series.
The Brady Bunch Cast Back in Hawaii, 2005. Florence Henderson, Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, Mike Lookinland, and Susan Olsen go back to Hawaii and meet up with Don Ho.
Robert Reed vs. the Producers
Robert Reed became increasingly jaded about appearing in the series, as he felt that his Shakespearean training would mean nothing if he became typecast in the "Mr. Brady" role. He frequently fought with producers to make changes in the show's scripts in order to remove what he felt were unbelievable scenes or dialogue. Despite his battles, he was allowed to direct several episodes, "The Winner" and "The Big Little Man" (1971), "How To Succeed In Business" and "Getting Greg's Goat" (1973).
Reed did not appear in a 1972 episode, "Goodbye Alice Hello," although his absence from this episode was never explained. By the final season, his arguments with the producers led to his absence from the series finale, "The Hair-Brained Scheme", (because he believed a key plot point was too implausible to be believed). In addition to "The Hair-Brained Scheme," Barry Williams' autobiography, Growing Up Brady, contains two of Reed's negative critiques of the episodes "The Impractical Joker" and "And Now a Word From Our Sponsor" (1971).
In the first season episode "Father Of The Year", Reed is clearly heard saying "What the hell's going on?" when his character enters the living room from the back door, instead of the front, when a TV news crew arrives to cover his Father Of The Year award. How this profanity escaped the ABC censors was never explained, an oddity considering the wholesome tone the show conveyed.
Other Mentions
On an episode of Whose Line is it Anyway?, in which Florence Henderson was a guest for one of the games, Wayne Brady was referred to as "The Lost Brady Son".
In 1979, in the first episode of Knots Landing, Karen Fairgate, played by Michele Lee, refers to her family as "the neighborhood Brady Bunch".
In circa 1984, "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied Men Without Hats' "The Safety Dance" with a song called "The Brady Bunch". The first person in the song has only one television and he says the second person can watch anything except for The Brady Bunch.
In the 1991 film Hot Shots, Topper Harley moves into the base and troops in training march sing the theme song to The Brady Bunch.
In 1992, Saturday Night Live did a send-up of the Bradys versus The Partridge Family, "Battle of the Bands". Susan Dey, hosting SNL that week, reprised the character of Laurie Partridge for this sketch. SNL cast member Melanie Hutsell led the battle as Jan Brady, a recurring character at that time.
In a 1992 episode of Tiny Toons, "Grandma's Dead" (11/10/92), Elmyra grieves over the loss of her pet hamster, Jan Brady, but all the neighbors get the idea that Elmyra's vacationing grandma has bought the farm.
In a 1993 episode of Full House, Joey mentions how he wanted a family like the Bradys (The Brady Bunch was one of the shows Full House was often compared to).
In Season 4 of Full House, Danny Tanner mentions that his family (combined with his then-current girlfriend Cindy and her son Rusty) would make a repilca of The Brady Bunch family if they dressed Joey up as Alice. This, however, would not be completely accurate because, if assuming Jesse is playing the "Greg" part, another boy would be needed.
In "Stranger in a Strange Land", an episode of Lost, Sawyer refers to Karl as "Bobby", which is not understood by Karl, who hadn't even heard of The Brady Bunch.
In an episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, the million dollar question was "What was Carol Brady's maiden name?" The contestant chose to walk rather than guess. The answer is Tyler. (In the first The Brady Bunch episode, she is referred to as Mrs. Martin - her previous married name. Then at the wedding, Mike greets her parents as Mr. and Mrs. Tyler - thereby referring to her maiden name).
Other Mentions continued
In the 1999 TV movie Come on Get Happy: The Partridge Family Story, there is a scene in which The Partridge Family cast takes their bus over to the set where The Brady Bunch cast is filming. A confrontation ensues, in which Florence Henderson and Shirley Jones exchange insults, comparing their TV families. (This scene never actually took place in real life, rather it was inspired by the "competition" factor between the shows that developed during the 90s, when Nickelodeon ran both The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family back-to-back on its Nick at Nite lineup).
In an episode of The Amanda Show, there was a skit parodying The Brady Bunch making them very violent, that was called "When Bradys Attack".
The next-to-last episode of The X-Files, "Sunshine Days", Scully, Reyes and Doggett deal with a telekinetic man who is obsessed with The Brady Bunch. In fact, those who look into his house through the windows "see" the interior of the Brady house and the Brady family.
Australian television show Fast Forward sent-up The Brady Bunch in Season 3 (1991), which had Jane Turner as Carol and Steve Blackburn as Mike.
In the March 13, 2006 episode of As the World Turns, Gwen and Will Munson reminisce about Will's family from years ago and sarcastically refer to it as being "the real Brady Bunch".
In an episode of Dead Ringers, there is a sketch based on the TV show Spooks having its split screens (or boxes as they were referred to) invaded by shows such as Hustle and 24 and finally The Brady Bunch who get a bomb dropped into their window.
Other Mentions continued
In an episode of Beavis and Butt-head called "Good Credit", Beavis and Butt-head are watching the The Brady Brunch intro. Another episode had the duo having a joint dream, fantasizing about the Brady girls and singing a parody of the The Brady Bunch theme song.
A series of Old Navy commercials from Summer 2002 had a parody of this show called The Rugby Bunch.
A The Brady Bunch grid parody is seen in the music video for "Holidae In" by Chingy featuring Ludacris and Snoop Dogg.
A verse in the song "Tiki God" on The Presidents of the United States of America's album II refers specifically to the events of the three-part season 4 opener "Hawaii Bound", "Pass the Tabu", and "The Tiki Caves".
In an episode of Teen Titans, supervillain Killer Moth is shown to live in a house in which the outside completely resembles the Brady house.
In a 1973 episode, "Adios, Johnny Bravo", musical agent, Tammi Cutler (Claudia Jennings) attempts to sign Greg Brady to a music contract[2]. It's reported that Greg (Barry Williams) had an off the air crush on Claudia who was the real life Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Year in 1970.[3]
Other Mentions continued
In the first episode of Season 2, Los Angeles Dodgers star pitcher, Don Drysdale plays in a cameo appearance in which he gives Greg Brady pitching tips.
The music video for Eminem's breakout song, "My Name Is" parodies The Brady Bunch's opening credits grid, with all the boxes showing Eminem's face, and the words "The Shady Bunch" in the middle.
In 2006 the alternative band Sha-Pink performed a song entitled "Bobby Brady Pants" on their podcast, The Sha-Pink Oddcast. An animated video of "Bobby Brady Pants" premiered on YouTube in June of 2007.
The Humancalendar.com Web site (companion to the Humanclock Web site) cites[4] the Brady Bunch opening grid as its design inspiration.
Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were often referred to as the Brady Bunch during the years in which they won Super Bowls in the NFL.
The Brady Bunch was Parodied on Family Guy [Episode #1- Death has a shadow]. Greg is accused of smoking, by his sister Jan, and is punished with four hours in a snake pit. Jan is then punished for being a tattle-tale, by spending time in the chamber of fire.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
This is a great sticom that has gone from popular to even more popular. When Charlie Sheen did his "Winning" thing it ended his reign on the show. Ashton Kutcher is now the king of the show. I believe he's making 40 million an episode.
********
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that was first broadcast on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake. Charlie's free-wheeling life is complicated when his brother gets divorced and moves, along with his son, into Charlie's beach-front Malibu house. The series' premise was revamped in the ninth season, focusing on Alan moving on with his life after the death of Charlie with help from his new best friend and housemate, Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher), who is also dealing with his own troubles following a bad divorce. Alan, Walden, and Jake eventually bond, becoming close friends, forming a surrogate family unit.
In 2010, CBS and Warner Bros. Television reached a multi-year broadcast agreement for the series, renewing it through at least the 2011-12 season. However, on February 24, 2011, CBS and Warner Bros. decided to end production for the rest of the eighth season due to Sheen entering drug rehabilitation and making "disparaging comments" about the show's creator and executive producer, Chuck Lorre. Sheen was officially fired from the show on March 7. The ninth season premiere, "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt", killed off Sheen's character and introduced Ashton Kutcher as Walden Schmidt, his replacement.
In 2011, a blog hosted by The New York Times referred to Two and a Half Men as the "biggest hit comedy of the last decade".
On May 12, 2012, CBS Broadcasting Inc. (CBS) renewed Two and a Half Men for a tenth season, following the announcement that CBS had closed a one-year deal with stars Ashton Kutcher, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones.
