Two and a Half Men and 90210: When Backstage Drama Makes it Onscreen

Now to be fair, I am going to preface this with a little disclaimer: I have not watched Two and a Half Men and only know what I read in multiple news articles that I couldn't help but check out after seeing the headlines. Here is one of those articles.



After reading it, I can't help but agree that it does sound as though the PTB decided to let some of their (admittedly justified) feelings to spill over into the writing of the show. I feel like if that is allowed to happen, it cheapens the writing and does a disservice to fans. I can't help but be reminded of the original recipe 90210 and the way the Brenda character was handled in her last two seasons.

In seasons 3 and 4, it seemed as though the writers were going out of their way to make Brenda as hated by everyone as possible (or ignored), forgetting that it isn't really true to the characters. Take, for example the Summer of Deception and the Brenda/Dylan breakup. Now, I am not saying that Brenda was the perfect clean angel in the whole situation. Still, Brenda never really let it go beyond a little flirting and maybe one brief kiss (she actually stood the guy up and chose to go home to Dylan rather than actually follow through on running off with Rick). Dylan, meanwhile, couldn't stop hitting on Kelly (Brenda's best friend) and kissing her. They even slept together during that summer. Who was worse? So why did everyone seem to think Brenda should completely get over it? Not even her own twin brother seems to be angry at the guy who cheated on his sister. He even makes a joke about them setting up a time share arrangement. Then there is this very odd scene where Dylan is being needlessly cruel while breaking the news.
Let's not forget the college years and the play incident. Most of the group was more than willing to believe that Brenda slept with a director for a part despite the fact Brenda had never even come close to doing something like that before. Steve was the worst, when you consider he was taking the word of a girl he barely knew who was competing with Brenda for a part. A girl who had once accused him of date rape no less. I think that, again, writers and producers have every right to be angry with an actor who was behaving badly on and off the set. Still.... don't let this shape how the characters relate to each other. Or how they treat a character once they're gone. It's unprofessional.

What do you all think? Comment back and let's talk about it!