Two & A Half Men: The Complete Third Season (Warner Home Video DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: D Episode: C-
About
five minutes into watching the first disc of this four-disc collection of
twenty-four episodes, a woman that I work with, who happens to be well into her
seventies, walked up behind me and said, “Oh I love this show. Those two (referring to Charlie Sheen and Jon
Cryer) have great chemistry together.”
They don't.
Now I
have recently been informed that there is a large bulk of television viewers
that like sitcoms for sitcoms and will watch a show for no other reason than
the fact that it is a sitcom. My only
problem with that is, at the risk of making a sweeping generalization, with
very few exceptions, a sitcom is a sitcom, and will more than likely be just
like every other sitcom that's out there right now. And Two
and a Half Men is by no means one of those very few exceptions. Each of the three main characters has a joke
about him that gets repeated over and over again in various forms. Charlie Sheen's character is irresponsible,
Jon Cryer’s character is bad with women, and the kid, played by Angus T. Jones
is dumb but knows about sex from his uncle.
Occasionally this formula will coax a laugh, but you could get that on YouTube
for free.
The box
is one of the nicer ones I’ve seen for a season release. It is designed to invoke one of those odd
button-down shirts that Charlie Sheen wears in the series that look like
they’re trying to bring back the fifties, and it includes a pamphlet with an
episode guide, screenshots, and quotes from various people extolling the
virtues of Two and a Half Men.
The
picture on the discs is presented in anamorphic 1.78 X 1 widescreen, and is of
good quality. About what one would
expect from a network show that spends over a million dollars on each
episode. The audio is Dolby Digital
Stereo 2.0 and is adequate at best.
Although the laugh track is louder than it needs to be, perhaps they’re
just compensating.
Ultimately
though, it all goes back to that first example I gave. If you like the show, or if you like sitcoms
in general, then you will like this season.
It delivers everything a sitcom usually does, no more, no less. If that is the case, and you decide that you
need to have access to sitcoms twenty-four hours a day rather than just the
twelve offered by TBS, then I say go for it.
But if you’re not usually a fan of sitcoms, but that old lady that you
work with was telling you how funny this show is, and you were thinking, “Well
maybe I’ll give it a shot.” Save
yourself the forty-some dollars this would set you back new and don’t bother.
- Matthew Carrick
