S02.E06: Chapter 14 - A Secret Leaks, a Teacher Speaks

[OtterMommy]

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Despite Norman's prodding, Sandy remains reluctant to share some important news with Mindy. Norman and Madelyn come to an understanding.

 

[shapeshifter]

Another verklempt ending, but what do you expect from an episode dealing with The Meaning Of Life When Facing Death?

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So I guess they had the acting students do a Two And A Half Men bit for the Classic Comedy assignment because (a) Lorre didn’t have to pay royalties, and (b) Lorre wanted to be sure folks knew the guy who did THM also does this show?

[HerkyJerky]

14 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

So I guess they had the acting students do a Two And A Half Men bit for the Classic Comedy assignment because (a) Lorre didn’t have to pay royalties, and (b) Lorre wanted to be sure folks knew the guy who did THM also does this show?

I took it as Lorre poking fun at himself that even though the show ran for 12 seasons that he knows it wasn't "classic" comedy.

[iMonrey]

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So I guess they had the acting students do a Two And A Half Men bit for the Classic Comedy assignment because (a) Lorre didn’t have to pay royalties, and (b) Lorre wanted to be sure folks knew the guy who did THM also does this show?

{headsmack} I honestly didn't make the connection.

[shapeshifter]

On 10/28/2019 at 8:56 AM, HerkyJerky said:

I took it as Lorre poking fun at himself that even though the show ran for 12 seasons that he knows it wasn't "classic" comedy.

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

{headsmack} I honestly didn't make the connection.

Maybe part of Lorre [bitterly? happily all the way to the bank?] poking fun at himself was imagining how many viewers wouldn’t make the connection (that Lorre had created both).

Edited November 1, 2019 by shapeshifter

[wendyg]

I think we could be a little more charitable here. For one thing, it will depend heavily on the contracts written when TWO AND A HALF MEN was commissioned whether Lorre has to pay royalties or not. (I'm not sure whether, when TV studios buy a script and commision a series, they buy all rights.) He may well have had to pay royalties to use his own work (and IIRC Lee Aronsohn was co-writer, so if there are royalties owing he'd get half).

But aside from that, if you're going to imply that someone's work is such trash that it's embarrassing that your character's students have chosen a scene from it it's a good idea to make fun of your *own* work. If he'd chosen a scene from TWO BROKE GIRLS it would have seemed gratuitously  nasty. Also, Lorre has form in making fun of his own work; on 2 1/2 Men Charlie, who wrote jingles, often played the "Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles" theme - which Lorre himself wrote.

And finally...for much of its run 2 1/2 Men was indeed as crass as Sandy Kominsky implies. But the first two years, and especially the pilot, were actually well-written. I thought the scene held up remarkably well under the ministrations of the two inept student actors.

And Lorre also made a valid point: kids who've been brought up on TV think that's classic comedy. And in a show about aging, it's self-referential but not wrong to include the note that *his own earlier work* is now seen by full-grown adults as "historical".

Edited November 6, 2019 by wendyg

[Irlandesa]

I think he was making fun of himself and didn't need to worry about royalties. 

The show made him a lot of money but I doubt he'd think it should be considered classic. He had done better work.

I would have been really impressed had he broken out something from Grace Under Fire or Cybil.