Not the End of "Men"

I thought we'd be spared.

Although "Two And a Half Men" has polluted the airwaves for a decade, I was convinced that this had to be its last season. CBS relegated it to Thursday nights, which I assumed would mean that fewer people would remember that it was on and that even fewer people would see it. Even more embarrassing for the show was star Angus T. Jones's recent disavowal of the prurience and the vulgarity of the whole enterprise. Now it appears that it's about to go into an eleventh season, meaning it will be on for as long as "M*A*S*H," "Cheers" and "Frasier" . . . if not longer. Entertainment journalist Gail Pennington has reported that the only thing that could keep it from being renewed is a contract impasse. Oh, please, let it be! Because, does Jon Cryer really need the money? He's already making plenty from syndication residuals. He could retire now . . . and anyone who remembers his non-performances from those eighties teen movies might wish he would. Geez, the thought of "Two And a Half Men" being on well into this decade and possibly outlasting the Obama Presidency is enough to make you bang your head against the wall.

I was ready to push my own cranium a little deeper into the plaster when I learned that NBC's "Parenthood" was actually on the bubble. For although it has a loyal fan base, it's not big enough to make it an unqualified hit in the ratings. Back in December 2012, in writing about my choices for winners and losers of the year, I selected the show's executive producers, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, as two of my winners, writing, "The executive producers of 'Parenthood' can breathe easily. Their show is pretty much assured to be on NBC for awhile." Yeah, well, I obviously began to fear that I'd spoken too soon.  I needn't have worried; NBC just announced that "Parenthood" will be back in the fall.  Its ratings would probably cause it to get canceled if it were on any other network, but since it's on NBC, a network not too many people are even aware is still on, it's actually one of their biggest hits. Fine by me; it's the only NBC show I watch any more.