Contents
1 Overview
2 Production 2.1 Sheen's firing and replacement
3 Cast and characters 3.1 Main
3.2 Recurring
3.3 Guest stars
4 Broadcast
4.1 Episodes
4.2 Syndication
4.3 International broadcasting
5 Crossovers and other appearances 5.1 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
5.2 Due Date
6 Reception 6.1 Ratings 6.1.1 American television ratings
6.2 Awards 6.2.1 Primetime Emmy Awards
6.2.2 Golden Globe Awards
6.2.3 Screen Actors Guild Awards
6.2.4 Teen Choice Awards
7 Home media
8 Notes
9 References
10 External links
Overview
The series revolved initially around the life of the Harper brothers: Charlie (Charlie Sheen) and Alan (Jon Cryer) and Alan's son, Jake (Angus T. Jones). Charlie is a bachelor who writes commercial jingles for a living while leading a hedonistic lifestyle. When Alan's wife Judith (Marin Hinkle) decides to divorce him, he moves into Charlie's Malibu beach house, with Jake periodically coming to stay. Charlie's housekeeper is Berta (Conchata Ferrell), a sharp-tongued woman who initially resists the change to the household but comes to grudgingly accept it.
The first five seasons find Charlie in casual sexual relationships with numerous women until the sixth season, when he becomes engaged to Chelsea (Jennifer Bini Taylor). However, the relationship does not last when Charlie flies to Paris in the eighth season finale in pursuit of Rose (Melanie Lynskey), who was introduced as his stalker in the pilot episode. In the ninth season premiere, it is revealed that Charlie died when he fell in front of a subway train in Paris; it is strongly hinted that Rose allegedly pushes Charlie in front of the train after learning that Charlie had cheated on her.
Alan's experiences are somewhat different from Charlie's. Throughout the series, Alan continues to deal with the results of his divorce from Judith, Jake growing up, and his generally little success with women. Even his marriage to Kandi (April Bowlby) at the end of the third season was short-lived. In the fourth season, Alan is back at the beach house paying alimony to two women out of his meager earnings as a chiropractor. In the seventh season, he begins a relationship with Lyndsey McElroy (Courtney Thorne-Smith), the mother of one of Jake's friends. Their relationship is temporarily suspended when Alan accidentally burns down her house and cheats on her, but the relationship eventually resumes.
In the ninth season premiere (after Charlie's death) the beach house is sold to Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher), an Internet billionaire in the process of being divorced from his wife Bridget (Judy Greer). Alan leaves to live with his conceited mother Evelyn (Holland Taylor) when the house is sold, but Walden wholeheartedly invites both Alan and Jake back to live in the beach house, needing friends to help him deal with his marriage breakdown, therefore forming a tight-knit surrogate family. Meanwhile, Charlie's spirit now lives on in Hell in the form of a woman (Kathy Bates) as eternal punishment for his womanizing ways during his lifetime. He continues to watch over his brother and nephew, still disgruntled by the fact they won't leave his former home.
Production
This section requires expansion with: general production information as per MOS:TV#Background/production. (November 2011)
Sheen's firing and replacement
Following a February 2010 announcement that Sheen was entering drug rehabilitation, filming of the show was put on hiatus, but resumed the following month. On April 1, 2010, People.com reported that after seven seasons, Sheen announced he was considering leaving the show. According to one source, Sheen quit the show after filming the final episode of season 7, purportedly due to his rejection of CBS's offer of $1 million per episode as too low. Sheen eventually stated that he would be back for two more seasons. On May 18, 2010, the New Zealand website stuff.co.nz reported that a press release issued by Sheen's publicist confirmed that Sheen had signed a new contract for a further two years at $1.78 million per episode. "To put a fitting end on the two and one-half months of whirlwind speculation, I'm looking forward to returning to my CBS home on Monday nights," Sheen was quoted as saying.
On January 28, 2011, Sheen entered a rehabilitation center voluntarily for the third time in 12 months. According to Warner Bros. Television and CBS, the show was put on hiatus for an unknown amount of time. The following month, after Sheen's verbal attacks against Chuck Lorre during a radio interview with Alex Jones and an online interview with TMZ.com, CBS announced that Two and a Half Men would cease production for the rest of its eighth season, affecting an estimated 200 employees, and causing Warner Bros., Lorre, Sheen, and other profit participants not to receive about $10 million from the lost eight remaining episodes. Afterwards, Sheen was interviewed on ABC's 20/20, NBC's Today, and CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, continuing to make hostile comments about Lorre, as well as CBS. On March 7, CBS and Warner Bros. Television jointly announced that Sheen had been fired from Two and a Half Men, citing "moral turpitude" as a main cause of separation. No decision about the future of the show was announced at that time.
Cast members Marin Hinkle and Holland Taylor expressed sadness at Sheen's departure and personal problems. Jon Cryer did not publicly comment on the matter and in response, Sheen called him "a turncoat, a traitor, [and] a troll" in an E! Online interview, although he later issued a "half-apology" to Cryer for the remarks. Sheen sued Lorre and Warner Bros. Television for $100 million, claiming that he had filed the lawsuit on behalf of himself and Two and a Half Men's cast and crew; however, only Sheen was named as a plaintiff in court documents.
In April 2011, Sheen mentioned during a radio interview after his tour's stop in Boston that he and CBS were talking about a possible return to the show. Regardless, Lorre announced that same month that he had developed an idea for a Two and a Half Men reboot that would exclude Sheen and have Cryer in a key role alongside a new character. On May 13, CBS announced that Ashton Kutcher would join the cast. Kutcher was quoted as saying, "I can't replace Charlie Sheen but I'm going to work my ass off to entertain the hell out of people!"
On August 2, 2011 it was reported that the season nine premiere would begin with Sheen's character having been killed off and his ex-girlfriends attending his funeral. Afterwards, Charlie's Malibu home would be put up for sale and interested buyers would include celebrities from Lorre's other sitcoms, and John Stamos as well as Kutcher's character, Walden Schmidt, "an Internet billionaire with a broken heart." Critics compared this situation to what happened in 1987 to Valerie Harper, who was also fired from the sitcom, Valerie (later titled Valerie's Family: The Hogans and then The Hogan Family), also had her character killed off-screen, and was also replaced by someone else, Sandy Duncan, the following season.
Rather than grieving over the death of his character, Sheen said he would watch his "fake funeral attended by [his] fake ex-girlfriends, from [his] very, very real movie theater, with [his] very real hotties in tow." Sheen's response to the season 9 premiere was very positive. He reportedly felt Charlie Harper's funeral was "eerie but fun". Sheen also felt that the reveal of Kutcher's character in a cloud of his own character's ashes was particularly enjoyable.
The attention Two and a Half Men received from Kutcher's arrival benefited the show's popularity. Average total viewers during the 2011–2012 season rose 13% to 15 million, and the 5.2 rating in the 18–49 demographic rose by 27%. His debut as the character Walden Schmidt, entitled "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt", was seen by 28.7 million people on September 19, 2011. The Nielsen ratings company reported that figure was more than any episode in the show's first eight seasons, when Sheen starred in it. At the 2012 Emmys Two and a Half Men was nominated for four awards winning 3 of them, the most Emmys the show has won in a single year since the show began. Kutcher replaced Sheen for the highest US paid actor in 2012 after receiving $700,000 per episode.
Cast and characters
Main article: List of Two and a Half Men characters
The main cast of Two and a Half Men (season 2), from left to right: Melanie Lynskey as Rose, Conchata Ferrell as Berta, Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper, Holland Taylor as Evelyn Harper, Angus T. Jones as Jake Harper, Jon Cryer as Alan Harper, and Marin Hinkle as Judith Melnick
Main
Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper (starring; seasons 1–8), a hedonistic bachelor, alcoholic, jingle/children's songwriter, Alan's brother and Jake's uncle. Despite his selfish and mean demeanor, he does possess a kind heart though he very rarely shows it. He is written out of the series at the beginning of season 9, after being struck and killed offscreen by a moving train, due to Charlie Sheen being fired from the show. Near the end of the season 9, the character appears in a single episode portrayed by Kathy Bates as a ghost forced to spend eternity in Hell as a woman with a pair of testicles.
Jon Cryer as Dr. Alan Harper, Charlie's chiropractor brother, Jake's divorced father, and Walden's best friend, who is conscientious but continually stricken with bad judgement.
Angus T. Jones as Jake Harper, the underachieving and lazy son of Alan and Judith. He joins the Army at the end of the 9th season, though he is uncertain if he made the right decision.
Conchata Ferrell (recurring season 1; starring seasons 2-present) as Berta, Charlie and Alan's (later Walden's) sharp-tongued housekeeper.
Holland Taylor as Evelyn Harper, Charlie and Alan's conceited mother and Jake's grandmother. A high powered Los Angeles broker/realtor.
Marin Hinkle (starring seasons 1-8; recurring seasons 9-present) as Judith Harper-Melnick, Alan's vindictive, self-absorbed ex-wife and Jake and Millie's mother.
Jennifer Bini Taylor (recurring season 6; starring season 7; season 9 guest) as Chelsea,[note 1] Charlie's girlfriend for most of season six, who has moved into his house by the end of the season. She then becomes Charlie's fiancée in season seven. (While credited on-screen among the main cast during the seventh season, CBS press releases billed her as a recurring character.)
April Bowlby (recurring season 3; starring season 4) as Kandi,[note 2] Charlie's girlfriend, then girlfriend and wife of Alan, then Alan's second ex-wife, Judith's best friend (for one episode).
