Say what?! Two and a Half Men, the longest-running comedy on broadcast TV is set to air its last season and boy are they going out with a bang. The show's 12th season will see leads Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer getting married to each other because they want to raise a baby.
"In the show's 12th and final season, Walden [played by Kutcher] is going to have a major health scare that leads him to an existential crisis and will lead the young playboy to want to add more meaning to his life," said CBS head Nina Tassler at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills.
She continues, "He start the [adoption] process and realizes it's very difficult to adopt the child as a single straight man. So, once and for all, he decides he's going to propose to Alan [played by Cryer] and they're going to adopt a child as a 'gay' couple."
So, yes, the marriage is going to be 100% legal. And while creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre knows that this idea won't be swell with everyone, he's also hoping the LGBT community won't be so unforgiving and that there won't be a significant backlash.
"I hope there's none," he said to E! News in an interview during the CBS TCA party. "The show has always caused controversy. We have. There's no intention to insult or diminish anyone. The intention is to create laughter. That's it. Great laughter and if it's got a heartbeat in there that would be nice, too."
But why exactly do they need a gay wedding?
"This is our last year. So we wanted to center the last year on Alan and Walden and have those guys do an adventure together the whole season because they're so great together," said executive producer and head writer Jim Patterson, who came up with the idea.
And Lorre had no qualms whatsoever. "All I said was, 'that's f**king great! It's timely and it has a heartbeat. Ashton's character because it's Ashton and Ashton is a man with a huge heart, he's really engaged in social welfare. He puts a lot of time and money into getting better. And we're getting the spirit of that into the show. This seems like the next logical step. Not romance, not sex, raising a child."
Even Jon Cryer, the show's main lead is warming up to the idea, saying although the idea of the gay wedding shocked him when he first heard it, now it "kind of makes sense."
Two heterosexual guys who are getting married because they want to have a kid together. OK. Why not? You know, I'm sure it's gonna happen. I can't imagine that kind of thing won't be happening in real life at some point," he said.
