Two and a Half Men (CBS)

While going through yet another painful divorce, uptight chiropractor Alan (Jon Cryer) reluctantly moves himself and his son, Jake (Angus T. Jones), in with his serially single brother, Charlie (Charlie Sheen), a hard-drinking, womanizing jingle writer who’s living the bachelor’s dream inside an oceanfront Malibu beach house. But as a newly formed, non-traditional family comprised of TWO AND A HALF MEN, the brothers can’t help but clash over their glaring differences. In later seasons, Charlie's character dies (offscreen) and is replaced by Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher), a heartbroken internet billionaire.

It's an Odd Couple in today's world -- single dad, self-involved bachelor brother/uncle, and precocious kid. Add to that a soon-to-be ex-wife (Marin Hinkle) questioning her sexuality, an overtly emotional mother (Holland Taylor), and a neighbor (Melanie Lynskey) who’s a full-time stalker, and you've got a real nut house packed into 30 minutes. With Mel Brooks' pen it might work, but instead, Two and a Half Men falls into the dreaded sitcom trap of predictable story lines about boys chasing girls, and lame jokes about hookers and phone sex. In fact, if it weren’t for some scene-stealing secondary characters -- including Taylor’s turn as the brothers’ self-absorbed mother and Lynskey’s spot-on portrayal of the bubbly stalker-next-door -- the show would be a total waste of time.

Maybe the creators were hoping for the same kind of success as Full House, with its admittedly cheesy yet occasionally poignant take on single parenthood. But Charlie Sheen is no Uncle Jesse, and the series is aimed so squarely at parents that the presence of an actual kid seems kind of strange. With Charlie Sheen's dramatic exit from the show, Kutcher's character takes over where Sheen left off.