Melanie Lynskey (starring seasons 1-2; recurring seasons 3-5, 8-present, guest appearances; 6-7) as Rose, the Harpers' strange neighbor and Charlie's stalker and friend. Initially, Charlie despised Rose and wanted nothing to do with her but eventually they became friends and he later fell in love with her. In the ninth season premiere, Rose claimed that Charlie "slipped" in front of a Paris Métro train after she had caught him cheating on her. She was later seen taking Bridget Schmidt under her wing as an apprentice stalker. She'll make two appearances in season 10.
Ashton Kutcher as Walden Schmidt (starring; season 9–present), Alan's best friend and housemate. A hopeless romantic, kind, and naive internet tycoon, who purchases the Harper beach house after Charlie's death. He also has formed close relationships with Jake, Evelyn, Judith, Herb, and Berta who initially had a crush on him.
Recurring
Ryan Stiles (seasons 2, 4–present) as pediatrician Dr. Herbert "Herb" Melnick, Judith's goofy, train-hobbyist second husband, father to Judith's daughter, and Jake's stepfather. (In season 2, the character was named "Greg Melnick.")
Emmanuelle Vaugier (seasons 3, 5, 6, 7, 9) as Mia, ballet teacher, Charlie's ex-fiance.
Jane Lynch (seasons 1, 3–9) as Dr. Linda Freeman, initially Jake's and then Charlie's and Alan's adept, and later Walden's incisive, sarcastic, but money-hungry psychiatrist.
J. D. Walsh as Gordon (seasons 1-4; 6-8), a pizza delivery guy who frequently delivered to Charlie, whom he somewhat idolized. At one time, he is Rose's boyfriend, or more correctly her substitute for Charlie.
Kelly Stables (seasons 6–8) as Melissa, Alan's receptionist who briefly dated Charlie before starting an intermittent relationship with Alan.
Courtney Thorne-Smith (season 7–present) as Lyndsey MacElroy, Alan's on-again/off-again girlfriend and the mother of Jake's best friend, Eldridge.
Graham Patrick Martin (season 7–present) as Eldridge MacElroy, Jake's best friend whose mother Lyndsey is dating Alan.
Judy Greer (season 9–present) as Bridget Schmidt, Walden's ex-wife who is now dating his friend and business partner, Billy.[37] Greer previously appeared in season 4 as Myra, Herb's sister.
Macey Cruthird (seasons 8–9) as Megan, Jake's chemistry tutor and recurring girlfriend; she first appeared in the season 8 episode "Springtime on a Stick".
Sophie Winkleman (season 9–present) as Zoey, a British woman with whom Walden falls in love, and dates throughout most of season 9.
Talyan Wright (season 9-present) as Ava Pierce, Zoey's young daughter from her marriage to Nigel. Well mannered and intelligent, Ava adores Walden, and is 108th in line to the throne.
Mimi Rogers (season 9–present) as Robin Schmidt, Walden's mother, a primatologist who raised Walden with a baby gorilla as his "brother" for the first four years of his life and is a director of Walden's company along with Walden, Bridget and Alan.
Guest stars
Guest stars have included:
Jason Alexander as Dr. Goodman, Alan's doctor (season 9, episode 23)
John Amos as Ed, boyfriend of Chelsea's father Tom (season 7)
Diora Baird as Wanda, a girl who chases after Charlie when he is engaged to Chelsea (season 6, episode 16)
Orson Bean as Norman, an old man who is married to a woman with whom Charlie had sex (season 2)
Nadia Bjorlin as Jill, A young woman who sleeps with Russell, and Evelyn's one-time lover (season 8)
Susan Blakely as Angie, an author Charlie met at a bookstore (season 5, episodes 18 and 19)
Michael Bolton as himself, a friend of Walden's (season 10, episode 1)
Paget Brewster as Jamie Eckleberry, Charlie and Alan's high school classmate (season 2, episode 12)
Gary Busey as himself, Alan's roommate in a sanitarium (season 9)
Julia Campbell as Francine, Jake's teacher (season 3)
Jessica Collins as Gloria, one of Charlie's one night stands, who may be his and Alan's sister (season 4, episode 11)
Elvis Costello as himself, Charlie's poker and cigar buddy (season 2, episode 1)
Miley Cyrus as Missi, an old family friend of Walden's, who becomes Jake's new girlfriend (season 10)
Josie Davis as Sandy, a girlfriend of Alan's (season 3)
Michael Clarke Duncan as Jerome Burnette, Charlie and Alan's neighbor, and the father of Celeste Burnette (season 6)
Steven Eckholdt as Brad, Alan's lawyer, and Chelsea's replacement for Charlie (season 7)
Jenna Elfman as Frankie (season 1, episode 15 and 16) and as Dharma (season 9, episode 1)
Georgia Engel as Jean, Lyndsey's mother (season 9, episodes 19, 20)
Sara Erikson as Jennifer, Jake's one-time, older girlfriend (season 9, episode 17)
Emilio Estevez as Andy, Charlie's long-time friend who dies before him (season 6, episode 11) [real-life brother of Charlie Sheen.]
Morgan Fairchild as Donna (Charlie's ego) (season 4, episode 16)
Meagen Fay as Martha Melini, Chelsea's mother (seasons 6 and 7)
Frances Fisher as Priscilla Honeycutt, Alan's patient (season 7, episode 19)
Megan Fox as Prudence, Berta's granddaughter (season 1, episode 12)
Thomas Gibson as Greg (season 9, episode 1)
Judy Greer as Myra Melnick, Herb Melnick's sister, Jake's step-aunt, and Charlie's one-night fling (season 4)
Teri Hatcher as Liz, Judith's sister (season 1, episode 19)
Erinn Hayes as Gretchen, a one night stand of Alan's (season 8, episode 5)
Tricia Helfer as Gail, Chelsea's friend (season 7 and 9)
Amy Hill as Mrs. Wiggins, Alan's receptionist after Melissa leaves him (season 7)
Enrique Iglesias as Fernando, Charlie's carpenter/handyman (season 4, episode 23)
Kris Iyer as Dr. Prajneep (season 1, episode 17; season 4, episode 16; season 5, episode 1)[39]
Allison Janney as Alan's online dating partner (season 4)
James Earl Jones as himself (season 6, episode 11)
Tinashe Kachingwe as Celeste Burnette, Jake's ex-girlfriend (seasons 6 and 7)
Carol Kane as Shelly, Melissa's mother (season 6)
Stacy Keach as Tom Melini, Chelsea's father (season 7)
Richard Kind as Artie, Charlie's manager (season 5, episode 8)
Eric Allan Kramer as Bill (season 1)
Katherine LaNasa as Lydia, Charlie's Oedipal girlfriend and Evelyn's doppelgänger (season 4, episodes 6 and 10)
Cloris Leachman as Norma, Charlie and Alan's neighbor, Alan's "sugar momma", and Charlie's former "sugar momma" (season 3)
Richard Lewis as Stan, Charlie's accountant (season 1, episode 14)
Heather Locklear as Laura Lang, Esq., Alan's divorce attorney (season 1, episode 21)
Jon Lovitz as Archie Baldwin, Charlie's arch nemesis to win the advertising award (season 3, episode 17)
Camryn Manheim as Daisy, Berta's sister (season 2)
Jenny McCarthy as Courtney Leopold/Sylvia Fishman, daughter of
Nathan Krunk (alias "Teddy Leopold")(Season 5, episode 9,16,17 and season 9, episode 4)
Katy Mixon as Betsy, a married woman whom Charlie purports to marry after his break-up with Chelsea (season 7, episodes 7 and 16)
Christina Moore as Cynthia Sullivan, Judith's best friend (season 5)
Brit Morgan as a girl Walden picks up at a bar (season 10 episode 1)
Martin Mull as Russell, Charlie's drug-addicted, unethical pharmacist (seasons 6, 7, 8, and 9)
Ming-Na as the Hon. Linda Harris, Superior Court judge, adjunct law professor, and Charlie's girlfriend (season 5, episodes 3, 4, 5, and 6)
Judd Nelson (season 8) as Chris McElroy, ex-husband of Alan's love interest, Lyndsey, and Eldridge's father.
