Better Without You

The media's obsession with Charlie Sheen, which allowed them to take their eyes off Wisconsin (just as Scott Walker hoped) is likely to cool, now that Sheen has been officially fired from "Two And a Half Men" - unless Sheen finds new ways to make a story out of himself. With Sheen gone, the fate of "Two And a Half Men" itself remains in question. Speculation has centered on the possibility of - this is strictly rumor with no factual basis - John Stamos or Christian Slater replacing Sheen, with no word on whether someone would replace Sheen as Charlie Harper or play a new character, possibly a cousin. How a cousin would take over Charlie's house would require an explanation with a heavy suspension of disbelief. Cancellation? No, "Two And a Half Men" had long before been renewed in advance for the 2011-12 season, so the producers will likely go forward without Sheen. They have to, really, because it would look ridiculous if Sheen got fired from a series that was going to go off the air anyway. It would be like a foreclosed homeowner letting the bank take over what's left of his house after it's been destroyed by a tornado. I know that analogy is in bad taste, but so is Charlie Sheen.

I remember when "Two And a Half Men" debuted at the start of the 2003-04 television season, and I had a viscerally negative reaction to the first episode. I figured the show wouldn't last. As long-time readers of this blog will know, I instead got into what I thought would be one of the biggest hits of that season, ABC's "I'm With Her," a sitcom about a famous movie actress (played by Teri Polo) who starts dating an underpaid Los Angeles schoolteacher. And, of course, while "Two And a Half Men" - whose depictions of manhood reduced it to a collection of studs, nerds and morons - became a hit, "I'm With Her" - whose male schoolteacher was presented as a nice, likable guy with a brain - lasted only one season. To see "Two And a Half Men" in such turmoil is, for me, a case of sour grapes and sweet revenge at the same time.

Meanwhile, at ABC today, "Better With You," which I commented on earlier, may be on its way out. Scheduled on Wednesday nights at 8:30 PM Eastern between two bona fide hit sitcoms - "The Middle" and "Modern Family" - it was expected to be a hit itself. "Better With You" is the only Wednesday night sitcom on ABC with a laugh track, and it's the only one of them that uses the three-camera approach pioneered by Desi Arnaz in the early fifties. I couldn't help but notice that, when ABC airs reruns of its sitcoms on Wednesday nights, "Better With You" is also the only one whose episodes, to the best of my recollection, aren't re-aired. It's not on at all during rerun periods; ABC shows two "Middle" reruns back-to-back, or maybe one "Modern Family" rerun and one "Middle" rerun, in the 8:00 PM Eastern hour instead. A rerun may be new to you if you haven't seen it, but ABC has apparently decided that reruns of "Better With You" won't interest anyone who hasn't already seen it yet.

Okay, let me stop beating around the bush: "Better For You" is sucking in the ratings. People would rather turn off the TV after "The Middle" and come back to watch "Modern Family" than sit through the saga of the Putney sisters, their quirky male partners, and their even quirkier parents, even though there's little you can do in a half-hour between TV shows. Thus, the 8:30 PM Eastern time slot on Wednesdays at ABC is the "walk the dog" period - because that's what many viewers who own dogs prefer to do when an unpopular sitcom is on between two popular ones. (Thanks to Star-Ledger TV critic Alan Sepinwall for that phrase.)

I watch "Better With You." That's because I don't have a dog. It does appear, however, that I'm watching one.

The smart money is that another new ABC Wednesday night sitcom, "Mr. Sunshine" - the new Matthew Perry sitcom which has temporarily replaced "Cougar Town," starring Perry's "Friends" alum Courteney Cox, in the 9:30 PM Eastern time slot - will move to 8:30 PM Eastern time slot once "Cougar Town" comes back. "Better With You" will then likely go to one-season wonderland (i.e., get axed). If it does get canceled, I won't miss it, unlike "I'm With Her." "Better With You" isn't a bad show, but it's a rather bland one that even the presence of Joanna Garcia Swisher -as she's now called because of her marriage to Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher - can't spice up.

Meanwhile, late word is that CBS has renewed "How I Met Your Mother" for two more seasons, meaning that the identity of Ted Mosby's wife (it's not Zoey, his current girlfriend) likely won't be revealed until after the next presidential election. I'll comment on "How I Met Your Mother" later. I may comment on the 2012 presidential election sooner.