More Shark-Infested Marketing Waters For 'Two and a Half Men'

• Comment (4)
• Recommend (4)
• Tweet
• 

Wait, I thought I was done thinking about "Two and a Half Men"!

Nope. Now, Angus T. Jones, who plays the “half” part of the show's title -- teen Jake Harper – says he is devoutly religious and has issues with the show. As you can imagine, Jones’ issues are opposite those of former star Charlie Sheen.

The show's content can "fill your head with filth," according to Jones. What doesn't seem too filthy, of course, is the $350,000 per episode Jones gets.  But hey, we are talking about the creative process. So snap your financially concerned wise-ass back to what is important!

"Men," now on Thursday nights, has seen lower ratings this year, contributing to CBS' lower overall prime-time ratings. "Men" had previously been CBS' strongest show, anchoring its dominant comedy block on Monday nights. "The Big Bang Theory" is now a bigger CBS comedy.

All this comes a year since Ashton Kutcher's big debut -- following Sheen's departure and months of crazy spin and stories -- which gave the show an early and season-long major viewing spike.

That hasn’t carried over to this year. To be sure, the 10-year-old show is playing the back-nine of sorts in its TV life cycle. But it still earns good coin for the network.

Seems that Jones' comments came from a video interview for a Los Angeles-based church in October. He said, "If you watch 'Two and a Half Men,' please stop watching 'Two and a Half Men.’ I'm on 'Two and a Half Men' and I don't want to be on it. Please stop watching it and filling your head with filth. People say it’s just entertainment."

Off the show? He may get his request. Maybe he'll give back all or some of the money. He also talked about the demons of television overall -- all of which seems to make him a TV marketing executive's dream talent!

All TV networks hope for viewer buzz -- at times, for any viewer buzz. In current times, this comes from social media, which includes an uneasy mix of the good, the bad, the controversial and the head-scratching.

We have about six months left in the current TV season. So now we can all wonder if another version of "Men" is coming next fall. Perhaps "Two Men" -- or just "Less Men."

Last year, after CBS suffered a bit from the show not being able to produce new episodes during Sheen's absence, it made up for it big time once the show got going again the in fall, because of all the word-of-mouth marketing anticipation of Kutcher coming on board, as well as how the Sheen character would exit.

Trouble is, one can only play this unscripted marketing card only so often.

Then again, if Jones has another revelation and starts hanging out with some mega-babes, pool-side, calling them  "goddesses,” viewers might grant him -- like Sheen -- a longer TV life.

• Comment (4)
• Recommend (4)
• Tweet
• 

4 comments on "More Shark-Infested Marketing Waters For 'Two and a Half Men' ".

1. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston
   

   commented on: November 27, 2012 at 4:05 p.m.
   Now we know the outcome of putting a child on a program filled with sexual innuendo, over a long period of time. In this case, the former child becomes a teen-aged candidate for religious conversion. Jones is not a hypocrite. He simply had a genuine, spiritual awakening, which should not make him the butt of anyone's joke. The real joke is believing that TV filth is "just entertainment" and has no real-life consequences.
2. Sandy Pochapin from Buyer Advertising
   

   commented on: November 27, 2012 at 4:10 p.m.
   Interesting to see if the Seventh Day Adventist Church "asks" Jones to fork over all that filthy lucre CBS has been paying him. It's not unusual for teenagers to have a "spiritual awakening", particularly if they have not been raised in a religious home, but they frequently grow out of it and when that happens he's really going to be sorry...
3. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited
   

   commented on: November 27, 2012 at 7:16 p.m.
   This kid has been left out in the cold for years as maybe another pimp my kid by his parents and definitely by the cast and crew. A lost kid is a primary target for all different cults. Ask any pimp scoring at bus stations.
4. John Mazur from KCET TV
   

   commented on: November 28, 2012 at 8:48 p.m.
   Not to be a prude, but Angus T. is spot on with his comments. Over the last 5 years, CBS sitcoms (if you can call them that) have deteriorated from 'Tiffany network' quality to 'K-Mart/porn' quality, with every third word on CBS Mon. and Th. night half-hours being 'vagina', 'penis', 'masturbation', 'slut' and the like. Clearly no writing talent needed at Beverly & Fairfax, just the ability to shock middle America with unfunny non-family-friendly fare.

Leave a Comment