2 1/2 Charlie is alive final episode

That's the teaser for final episode tonight.

They took down the third wall completely for the finale.

I thought it was the fourth wall.

It took me a while to get which TV show this was about.

Quote: Nareed

I thought it was the fourth wall.

I knew it didn't sound right. It's a tactic I've seen before, where the sitcom is getting more bad press than good press. They break the fourth wall and make jokes about their bad press. They even made a joke where the guest star says that Charlie should try "Anger Management", and Jon Cryer says he tried that, but it didn't work out very well.

Ryan Styles didn't make it back for the final episode.

Minor spoiler- In a true sign of shark jumping, they do an animated segment.

Quote: Pacomartin

I knew it didn't sound right. It's a tactic I've seen before, where the sitcom is getting more bad press than good press. They break the fourth wall and make jokes about their bad press.

Remember Murphy Brown and Dan Quayle?

It was hard to figure out whom to dislike more over that fiasco.

Quote: Nareed

Remember Murphy Brown and Dan Quayle?

It was hard to figure out whom to dislike more over that fiasco.

The Murphy Brown / Dan Quale thing was different. It did NOT break the fourth wall.

Murphy, the character, had a job as a TV news person, for a national news show based in Washington DC.

Had Murphy been a real person, it would be normal for news of her pregnancy to become public knowledge. Certainly such information could easily reach the VP.

So, although the vice president was talking about a fictional character, within the confines of the fictional Murphy Brown TV comedy, it is perfectly acceptable for the character to hear, and react to, the VP's comments. And, given the national audience of the news show she worked on, perfectly acceptable for the VP to hear her reaction.

Personally, I think the best part of that whole incident was what Candice Bergen said in response to the VP's comments: She thanked him for making his comment after the final episode of the season aired, giving the show's writers several months to think of a snappy comeback. The snappy comeback that happened in the next season's opening episode was classic.

Quote: Nareed

It was hard to figure out whom to dislike more over that fiasco.

What always amazed me about his comments is I just assumed that they were off the cuff, and his staff was in the back of the room mouthing "stop now!". Instead I read that he discussed it with his writing staff, they took the comment out of the speech at one time, and then made the decision to put it back in.

Quote: Dan Quayle May 19, 1992

Bearing babies irresponsibly is simply wrong. Failing to support children one has fathered is wrong and we must be unequivocal about this. It doesn’t help matters when primetime TV has Murphy Brown, a character who supposedly epitomizes today’s intelligent, highly paid professional woman, mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice.

Throughout the same time frame as Murphy Brown, Bergen also appeared as the main spokesperson for a Sprint telephone ad campaign. They did make a "fourth wall joke" about that in the show, when Murphy gets a phone call and huffs "No I don't want to change my long distance service", and slams the phone down.

With 2.5 Men and Parks and Recreation ending long runs, here are the rankings of the 19 broadcast half hour live sitcoms

CBS and ABC
1 The Big Bang Theory CBS 4.56 -9.80% 16.60 -5.97%
3 Modern Family ABC 3.37 -4.93% 9.95 0.40%
16 Black-ish ABC 2.48 7.67
18 Mom CBS 2.42 16.53% 10.57 39.69%
19 Fresh Off the Boat ABC 2.40 7.71
24 The Goldbergs ABC 2.23 32.74% 7.21 42.49%
26 2 Broke Girls CBS 2.13 -16.26% 8.15 1.84%
27 Two and a Half Men CBS 2.12 -44.16% 9.06 -31.53%
30 The Middle ABC 2.04 -0.77% 7.72 -1.27%
32 Mike & Molly CBS 1.97 -9.52% 8.83 6.31%
49 The McCarthys CBS 1.49 6.79
69 Last Man Standing ABC 1.29 -3.26% 6.92 10.30%

NBC and FOX
35 Brooklyn Nine-Nine FOX 1.87 7.70% 3.95 -0.71%
56 New Girl FOX 1.40 -33.15% 2.85 -33.79%
57 Parks and Recreation NBC 1.39 19.46% 3.43 3.67%
77 Marry Me NBC 1.25 4.10
83 The Mindy Project FOX 1.09 -14.06% 2.39 -6.42%
86 About a Boy NBC 1.07 -42.07% 3.70 -46.65%
101 Mulaney FOX 0.75 1.79

NBC will probably start the next year with a clean slate of sitcoms. Having lost their development projects with Tina Fey and Bill Cosby, maybe they will just go to reality and drama.

Quote: Pacomartin

What always amazed me about his comments is I just assumed that they were off the cuff, and his staff was in the back of the room mouthing "stop now!"

I think off the cuff all he is capable of doing is "potatoe" ;)

Quote:

With 2.5 Men and Parks and Recreation ending long runs, here are the rankings of the 19 broadcast half hour live sitcoms

You know, I get my programming from cable channels that show US shows. They're very consistent and smart with dramas and "reality," but often suck scheduling sitcoms. For instance FOX (Latin America) showed How I Met Your Mother at 4 pm on weekdays and at 6 am on Sundays (and not every Sunday). Now Sony is showing it in large blocks, about 6-8 eps at a time, on Saturdays and Sundays. but they're so mixed up I can't keep up with the story line (yes, there is one). Finally Warner shows Two Broke Girls pretty much when they feel like it.

I can understand reruns at 4 pm. Not first run shows.

I really enjoyed this show the first three seasons, but these last two seasons have been horrible.

I enjoyed the final episode because they did parody themselves. I laughed hysterically when they threw in the animated portion, not because it was good, just because they threw in an animated segment.

Ashton Kutcher's first episode (19 Sept 2009) pulled in 28.74 million viewers because of the publicity of Charlie Sheen's crazy stunts. His final episode attracted 13.2 million viewers, but dropped below 7 million one time this year.

12-01 10.29
12-02 9.12
12-03 8.75
12-04 8.62
12-05 6.93
12-06 8.10
12-07 9.30
12-08 8.80
12-09 10.07
12-10 9.38
12-11 9.31
12-12 9.71
12-13 9.39
12-14 9.33
12-15 13.20
12-16 13.20

Charlie's Sheen's last four episodes before they cancelled the final 8 episodes of the season pulled in 14.5-16.0 million people.