Chris O'Donnell as Jill/Bill, Charlie's ex-girlfriend who since became a man (season 1, episode 18)
Gail O'Grady as Mandi, mother of Kandi, ex-wife of Andy, and brief love interest of Charlie (season 3)
Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as Isabella (season 3, episode 6)
Patton Oswalt as Billy Stanhope, Walden's former business partner
Sean Penn as himself, Charlie's poker and cigar buddy (season 2, episode 1)
Jack Plotnick as Mike (season 5)
Annie Potts as Lenore, mother of Judith & Liz (season 7)
Missi Pyle as Delores Pasternak, Jake's teacher (season 2, 7, and 9)
Carl Reiner as Marty Pepper (season 7)
Denise Richards as Lisa, Charlie's former girlfriend (season 1, episode 10, and season 2, episode 9) [ex-wife of Charlie Sheen]
Emily Rose as Janine (season 6, episode 12)
Sara Rue as Naomi, Berta's daughter (season 4)
Jeri Ryan as Sherri, Charlie's girlfriend (season 2, episodes 5 and 19, season 9, episode 1)
Martin Sheen as Harvey, father of Rose, and Evelyn's fling (season 3) [real-life father of Charlie Sheen]
Brooke Shields as Danielle, Charlie and Alan's neighbor (season 4)
Rena Sofer as Chrissy, the "mother" of Charlie's "son" (season 6, episode 1)
Kevin Sorbo as Andy, father of Kandi, ex-husband of Mandi, and brief love interest of Judith (season 3)
John Stamos as himself (season 9, episode 1)
Harry Dean Stanton as himself, Charlie's poker and cigar buddy (season 2, episode 1)
Tony Tripoli as Phillip, Evelyn's hairdresser (season 4)
Steven Tyler as himself, Charlie and Alan's neighbor and Berta's one-time employer (season 1, episode 4, and season 4, episode 2)
Eddie Van Halen as himself (season 7, episode 1)
Emmanuelle Vaugier as Mia, Charlie's ex-fiancée (seasons 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9)
Robert Wagner as Nathan Krunk (alias "Teddy Leopold"), Evelyn's fifth husband (later revealed to be a con artist), who died late in season 5 (seasons 4 and 5)
Wayne Wilderson as Roger, Evelyn's co-worker (season 4)
Alicia Witt (season 6) as Delores Pasternak, Jake's teacher who became a stripper
ZZ Top as themselves
As part of a crossover from the writers and executive producer of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, George Eads made a brief cameo appearance on the May 5, 2008 episode.
Charlie Sheen's real-life brother Emilio Estevez has guest-starred as an old friend of Charlie's; his father Martin Sheen has appeared as Rose's father. Sam Sheen, the real-life daughter of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen, has appeared as Lisa's daughter on November 22, 2004.
(Updated December 19, 2012 Wednesday)
This is a great sticom that has gone from popular to even more popular. When Charlie Sheen did his "Winning" thing it ended his reign on the show. Ashton Kutcher is now the king of the show. I believe he's making 40 million an episode.
********
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that was first broadcast on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake. Charlie's free-wheeling life is complicated when his brother gets divorced and moves, along with his son, into Charlie's beach-front Malibu house. The series' premise was revamped in the ninth season, focusing on Alan moving on with his life after the death of Charlie with help from his new best friend and housemate, Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher), who is also dealing with his own troubles following a bad divorce. Alan, Walden, and Jake eventually bond, becoming close friends, forming a surrogate family unit.
In 2010, CBS and Warner Bros. Television reached a multi-year broadcast agreement for the series, renewing it through at least the 2011-12 season. However, on February 24, 2011, CBS and Warner Bros. decided to end production for the rest of the eighth season due to Sheen entering drug rehabilitation and making "disparaging comments" about the show's creator and executive producer, Chuck Lorre. Sheen was officially fired from the show on March 7. The ninth season premiere, "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt", killed off Sheen's character and introduced Ashton Kutcher as Walden Schmidt, his replacement.
In 2011, a blog hosted by The New York Times referred to Two and a Half Men as the "biggest hit comedy of the last decade".
On May 12, 2012, CBS Broadcasting Inc. (CBS) renewed Two and a Half Men for a tenth season, following the announcement that CBS had closed a one-year deal with stars Ashton Kutcher, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones.
Contents
1 Overview
2 Production 2.1 Sheen's firing and replacement
3 Cast and characters 3.1 Main
3.2 Recurring
3.3 Guest stars
4 Broadcast
4.1 Episodes
4.2 Syndication
4.3 International broadcasting
5 Crossovers and other appearances 5.1 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
5.2 Due Date
6 Reception 6.1 Ratings 6.1.1 American television ratings
6.2 Awards 6.2.1 Primetime Emmy Awards
6.2.2 Golden Globe Awards
6.2.3 Screen Actors Guild Awards
6.2.4 Teen Choice Awards
7 Home media
8 Notes
9 References
10 External links
Overview
The series revolved initially around the life of the Harper brothers: Charlie (Charlie Sheen) and Alan (Jon Cryer) and Alan's son, Jake (Angus T. Jones). Charlie is a bachelor who writes commercial jingles for a living while leading a hedonistic lifestyle. When Alan's wife Judith (Marin Hinkle) decides to divorce him, he moves into Charlie's Malibu beach house, with Jake periodically coming to stay. Charlie's housekeeper is Berta (Conchata Ferrell), a sharp-tongued woman who initially resists the change to the household but comes to grudgingly accept it.
The first five seasons find Charlie in casual sexual relationships with numerous women until the sixth season, when he becomes engaged to Chelsea (Jennifer Bini Taylor). However, the relationship does not last when Charlie flies to Paris in the eighth season finale in pursuit of Rose (Melanie Lynskey), who was introduced as his stalker in the pilot episode. In the ninth season premiere, it is revealed that Charlie died when he fell in front of a subway train in Paris; it is strongly hinted that Rose allegedly pushes Charlie in front of the train after learning that Charlie had cheated on her.
Alan's experiences are somewhat different from Charlie's. Throughout the series, Alan continues to deal with the results of his divorce from Judith, Jake growing up, and his generally little success with women. Even his marriage to Kandi (April Bowlby) at the end of the third season was short-lived. In the fourth season, Alan is back at the beach house paying alimony to two women out of his meager earnings as a chiropractor. In the seventh season, he begins a relationship with Lyndsey McElroy (Courtney Thorne-Smith), the mother of one of Jake's friends. Their relationship is temporarily suspended when Alan accidentally burns down her house and cheats on her, but the relationship eventually resumes.
In the ninth season premiere (after Charlie's death) the beach house is sold to Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher), an Internet billionaire in the process of being divorced from his wife Bridget (Judy Greer). Alan leaves to live with his conceited mother Evelyn (Holland Taylor) when the house is sold, but Walden wholeheartedly invites both Alan and Jake back to live in the beach house, needing friends to help him deal with his marriage breakdown, therefore forming a tight-knit surrogate family. Meanwhile, Charlie's spirit now lives on in Hell in the form of a woman (Kathy Bates) as eternal punishment for his womanizing ways during his lifetime. He continues to watch over his brother and nephew, still disgruntled by the fact they won't leave his former home.
Production
This section requires expansion with: general production information as per MOS:TV#Background/production. (November 2011)
Sheen's firing and replacement
Following a February 2010 announcement that Sheen was entering drug rehabilitation, filming of the show was put on hiatus, but resumed the following month. On April 1, 2010, People.com reported that after seven seasons, Sheen announced he was considering leaving the show. According to one source, Sheen quit the show after filming the final episode of season 7, purportedly due to his rejection of CBS's offer of $1 million per episode as too low. Sheen eventually stated that he would be back for two more seasons. On May 18, 2010, the New Zealand website stuff.co.nz reported that a press release issued by Sheen's publicist confirmed that Sheen had signed a new contract for a further two years at $1.78 million per episode. "To put a fitting end on the two and one-half months of whirlwind speculation, I'm looking forward to returning to my CBS home on Monday nights," Sheen was quoted as saying.
On January 28, 2011, Sheen entered a rehabilitation center voluntarily for the third time in 12 months. According to Warner Bros. Television and CBS, the show was put on hiatus for an unknown amount of time. The following month, after Sheen's verbal attacks against Chuck Lorre during a radio interview with Alex Jones and an online interview with TMZ.com, CBS announced that Two and a Half Men would cease production for the rest of its eighth season, affecting an estimated 200 employees, and causing Warner Bros., Lorre, Sheen, and other profit participants not to receive about $10 million from the lost eight remaining episodes. Afterwards, Sheen was interviewed on ABC's 20/20, NBC's Today, and CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, continuing to make hostile comments about Lorre, as well as CBS. On March 7, CBS and Warner Bros. Television jointly announced that Sheen had been fired from Two and a Half Men, citing "moral turpitude" as a main cause of separation. No decision about the future of the show was announced at that time.
Cast members Marin Hinkle and Holland Taylor expressed sadness at Sheen's departure and personal problems. Jon Cryer did not publicly comment on the matter and in response, Sheen called him "a turncoat, a traitor, [and] a troll" in an E! Online interview, although he later issued a "half-apology" to Cryer for the remarks. Sheen sued Lorre and Warner Bros. Television for $100 million, claiming that he had filed the lawsuit on behalf of himself and Two and a Half Men's cast and crew; however, only Sheen was named as a plaintiff in court documents.
In April 2011, Sheen mentioned during a radio interview after his tour's stop in Boston that he and CBS were talking about a possible return to the show. Regardless, Lorre announced that same month that he had developed an idea for a Two and a Half Men reboot that would exclude Sheen and have Cryer in a key role alongside a new character. On May 13, CBS announced that Ashton Kutcher would join the cast. Kutcher was quoted as saying, "I can't replace Charlie Sheen but I'm going to work my ass off to entertain the hell out of people!"
