TWO AND A HALF MEN BY CHUCK LORRE & LEE ARONSOHN (OUTLINE AND THOUGHTS)

Millionth reading of this great pilot. Made a new draft of an outline for it. Also included lots of updated thoughts. If I do a TV Pilot Podcast, this will be episode one.

​RESEARCH NOTES
 
2.5 MEN - THOUGHTS
 
ODD COUPLE VIBES - CHARLIE/ALAN
Rich/normal. Hot/weird. Player/married. Calm/anxious. Single/dad. Avoidant/anxious.
 
But where are they the SAME? I feel like odd couples share core values sometimes. And it’s these shared core values that make them living together believable. Also wherever they are the SAME… I feel like there’s some heart buried there. Maybe a shared love for Jake, the kid? Shared belief in family? Something like that.
 
GENERAL THOUGHTS
I love how clean and simple this pilot is. I love how every line furthers character in one direction or another. I love how little they do to set up the Rose runner, but then use the Rose runner to help Charlie realize how alone he is at the pivotal moment of the pilot. I like how they us the kid to show who each adult really is. It’s like a teacher said yesterday, “The beginning of school is weird because you meet people and you like them. But you don’t really know the other teachers until you see how they are with the kids.”
 
I also like how they set up the mom before she shows up. And I think the falling out fight between the guys is pretty strong. And I think it makes a ton of sense why Alan moves back in with Charlie in the end, and also makes a lot of sense why Charlie wants him and Jake there.
 
COLD OPEN
Establishes the conflict of the whole show. Bachelor guy and needy brother. But we see bachelor guy be decent in that first scene by agree to let brother stay over, so he’s not totally unlikable.
 
SCENE A:
Almost every line is in service of building character while also furthering the story. Crazy how they pull that off. If we had ANY doubts about the nature of this odd couple, Act 1/Scene 1 firmly establishes it as BACHELOR VS. DORKY CHIROPRACTOR. Interested to see how it deepens moving forward.
 
Important: Scene A also ends with a little twist/cliff-hanger moment of Rose peering in at  ‘Monkey Man’ through the window. This is AMAZING. It’s actually the second beat in a B story and we’re only two scenes in. Also: using PLOT that’s also a joke and a twist as the button is shockingly deft and hard to do. This is the kind of thing James Patterson does. Use plot to keep people reading, and use twists as buttons.
 
SCENE B
Jake wakes Charlie up. The way he does it provides conflict and reveals Jake’s character (also reveals how Jake will be a further foil to Charlie’s ne’er do well lifestyle). Jake referees Charlie’s cursing. He’s in Charlie’s bedroom (heretofore only seen as a sex playground). And he kind of judges Charlie for being hung over.
 
The way Charlie handles all of this is so weirdly charming. He handles it like he is NOT an anxious person. He’s not over-thinking. He’s just going with it. Think about how ALAN would have handled this exact same situation. Millions of questions about his visitor’s marriage troubles, fussing over his visitor’s bedroom and making it nice, talking to his therapist about how his visitor is an imposition and about all of his overthinking and anxiety related to the visit. Charlie not being anxious is a really key distinction in this odd couple.
 
RESET TO:
Living Room. Alan is talking over his relationship problems with his wife, Judith.
 
Note: is it bad that I relate to the way Alan is dealing with his separation? Especially the part when he tells Judith “Make a list. On one side of the paper write down what you don’t like about our marriage and on the other side, what you do.”
 
In this scene, Judith immediately is cold to Alan and chastises Charlie. By chastising Charlie, it helps put Charlie and Alan’s relationship in perspective. They may not know each other well, and Charlie may live a life that’s easy to judge, but Alan has not cast judgement on him yet in this episode. So even Judith is used to provide insight into the Charlie/Alan relationship.
 
Also, Jake’s dynamic with Charlie is perfect. The way he gleefully observes Charlie is like an improv game where you call out what’s weird in order to define the joke. I.E. Charlie mimes exploding head. Jake: “That’s his head exploding.” Also the line: “Grandma says you’re a bitter disappointment.”
 
I think Jake’s character who will say anything anytime is kind of a sitcom trope. Like some kind of a Greek chorus or something. A VERY useful character in an odd couple show.
 
RESET TO:
Deck. Charlie with Jake. Frank conversation about parent’s separating. Alan asks Charlie to make Jake lunch and also reveals that he and Jake will be staying with Charlie while Judith is in Vegas.
 
This is good plot plus comedy.
 
Also TWO lines set up the shitty grandma that will show up later in this scene:
 
Charlie: When I was your age, I could only dream of my parents splitting up.
 
Jake: Grandma says you’re a bitter disappointment.
 
