Two and a Half Men, Times Ten (or so)

I like Chuck Lorre's sitcom 'Two and a Half Men'. I am not afraid to admit it. I've become accustomed to its charms, you might say.

And I've become used to getting a daily dose of the show. Where I live it plays in back-to-back reruns beginning at 7 pm every weekday.

The only chink in this paradise of lightweight wit is this: that local channel shows the same ten (or so) episodes over and over. In fact in might be less than ten - the relentless reruns are beginning to extinguish my ability to distinguish discrete plots, with one Charlie/Alan verbal exchange seeming much like another. Good thing they still make me laugh.

But here's what puzzles: the show's been on the air since 2003. Surely there must be more than ten (or so) episodes to rotate in syndication. Or have the owners (Mr. Lorre?) of the rights restricted the number of shows they'll allow on air? Perhaps in order to spur sales of season DVDs?

If so that's too bad. The new episodes of Two and a Half Men are OK, but are starting to suffer a bit. The characters are starting to stray from type, and with those slight but significant shifts some of the jabs and zings are beginning to fall flat.

Maybe Chuck Lorre and his staff are spending too much time on their other show, 'Big Bang Theory', which seems funnier every week, and don't have any 'juice' left over for 'Men'. Or perhaps Charlie Sheen has too many personal distractions, or Jon Cryer might be too comfortable with his new career stability. Whatever the reason, the new shows don't make up for the lack of fresher looks at gems from the back catalog.

Please Mr. Lorre, free more old shows from the dustbin and let us, your loyal (but testy) fans, out of the temporal vortex that is Two and a Half Men syndication.