On August 2, 2011 it was reported that the season nine premiere would begin with Sheen's character having been killed off and his ex-girlfriends attending his funeral. Afterwards, Charlie's Malibu home would be put up for sale and interested buyers would include celebrities from Lorre's other sitcoms, and John Stamos as well as Kutcher's character, Walden Schmidt, "an Internet billionaire with a broken heart." Critics compared this situation to what happened in 1987 to Valerie Harper, who was also fired from the sitcom, Valerie (later titled Valerie's Family: The Hogans and then The Hogan Family), also had her character killed off-screen, and was also replaced by someone else, Sandy Duncan, the following season.
Rather than grieving over the death of his character, Sheen said he would watch his "fake funeral attended by [his] fake ex-girlfriends, from [his] very, very real movie theater, with [his] very real hotties in tow." Sheen's response to the season 9 premiere was very positive. He reportedly felt Charlie Harper's funeral was "eerie but fun". Sheen also felt that the reveal of Kutcher's character in a cloud of his own character's ashes was particularly enjoyable.
The attention Two and a Half Men received from Kutcher's arrival benefited the show's popularity. Average total viewers during the 2011–2012 season rose 13% to 15 million, and the 5.2 rating in the 18–49 demographic rose by 27%. His debut as the character Walden Schmidt, entitled "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt", was seen by 28.7 million people on September 19, 2011. The Nielsen ratings company reported that figure was more than any episode in the show's first eight seasons, when Sheen starred in it. At the 2012 Emmys Two and a Half Men was nominated for four awards winning 3 of them, the most Emmys the show has won in a single year since the show began. Kutcher replaced Sheen for the highest US paid actor in 2012 after receiving $700,000 per episode.
Cast and characters
Main article: List of Two and a Half Men characters
The main cast of Two and a Half Men (season 2), from left to right: Melanie Lynskey as Rose, Conchata Ferrell as Berta, Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper, Holland Taylor as Evelyn Harper, Angus T. Jones as Jake Harper, Jon Cryer as Alan Harper, and Marin Hinkle as Judith Melnick
Main
Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper (starring; seasons 1–8), a hedonistic bachelor, alcoholic, jingle/children's songwriter, Alan's brother and Jake's uncle. Despite his selfish and mean demeanor, he does possess a kind heart though he very rarely shows it. He is written out of the series at the beginning of season 9, after being struck and killed offscreen by a moving train, due to Charlie Sheen being fired from the show. Near the end of the season 9, the character appears in a single episode portrayed by Kathy Bates as a ghost forced to spend eternity in Hell as a woman with a pair of testicles.
Jon Cryer as Dr. Alan Harper, Charlie's chiropractor brother, Jake's divorced father, and Walden's best friend, who is conscientious but continually stricken with bad judgement.
Angus T. Jones as Jake Harper, the underachieving and lazy son of Alan and Judith. He joins the Army at the end of the 9th season, though he is uncertain if he made the right decision.
Conchata Ferrell (recurring season 1; starring seasons 2-present) as Berta, Charlie and Alan's (later Walden's) sharp-tongued housekeeper.
Holland Taylor as Evelyn Harper, Charlie and Alan's conceited mother and Jake's grandmother. A high powered Los Angeles broker/realtor.
Marin Hinkle (starring seasons 1-8; recurring seasons 9-present) as Judith Harper-Melnick, Alan's vindictive, self-absorbed ex-wife and Jake and Millie's mother.
Jennifer Bini Taylor (recurring season 6; starring season 7; season 9 guest) as Chelsea,[note 1] Charlie's girlfriend for most of season six, who has moved into his house by the end of the season. She then becomes Charlie's fiancée in season seven. (While credited on-screen among the main cast during the seventh season, CBS press releases billed her as a recurring character.)
April Bowlby (recurring season 3; starring season 4) as Kandi,[note 2] Charlie's girlfriend, then girlfriend and wife of Alan, then Alan's second ex-wife, Judith's best friend (for one episode).
Melanie Lynskey (starring seasons 1-2; recurring seasons 3-5, 8-present, guest appearances; 6-7) as Rose, the Harpers' strange neighbor and Charlie's stalker and friend. Initially, Charlie despised Rose and wanted nothing to do with her but eventually they became friends and he later fell in love with her. In the ninth season premiere, Rose claimed that Charlie "slipped" in front of a Paris Métro train after she had caught him cheating on her. She was later seen taking Bridget Schmidt under her wing as an apprentice stalker. She'll make two appearances in season 10.
Ashton Kutcher as Walden Schmidt (starring; season 9–present), Alan's best friend and housemate. A hopeless romantic, kind, and naive internet tycoon, who purchases the Harper beach house after Charlie's death. He also has formed close relationships with Jake, Evelyn, Judith, Herb, and Berta who initially had a crush on him.
Recurring
Ryan Stiles (seasons 2, 4–present) as pediatrician Dr. Herbert "Herb" Melnick, Judith's goofy, train-hobbyist second husband, father to Judith's daughter, and Jake's stepfather. (In season 2, the character was named "Greg Melnick.")
Emmanuelle Vaugier (seasons 3, 5, 6, 7, 9) as Mia, ballet teacher, Charlie's ex-fiance.
Jane Lynch (seasons 1, 3–9) as Dr. Linda Freeman, initially Jake's and then Charlie's and Alan's adept, and later Walden's incisive, sarcastic, but money-hungry psychiatrist.
J. D. Walsh as Gordon (seasons 1-4; 6-8), a pizza delivery guy who frequently delivered to Charlie, whom he somewhat idolized. At one time, he is Rose's boyfriend, or more correctly her substitute for Charlie.
Kelly Stables (seasons 6–8) as Melissa, Alan's receptionist who briefly dated Charlie before starting an intermittent relationship with Alan.
Courtney Thorne-Smith (season 7–present) as Lyndsey MacElroy, Alan's on-again/off-again girlfriend and the mother of Jake's best friend, Eldridge.
Graham Patrick Martin (season 7–present) as Eldridge MacElroy, Jake's best friend whose mother Lyndsey is dating Alan.
Judy Greer (season 9–present) as Bridget Schmidt, Walden's ex-wife who is now dating his friend and business partner, Billy.[37] Greer previously appeared in season 4 as Myra, Herb's sister.
Macey Cruthird (seasons 8–9) as Megan, Jake's chemistry tutor and recurring girlfriend; she first appeared in the season 8 episode "Springtime on a Stick".
Sophie Winkleman (season 9–present) as Zoey, a British woman with whom Walden falls in love, and dates throughout most of season 9.
Talyan Wright (season 9-present) as Ava Pierce, Zoey's young daughter from her marriage to Nigel. Well mannered and intelligent, Ava adores Walden, and is 108th in line to the throne.
Mimi Rogers (season 9–present) as Robin Schmidt, Walden's mother, a primatologist who raised Walden with a baby gorilla as his "brother" for the first four years of his life and is a director of Walden's company along with Walden, Bridget and Alan.
Guest stars
Guest stars have included:
Jason Alexander as Dr. Goodman, Alan's doctor (season 9, episode 23)
John Amos as Ed, boyfriend of Chelsea's father Tom (season 7)
Diora Baird as Wanda, a girl who chases after Charlie when he is engaged to Chelsea (season 6, episode 16)
Orson Bean as Norman, an old man who is married to a woman with whom Charlie had sex (season 2)
Nadia Bjorlin as Jill, A young woman who sleeps with Russell, and Evelyn's one-time lover (season 8)
Susan Blakely as Angie, an author Charlie met at a bookstore (season 5, episodes 18 and 19)
Michael Bolton as himself, a friend of Walden's (season 10, episode 1)
Paget Brewster as Jamie Eckleberry, Charlie and Alan's high school classmate (season 2, episode 12)
Gary Busey as himself, Alan's roommate in a sanitarium (season 9)
Julia Campbell as Francine, Jake's teacher (season 3)
Jessica Collins as Gloria, one of Charlie's one night stands, who may be his and Alan's sister (season 4, episode 11)
Elvis Costello as himself, Charlie's poker and cigar buddy (season 2, episode 1)
Miley Cyrus as Missi, an old family friend of Walden's, who becomes Jake's new girlfriend (season 10)
Josie Davis as Sandy, a girlfriend of Alan's (season 3)
Michael Clarke Duncan as Jerome Burnette, Charlie and Alan's neighbor, and the father of Celeste Burnette (season 6)
Steven Eckholdt as Brad, Alan's lawyer, and Chelsea's replacement for Charlie (season 7)
Jenna Elfman as Frankie (season 1, episode 15 and 16) and as Dharma (season 9, episode 1)
Georgia Engel as Jean, Lyndsey's mother (season 9, episodes 19, 20)
Sara Erikson as Jennifer, Jake's one-time, older girlfriend (season 9, episode 17)
Emilio Estevez as Andy, Charlie's long-time friend who dies before him (season 6, episode 11) [real-life brother of Charlie Sheen.]