SCENE C - GROCERY STORE
Charlies realizes Jake is good to pick up women.
We also learn that Charlie got rich making jingles.
 
Maybe the A story is “Will Alan move in with Charlie?” This question drives a lot of the scenes, including the Charlie/Jake scenes. Then the B story is “What the fuck is going on with Rose?”
 
I like the idea of posing stories as questions that need to be answered by the end of the pilot. I think I’ll use that trick moving forward. This is another trick that’s useful in writing thrillers. Questions and answers.
 
ACT TWO
 
SCENE D - LIVING ROOM
 
Alan cancels couple’s therapy.
Rose shows up looking for Charlie.
First scene that’s just about moving the Rose story forward (though it also pushes the Alan/Judith bit forward as well, because the opening line is about canceling couple’s therapy).
 
Note: The cancelling couple’s therapy line says “Something came up. It’s kind of personal.” So cool how this line hooks the viewer just a tiny bit but kind of throws it away. What came up? What’s personal? I gotta know!
 
DISSOLVE TO:
 
SCENE E - CHARLIE’S KITCHEN
Charlie and Alan get in a fight because Alan let Rose in and Rose glued Charlie’s cabinets shut again.
 
This is AMAZING because they are fighting about all the little things neither mentioned in earlier scenes.
 
—> Charlie calls Alan weird because he brought his own sheets
—> Alan calls Charlie a ‘deeply disturbed man’. Alan takes a shot at Charlie’s promiscuity.
—> Charlie takes a dig at Alan’s crumbling marriage
 
Then there’s another TWUBBON (AKA TWIST BUTTON)… Their mom shows up. We’ve already learned she isn’t so great. This is wonderful.
 
It’s so cool because this scene where they yell at each other reveals that they were both biting their tongues and on their best behavior earlier. It’s not that they weren’t judging each other, as I suggested. Instead it’s that they were NOT saying their judgements out loud. I think that’s cool because it buys time for us to see the guys kind of getting along or being kind to each other before they rip into each other, so we’re kind of rooting for this odd family to succeed. I LOVE THIS.
 
 
END OF ACT ONE
 
--
 
ACT TWO
 
SCENE H - LIVING ROOM
 
EVELYN (the mom) shows up and insists Alan and Jake move in with her. Alan says his marriage will be fixed soon so it’s not necessary.
 
Alan’s confidence in things working out is great foreshadowing that things will NOT work out.
 
Also everything Evelyn says/does reveals character (especially how she treats Jake).
 
In general, Jake is a handy litmus test for the adult characters in this show. How they treat him does a lot to reveal their characters.
 
SCENE J - RESTAURANT
 
Alan has dinner with Judith.
He is acting like this is a great new start for their relationship.
She says “I think I’m gay.”
 
SCENE K - KITCHEN
 
Charlie and his friends play poker.
Jake helps Charlie win a hand.
 
Dual purpose scene: Jake in a situation that may be too adult. But also Jake and Charlie bonding more.
 
SCENE P - KITCHEN
 
Alan gets home to find the poker game.
He is not happy to find Jake playing.
 
RESET TO: SUNDECK
 
Alan and Charlie argue about poker. Charlie just wants to know how Alan’s dinner with Judith was. (Another sign that he actually has a heart.)
 
Alan shares that Judith said she was gay.
 
SCENE R - LIVING ROOM
 
Jake comes out because he can’t sleep. Says he’d rather live at Charlie’s than Grandma’s. Charlie says nice stuff about Alan and that Alan knows best.
 
Jake is super frank and transparent in this scene, which brings emotion and is the reason such a simple and expositional scene can happen at this point in the script. That’s very cool because it shows the power of having a ‘say anything’ type of character. Jake has been set up as blunt in a comedic away and here we see the heart that’s built into that character trait too.
 
SCENE T
Charlie back with the woman from the opening. He wonders aloud about having kids and it scares her off.
 
Rose the Stalker calls. He asks her the same thing about kids. It scares HER off too.
 
This insight into his relationship with his stalker (and with the woman he’s about to have sex with) shows that Charlie is lonely. He’s reaching for connection and a future that feels real and no one is there.
 
NOTE ON ROSE: She’s a useful character because she provides perspective on Charlie and Alan. They’re both less crazy than her, so that brings them more in line with the viewer, no matter how un-relatable their lives may be.
 
 
SCENE V - EVELYN’S HOUSE
 
Charlie convinces Alan to bring Jake and move back in with him. Interesting reason… Don’t let mom fuck Jake up like she fucked us up.
 
TAG
 
Charlie tries to show Alan how to use Jake to get women. It backfires because the woman thinks Charlie and Alan are a unit.