Two and a Half Men is a show that, like it or not, demands to be reviewed by any legitimate entertainment critic. Last season, it was the highest rated comedy on television and on Sunday, Jon Cryer upset Neil Patrick Harris to win the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor. Its star, Charlie Sheen, is the highest paid actor in television.

After viewing last night’s season premiere, it’s difficult to understand why two of those facts are true. The humor consisted of creative ways to refer to genitals and excrement. For example, one of the subplots, Charlie’s inability to decide between his fiancé and an old ex who reappeared in his life, led to a tremendous bout of constipation. Thus, the following exchange ensued toward the end of the episode:

Alan (Jon Cryer): “How’s the intestines?”

Charlie (Charlie Sheen): “Clean as a whistle.”

Then, a laugh track played. Why? There was no joke there. There was no funny delivery, just a series of exchanges that would be normal for someone who experienced constipation. The writing was lazy and the laugh track only seemed to highlight the utter detachment between what is humorous and what appeared on the screen. Much of the episode proceeded in this fashion. The show told me that I was supposed to laugh; yet I couldn’t even bring myself to chuckle. This observation seems to articulate the evolving paradigm shift that is occurring in network television comedy.  While shows like The Office and 30 Rock have breached the line between the inane and the absurd frequently, Two and a Half Men plays it straighter than most, mining the established tropes of situational comedy to try and find humor.

Jon Cryer shone in his relatively brief screen time. The timing between he and Sheen is actually a work of art and something that should be noted (that’s why he won the Emmy). After six years, the two have an established rhythm and it showed in the opening scene of the episode. However, there was nothing beyond the opening scene that came close to matching its humor.

This episode fell flat, betrayed by its script. Hopefully next week’s episode will be an improvement, as laying the foundation for this season’s overarching plot lines bogged much of this episode down. The writers of the show should have realized that an episode could still be funny even if it spends most of its time on establishing story. Isn’t that the purpose of a comedy, anyway?