Morgan Fairchild as Donna (Charlie's ego) (season 4, episode 16)
Meagen Fay as Martha Melini, Chelsea's mother (seasons 6 and 7)
Frances Fisher as Priscilla Honeycutt, Alan's patient (season 7, episode 19)
Megan Fox as Prudence, Berta's granddaughter (season 1, episode 12)
Thomas Gibson as Greg (season 9, episode 1)
Judy Greer as Myra Melnick, Herb Melnick's sister, Jake's step-aunt, and Charlie's one-night fling (season 4)
Teri Hatcher as Liz, Judith's sister (season 1, episode 19)
Erinn Hayes as Gretchen, a one night stand of Alan's (season 8, episode 5)
Tricia Helfer as Gail, Chelsea's friend (season 7 and 9)
Amy Hill as Mrs. Wiggins, Alan's receptionist after Melissa leaves him (season 7)
Enrique Iglesias as Fernando, Charlie's carpenter/handyman (season 4, episode 23)
Kris Iyer as Dr. Prajneep (season 1, episode 17; season 4, episode 16; season 5, episode 1)[39]
Allison Janney as Alan's online dating partner (season 4)
James Earl Jones as himself (season 6, episode 11)
Tinashe Kachingwe as Celeste Burnette, Jake's ex-girlfriend (seasons 6 and 7)
Carol Kane as Shelly, Melissa's mother (season 6)
Stacy Keach as Tom Melini, Chelsea's father (season 7)
Richard Kind as Artie, Charlie's manager (season 5, episode 8)
Eric Allan Kramer as Bill (season 1)
Katherine LaNasa as Lydia, Charlie's Oedipal girlfriend and Evelyn's doppelgänger (season 4, episodes 6 and 10)
Cloris Leachman as Norma, Charlie and Alan's neighbor, Alan's "sugar momma", and Charlie's former "sugar momma" (season 3)
Richard Lewis as Stan, Charlie's accountant (season 1, episode 14)
Heather Locklear as Laura Lang, Esq., Alan's divorce attorney (season 1, episode 21)
Jon Lovitz as Archie Baldwin, Charlie's arch nemesis to win the advertising award (season 3, episode 17)
Camryn Manheim as Daisy, Berta's sister (season 2)
Jenny McCarthy as Courtney Leopold/Sylvia Fishman, daughter of
Nathan Krunk (alias "Teddy Leopold")(Season 5, episode 9,16,17 and season 9, episode 4)
Katy Mixon as Betsy, a married woman whom Charlie purports to marry after his break-up with Chelsea (season 7, episodes 7 and 16)
Christina Moore as Cynthia Sullivan, Judith's best friend (season 5)
Brit Morgan as a girl Walden picks up at a bar (season 10 episode 1)
Martin Mull as Russell, Charlie's drug-addicted, unethical pharmacist (seasons 6, 7, 8, and 9)
Ming-Na as the Hon. Linda Harris, Superior Court judge, adjunct law professor, and Charlie's girlfriend (season 5, episodes 3, 4, 5, and 6)
Judd Nelson (season 8) as Chris McElroy, ex-husband of Alan's love interest, Lyndsey, and Eldridge's father.
Chris O'Donnell as Jill/Bill, Charlie's ex-girlfriend who since became a man (season 1, episode 18)
Gail O'Grady as Mandi, mother of Kandi, ex-wife of Andy, and brief love interest of Charlie (season 3)
Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as Isabella (season 3, episode 6)
Patton Oswalt as Billy Stanhope, Walden's former business partner
Sean Penn as himself, Charlie's poker and cigar buddy (season 2, episode 1)
Jack Plotnick as Mike (season 5)
Annie Potts as Lenore, mother of Judith & Liz (season 7)
Missi Pyle as Delores Pasternak, Jake's teacher (season 2, 7, and 9)
Carl Reiner as Marty Pepper (season 7)
Denise Richards as Lisa, Charlie's former girlfriend (season 1, episode 10, and season 2, episode 9) [ex-wife of Charlie Sheen]
Emily Rose as Janine (season 6, episode 12)
Sara Rue as Naomi, Berta's daughter (season 4)
Jeri Ryan as Sherri, Charlie's girlfriend (season 2, episodes 5 and 19, season 9, episode 1)
Martin Sheen as Harvey, father of Rose, and Evelyn's fling (season 3) [real-life father of Charlie Sheen]
Brooke Shields as Danielle, Charlie and Alan's neighbor (season 4)
Rena Sofer as Chrissy, the "mother" of Charlie's "son" (season 6, episode 1)
Kevin Sorbo as Andy, father of Kandi, ex-husband of Mandi, and brief love interest of Judith (season 3)
John Stamos as himself (season 9, episode 1)
Harry Dean Stanton as himself, Charlie's poker and cigar buddy (season 2, episode 1)
Tony Tripoli as Phillip, Evelyn's hairdresser (season 4)
Steven Tyler as himself, Charlie and Alan's neighbor and Berta's one-time employer (season 1, episode 4, and season 4, episode 2)
Eddie Van Halen as himself (season 7, episode 1)
Emmanuelle Vaugier as Mia, Charlie's ex-fiancée (seasons 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9)
Robert Wagner as Nathan Krunk (alias "Teddy Leopold"), Evelyn's fifth husband (later revealed to be a con artist), who died late in season 5 (seasons 4 and 5)
Wayne Wilderson as Roger, Evelyn's co-worker (season 4)
Alicia Witt (season 6) as Delores Pasternak, Jake's teacher who became a stripper
ZZ Top as themselves
As part of a crossover from the writers and executive producer of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, George Eads made a brief cameo appearance on the May 5, 2008 episode.
Charlie Sheen's real-life brother Emilio Estevez has guest-starred as an old friend of Charlie's; his father Martin Sheen has appeared as Rose's father. Sam Sheen, the real-life daughter of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen, has appeared as Lisa's daughter on November 22, 2004.
(Updated December 19, 2012 Wednesday)
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Born: Adam Richard Sandler, September 9, 1966 (1966-09-09) (age 41), Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. Occupation: comedian, actor, musician, screenwriter, film producer
Years active: 1987—present
Spouse(s) Jackie Sandler
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler was born on September 9, 1966. He is an American comedian who was nominated for a Golden Globe. He is also a musician, screenwriter, and film producer. He probably wears army boots too. He gained his popularity on Saturday Night Live and then later he got into movies where he was in movies that grossed US$100 million at the box office.
Adam Sandler
Biography
Early life
Adam Sandler was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Judy, a nursery school teacher, and Stanley Sandler, an electrical engineer. He had a Jewish upbringing. His family moved to Manchester, New Hampshire when he was five. There, he attended Manchester Central High School. He found he was a natural comic, and nurtured his talent while at New York University by performing regularly in clubs and on campuses. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1991, and was also a member of the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity. Later in his career, he would often draw on his earliest memories in his comedy and movies. The song "Lunchlady Land" is dedicated to Silvia, the lunchlady at Hayden Dining Hall at New York University. In the movie Click, Sandler goes to Lake Winnipesaukee, the largest lake in New Hampshire where he went to summer camp.
Click here for a great Adam Sandler video clip.
Adam Sandler
Acting career
From 1987 to 1988 Adam Sandler played Theo Huxtable's friend, Smitty on The Cosby Show. He performed for some time on the MTV game show Remote Control. Sandler started doing standup at the age of 17. He was discovered by Dennis Miller in Los Angeles. Miller sent him to Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels. Sandler was hired as an SNL writer in 1990 and a year later he joined the stage actors. In 1995 he left the show to focus on acting. In 1989 he starred in the movie Going Overboard. In 1995 he starred in Billy Madison. His other movies are as follows:
Bulletproof (1996)
Happy Gilmore (1996)
The Wedding Singer (1998)
The Waterboy (1998)
Adam Sandler Acting Career continued
His earlier movies didn't get much positive praise but Punch-Drunk Love (2002) was the beginning of better reviews for him. The critics began to believe that Sandler had more acting ability then they previously thought. Other successes for Sandler are:
Spanglish (2004)
Reign Over Me (1999)
Big Daddy (1999)
During the filming of Big Daddy he met Jacqueline Samantha Titone, his future wife and mother of his daughter.
Sandler along with Jim Carrey and Johnny Depp were finalists for the role of Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). Depp got the role. In 2007 Sandler starred in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry with Kevin James (King of Queens, Blart Mall Cop, and more recently Zookeeper). In 2008 he played Zohan in You Don't Mess with the Zohan. The film was written by Sandler, The 40-Year-Old Virgin writer-director Judd Apatow (who was an old roommate of Sandler's when both were starting out), and Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog creator Robert Smigel and was directed by Happy Gilmore director Dennis Dugan.
Adam Sandler
Acting career continued
In 2008 Sandler starred in Bedtime Stories. It was Sandler's first Disney movie.
Adam Sandler Acting Career continued
His next film was Funny People which began filming in mid-September of 2008.
