Cancel your series recordings for Two and a Half Men. After eight seasons the highly successful show has finally lost its comedic touch. This, of course, is due to the firing of Charlie Sheen and the hiring of Ashton Kutcher. In the ninth season premiere, series creator Chuck Lorre wrote Sheen’s character Charlie Harper out of the show a very graphic way. The first scene of this season was Charlie’s funeral in which Charlie’s most current girlfriend explained he exploded “like a bag of meat.”  This disturbing way to kill Sheen’s character was unrealistic and disappointing.

    After Charlie’s funeral, Kutcher’s character Walden Schmidt shows up on the back porch. After one scene of terrible banter and a forced laugh track it is clear Kutcher is playing a clueless man that Lorre used to replace Sheen. The worst part of the revamped show is the new writing style. With Kutcher, the show’s jokes have become stupid comedy and his foolishness dominates the episodes in comparison to Sheen’s witty dialect that made Two and a Half Men a funny show.

    Focusing on Kutcher’s character Walden Schmidt, he is a terrible addition to the show and his arching storyline in his first season is unrealistic. Walden was the creator of a website that Microsoft bought out and gave him millions of dollars. However the first few episodes it is shown that Walden cares not about his money, but about his new ex-wife, Bridget. Walden tries to kill himself in the ocean but justifies his failed attempt by saying, “I didn’t have a wetsuit.” For three more episodes Alan helps Walden cope with his divorce and eventually confront his wife. Suddenly, Bridget completely disappeared from the show and has failed to be mentioned again. Kutcher’s character is now that of a ladies man, similar to that of Sheen’s character. To add on this unoriginal character, Kutcher seems to use the same character he played on That 70’s Show, Kelso whose stupidity drives his jokes.

    Two and a Half Men was the number one comedy on television and popular all over the world for many years. However, Charlie Sheen lost his job in his meltdown in spring of 2011. Ashton Kutcher was added the cast and gave hope that the show could successfully continue, however it failed to do so. Now the world is stuck with an average sitcom with poor jokes. It is time to call it a day.