Two and a Half Men is a show that in some ways is surprising to see on television. It is a show that features two brothers, Charlie (played by Charlie Sheen) and Allen (played by Jon Cryer). They are as different as you can imagine brothers being and it is a mix that makes it a great show.

The basic premise of the show has Allen, a mild-mannered chiropractor, who had a nasty divorce the year before and is paying a crippling amount of alimony to his ex-wife. Charlie is his successful, jingle-writing Lothario of a brother who agrees to take Allen and his son Jake (who at 11 is still an innocent and a great contrast to both characters) into his home since Allen cannot afford a house with all his money being paid out to his ex-wife.

Over the course of 24 episodes we follow the misadventures of a broken, naive man (Allen), the sex-obsessed, alcoholic (Charlie), and the young boy whose only goal is to be a couch potato (Jake). The show is crass, irreverent, pulls no punches, and is absolutely hilarious.

The Season

The second season of the show has the brothers and Jake starting to get a feel for each other and develop a rapport that feels natural to us. Filling out the cast we have the opinionated housekeeper Berta, Charlie and Allen's mother Evelyn, the creepily cute semi-stalker Rose, and Allen's ex-wife Judith. All of the supporting characters have great moments, whether it is Rose helping out with some form of psychology, Berta giving her straightforward opinion that cuts through all the bull, or Evelyn showing her somewhat tyrannical side as she chides her adult children.

This is an extended cast that producers and writers dream about — they are as perfect in their parts as the main cast are and add immensely to the show. All the actors work well together and the natural chemistry between them really shows in their performances.

But the show at its heart is all about the two and a half men who live together and throughout this season we see many memorable moments from all of them. There is Allen having a passionate fling that he thinks is love and then realizing it was just an affair with a married woman; Charlie having a website built about him that tips off all women ("most women Google the men they date" is a great quote from the episode) to his one-night stand ways; Jake being too much for Allen when an IRS audit is imminent and Charlie taking him over for a few days. The times Jake and Charlie are together are always gold.