Adam Sandler
Cameos and other work
Bob Barker appeared in the movie Happy Gilmore. Sandler and Barker fight on a golf course and Barker wins. Sandler appeared on Bob Barker's tribute show on May 17, 2007, in which he read a poem to Bob and congratulated him on his retirement from The Price is Right. Sandler was given an associate producer credit for that appearance. On March 20, 2007, Sandler was scheduled to be a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman. However, due to a minor illness, Letterman could not host the show and Sandler filled in as host.
Adam Sandler
Personal life
On June 22, 2003, Adam Sandler married actress Jacqueline Samantha Titone, and they are the parents of Sadie Madison Sandler, born May 6, 2006, at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. Sandler lives with his family in Los Angeles, though he also has a home in New York. In October 2007, he made a million-dollar donation to the Boys and Girls Club in his hometown, Manchester, NH.
Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com
December 6, 2012 Thursday
According to Jim
According To Jim
Category: Sitcom
Created By: Tracy Newman and Jonathan Stark
Stars: Jim Belushi Brother of John Belushi), Courtney Thorne- Smith, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Larry Joe Campbell, Taylor Atelian, Billi Bruno, Conner Rayburn
Number of Seasons: 7
Number of Episodes: 157
Original Channel: ABC
Original Run: October 3, 2001 to present
This show is an American situation comedy television series, which premiered on October 3, 2001 on ABC. According To Jim first aired following the surprise hit comedy My Wife and Kids and quickly developed an audience of its own. For its second season ABC placed it on its revitalized Tuesday line-up, which also included John Ritter's 8 Simple Rules, Bonnie Hunt's Life with Bonnie and Less Than Perfect. Week by week, According To Jim attracted more and more viewers, becoming ABC's second most watched sitcom. According To Jim performed so well that the network made a risky move: putting Jim opposite the NBC juggernaut Frasier.
According to Jim did well enough to keep the spot on the 2003 fall schedule. An announcement that the show was not renewed for another season was made on May 15, 2007. On June 27, 2007 ABC renewed According To Jim for a seventh season with 18 episodes. According To Jim returned to ABC's schedule on Tuesday January 1, 2008 with two episodes at 9pm and 9:30pm. After that According To Jim moved to its regular timeslot at 9pm.
Synopsis
Jim is an abrasive but lovable suburban father. He's married to a gorgeous woman, Cheryl, and raises his three kids – Ruby, Gracie and Kyle – in a big house. Everything is perfect for Jim, if it wasn't for the messy situations he gets himself into and his laziness, which often makes him search for alternative ways of doing things with less effort. Of course, having his wife's siblings hanging out at his house all the time is no help. While Andy might be one of his best friends, Dana often teams up with Cheryl against Jim. Jim does what he wants to and doesn't think about all the consequences. He does what most of us might want to do but we know that would be nuts. He learns this on every show. The show makes me feel good about myself and my family. We may be screwed-up but not that bad. Sitcoms are like therapy. We might be thinking something but the show actually makes the thing happen on screen. We just enjoy the good part without being punished. The characters on the screen are our puppets.
Jim is a break all the rules kind of father. He cares but he wants to fix things his way. He’s married to Cheryl, a woman way above his level. They have three kids, Ruby, Gracie, and Kyle. Jim is a contractor and his brother-in-law, Andy, is his architect/assistant/sidekick/whipping boy. Basically Andy does everything Jim doesn’t want to do. Jim always tries to fix his way, any way that requires little or no effort on his part. His sister-in-law, Dana, and brother-in-law, Andy, are always hanging out at Jim and Cheryl’s house, annoying Jim. Andy is one of Jim’s best friends but Dana often teams up with Cheryl to foil Jim’s schemes. Jim leaps before he looks and usually suffers for it. He does things that people would only think about doing.
The shows that survive do what we expect. The shows that don't survive just don't fit with what is on the mind of the viewers. Of course the suits can get rid of a show for no reason, especially if they have enough money.
According to Jim Video Clips
Cast
Jim Belushi - James "Jim": He’s someone you’d love to have as a brother. He’s just as hilarious as his brother John was. You might remember John from SNL and the movie Animal House. Jim was in Red Heat with Arnold “I’ll be back” Swartzennegar. He’s done many projects.
Courtney Thorne-Smith – Cheryl: She’s gorgeous and smart and occasionally has fun. She was on Melrose Place. I never watched the show but I’m guessing she played one of the girls who did a lot of fooling around. If Jim is Abbott then Cheryl is Costello. For the younger readers see YouTube. Abbott and Costello were comedy geniuses. Abbott was the straight man and Costello was the bumbling sidekick. The difference with Jim and Cheryl is that they are in a family whereas Abbott and Costello were a couple of bachelors.
Kimberly Williams-Paisley - Dana Gibson: She’s a one-night stand waiting to happen. She does get married later. You might remember her in Father of the Bride Steve Martin as her dad. In that movie she is a sweet, innocent (kind of), goody goody. Well on According to Jim she has hit on every kind of guy. You might even call her a tramp, until of course she gets married.
Larry Joe Campbell - Andrew "Andy" : He’s generally a nice, caring, loyal person who avoids trouble. He does end up enjoying himself when Jim gets him in trouble. I’ve seen him on another show but generally I don’t know too much about him. He is perfect for the part. He is lonely and rarely gets a woman. Even when he does get a woman it’s a bit of a barter. The girl makes the rules and if he wants any action he has to do whatever she says. I remember on one episode Dana and Andy discuss evidence of their lonely lives. Dana is given books on how to find a man and how to raise children while Andy is given mail order bride books. The person providing these “helpful” items is their mother. Dana says she only has the books because her mother gave them to her. Andy comes back with the fact that he uses the mail order bride books in a way different from what his mother intended. He then asks the people in the room if they get what he means. They are disgusted but acknowledge that they do know what he means.
Taylor Atelian - Ruby
Billi Bruno - Gracie
Conner Rayburn - Kyle (Seasons 4+)
Mitch Rouse - Ryan Gibson (Dana's husband)
December 6, 2012 Thursday
8 Simple Rules
8 Simple Rules
Category: Sitcom
Created By: Tracy Gamble
Stars: John Ritter (2002-2003), Katey Sagal, Kaley Cuoco, Amy Davidson, Martin Spanjers, James Garner (2003-2005), David Spade (2004-2005)
Number of Seasons: 3
Number of Episodes: 76
Original Channel: ABC
Original Run: September 17, 2002 to April 15, 2005
The show (originally known as 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter) is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC from September 17, 2002 to April 15, 2005. Loosely based on humor columnist W. Bruce Cameron's book of the same name, the show is most well known as the series John Ritter was starring in when he died.
Premise
8 Simple Rules is about a married couple with three children, set in a Detroit, Michigan suburb. The father, Paul Hennessy (John Ritter, Three's Company), is a sportswriter who is prompted by his wife Cate's (Katey Sagal, Married... with Children, Futurama) return to nursing to take a more active role in raising their two teenage daughters, Bridget (Kaley Cuoco)--(You're probably watching Big Bang Theory because of her and then liking the show because it's great), and Kerry (Amy Davidson), and their son Rory (Martin Spanjers).
He is soon overwhelmed by the responsibility of being the father of teenage daughters and misses being a sports writer. Paul begins writing a column from home about his struggles with his children and offers advice to people who are in his same position. His teenage daughters are dating, which sparks the use of the "8 rules". The show, created by veteran comedy writer Tracy Gamble, derives its name and some of its elements from W. Bruce Cameron's book 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter (ISBN 0-7611-2314-8).
8 Simple Rules The rules are:
Use your hands on my daughter and you'll lose them after.
You make her cry, I make you cry.
Safe sex is a myth. Anything you try will be hazardous to your health.
Bring her home late, there's no next date.
Only delivery men honk. Dates ring the doorbell. Once.
No complaining while you're waiting for her. If you're bored, change my oil.
If your pants hang off your hips, I'll gladly secure them with my staple gun.
Dates must be in crowded public places. You want romance? Read a book.
8 Simple Rules Characters
John Ritter: He is the husband of Cate and father of three kids, two girls and a boy. Three's company and I'm sure some movies. My family didn't watch it earlier because it was considered a bit risque back when it originally aired. We watch most of the episodes as a family more recently. I watch every episode I could and I'd like to watch all the episodes again many times. John Ritter played the part of Paul Hennessy, a former sports writer, who worked from home as a Lifestyle columnist. Paul used a double standard when dealing with people. He often embarrassed his children. John Ritter died suddenly in 2003 from an aortic dissection during rehearsal. His character Paul collapsed and died at the store while getting batteries.
Katy Sagal: She is Cate S. Egan-Hennessy, the wife of Paul Hennessy and mother of the two girls and one boy. We all remember her as Al's wife on Married with children. She was always horny and Al was too, but not as much for her. They did love each other though. On Eight Rules Katy Sagal is a wholesome mother of three and a nurse. On Married With Children she was a lazy stay at home mom who couldn't care less about anything responsible. On Eight Rules she is the example of responsibility. On Futurama she does the voice of Leela. In that role she is basically the responsible person who tries to keep the other characters out of trouble. She takes a nursing job at the kids' school so she can keep a similar schedule to the kids' schedule. When she starts dating the school Principal her kids don't take it well. They later accept it.
Kaley Cuoco: She plays the slutty daughter, Bridget. Bridget is the oldest child of Cate and Paul's three. She depicts a stereotypical blonde, popular, bombshell who is interested in her looks, teenage boys and little else. She has morals but mostly she does whatever it takes to keep her popularity intact. She is now the reason I started watching The Big Bang Theory. I have gotten to know the characters. I think the show is great but I hope it gets better. Kaley plays her role well. The role is similar to her role on Eight Rules. She is the popular girl that gets away with a lot. On Big Bang she isn't just relying on her looks. She works as a waitress. Bridget on Eight Rules wouldn't work---well she does work as a lifeguard later in the series. She likes the job because she can show off her body and look at cute guys. Oh and did I mention --- she sits for most of the shift. Bridget sees Kerry as a nerd. She is sarcastic, and constantly makes snide remarks about essentially everybody, though less to her mother. She is also very artistic and keeps a sketchbook. She is the smart child, but often shows naiveté.
Amy Davidson: She is Kerry, the youngest of two daughters. (At least her character is.) She's best known for her role in 8 Simple Rules. She has done all kinds of other work which you could look up. She is older than Kaley Cuoco but plays the younger sister. This is similar to the oldest character on The Golden Girls. Estelle Getty was younger than both Bea Arthur and Betty White. She had to go through three hours of make up to look as old as she did on that show.
Martin Spanjers: He is the son of Paul and Cate. He is an instigator but his conscience always gets the best of him. He is Rory. He almost got the starring role of Malcolm in Malcolm in the Middle. He did do a guest spot. Not getting the part of Malcolm freed him up for the role of Rory on 8 Simple Rules. Rory lets his sisters get in trouble then he rats them out. He gets into money making schemes with C. J. Rory is his father's favorite because he is "the boy".
James Garner: He is Grandpa Jim Egan, Cate's father on 8 Simple Rules. He joined 8 Simple Rules when John Ritter died in 2003. It was supposed to be a one time thing but he ended up staying until the series ended in 2005. The older and smarter people reading this will remember James Garner from Rockford Files and many movies. So you can claim to be older or smarter or both. If your smarter you will claim to be both older and smarter. Is that you Granny?...... Sorry I just had a mental fart. Can you smell it? Smells like burnt toast. Okay enough smelling salts. He is like a guardian for the family. He lives in Cate's basement. He once sent C. J. to Canada for acetylsalicylic acid for him. C. J. discovered that this is just Aspirin. He is proud of C. J. when he becomes a teacher.
David Spade: He played the part of C. J. Barnes on 8 Simples Rules. You might recognize him from SNL and Just Shoot Me. He is currently starring as Russell Dunbar on the CBS sitcom Rules of Engagement. He was the star of the film Joe Dirt and is working on an animated version of that movie. In all his sitcom and movie parts he plays a weasel like. He was once in the Army. He doesn't have much success with women. He shares the basement with his Grandfather. He started living in the basement after his Grandfather accidentally burned his van to a crisp.
The third season took a creative turn, revolving more around Jim and C.J. than the Hennessy family, more specifically not revolving around the raising of the Hennessy girls. However this was little more than a phase in a way, and newly added characters joined the show as an ensemble, and shortly after their novelty wore off, the show found its roots once more.
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Three's Company Spoof
In one episode a remake of some of the antics from Three's Company are used. Three's Company is the show where John Ritter became famous. Paul plays the part of Stanley Roper in the dream sequence. Don Knotts appears in a guest spot at the end of the episode. Knotts would be the last Three's Company co-star to work with Ritter before his death.
8 Simple Rules Production
John Ritter's Death
John Ritter died soon after an interview on the set of the Museum of Television & Radio. That was September 11, 2003. He suffered an aortic dissection. That means he bleed to death when the top part of his heart ripped open. He had some discomfort during a rehearsal that afternoon and crew members took Ritter to a nearby hospital. He died that night. The show went on hiatus and then continued. The death of Ritter's character was worked into the show. The three new episodes that Ritter completed were aired with Katey Sagal introducing them.
On November 4, 2003 8 Simple Rules returned with a one hour episode named "Goodbye." It was dedicated to Ritter's death. Later episodes explored the family's reaction to his death. The first four episodes after Ritter's death were shot without a live audience. Suzanne Pleshette and James Garner guest starred as Cate's parents. David Spade joined the cast later as Cate's unpredictable nephew C. J. Eventually Garner and Spade became regulars on the show until it's end.
8 Simple Rules Season 3 and Subsequent Cancellation
Rumors about the show ending were getting around after the third season finale. In the first season the show ranked 42nd in the Nielsen Ratings. More viewers tuned in after Ritter's death. At the end of the second season the show slipped to 50th. After the show moved to Friday night 8pm the show ranked 94th.
Some people could not get passed Ritter's death and were okay with the show ending. Other people were happy with the show continuing, almost in Ritter's honor. 8 Simple Rules was one of few shows that continued for nearly two full seasons beyond the death of its star. The Friday time slot did bring the show down. Katey Sagal's character is found to be dating the principal of the school she is a nurse at during the third season finale.
8 Simple Rules was officially cancelled on May 17, 2005.
8 Simple Rules Other Characters
Billy Aaron Brown played Kyle, Bridget’s dumb boyfriend. He later dated Kerry. He hangs out with Rory when not with either of the girls.
Adam Arkin played Ed Gibb, principal of the high school. He and Cate were high school friends and even dated. Their versions of their relationship differ.
Dan Cotese plays Coach Scott. Bridget had a crush on him. He like Cate. Cate liked him until she found out that Bridget had a crush on him.
Nikki Danielle Moore plays Jenna Sharpe. She is Paul’s boss’ daughter. She is one of Bridget’s enemies.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas (from Home Improvement with Tim Allen) plays Jeremy. He is Bridget’s tutor and later boyfriend. He was known to be a nerd as school and at first this discouraged Bridget from dating him.
Cybill Sheppard (from Moonlighting, with Bruce Willis) plays Maggie Egan Barnes. She is Cate’s sister and also C. J.’s mother. Maggie is like Kerry in personality.
8 Simple Rules Syndication
In it’s third season 8 Simple Rules had better rating than other Friday shows but ABC cancelled the show because it couldn’t sell it to syndication. John Ritter’s death prevented 8 Simple Rules could not show two show per day including episodes from varying seasons. It was thought that this would confuse and/or upset viewers. This does happen on Danish Channel TV3, the airing not the confusion. Now I’m confused. Did you know that she knew that you knew that she knew you knew? Yeah okay not that confusing.
On July 11, 2005 the 8 Simple Rules was officially cancelled. The WB television network said it would air all the 76 episodes back to back. On or about September 15, 2006 8 Simple Rules was replaced by Reba on the CW Daytimes, the show not the singer. Well she is a singer and she is the star of the show called Reba. A very good show. It is one of my favorites. On June 12, 2007 8 Simple Rules was back on the ABC Family line-up where they did air episodes with and without John Ritter back to back.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
That's So Weird
That's So Weird
Jerry Trainor was on the show doing a small skit. I forgot the girls name.
The girl asked him a few questions including what kind of socks he was wearing. He was being Jerry-like with her.
Trainor was avoiding the questions or just giving funny answers.
The main story of that episode was that the gang had to win a singing contest to save the company.
They did get the money but indirectly.
I have to check how long the show has been on the air.
Check it out on YTV.
That's So Weird -- the show I mean
Jerry Trainor was on the show doing a small skit. I forgot the girls name.
The girl asked him a few questions including what kind of socks he was wearing. He was being Jerry-like with her.
Trainor was avoiding the questions or just giving funny answers.
The main story of that episode was that the gang had to win a singing contest to save the company.
They did get the money but indirectly.
I have to check how long the show has been on the air.
Check it out on YTV.
That's So Weird -- the show I mean
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Canada's worst driver
Wow. I'm stressed out just watching these bad drivers.
Some of them actually thing they're good drivers.
Hah. I like this show and I am also learning as I watch.
Over half the drivers and nominators are dressing like they're looking to hook up. I was embarrassed to look at the screen as the old lady with tons of cleavage showed up. I'm not into that kind.
There was an Indian guy who thought he was cool. I'm embarrassed.
In case you didn't know it I'm East Indian.
Enjoy the show. Click on a video.
Truck!!!!!!!!!!!
Some of them actually thing they're good drivers.
Hah. I like this show and I am also learning as I watch.
Over half the drivers and nominators are dressing like they're looking to hook up. I was embarrassed to look at the screen as the old lady with tons of cleavage showed up. I'm not into that kind.
There was an Indian guy who thought he was cool. I'm embarrassed.
In case you didn't know it I'm East Indian.
Enjoy the show. Click on a video.
Truck!!!!!!!!!!!
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