Two Minus a Half Men

I'm not sure which is more troubling---that Angus T. Jones has come out against his own show, "Two and a Half Men," as being "filth," or that it took the young man so many years to come to that conclusion.

Jones, 19, who has been part of the one-joke show for its entire nine-year run, blasted "Men" in a video recorded in October but that has just recently popped up on YouTube.

Appearing with a mostly shaved head and looking like either a hostage or a cult member, Jones says to the camera, "I'm on 'Two and a Half Men' and I don't want to be on it...Please stop watching it and filling your head with filth," Jones adds. "Do some research on the effects of television and your brain, and I promise you you'll have a decision to make when it comes to television and especially with what you watch on television."

Thanks for the advice, Angus, but I don't think you need to do much research to come to the conclusion that "Men" is not exactly a TV show that is brimming with highbrow humor.

For nine years (the past two with Ashton Kutcher as Jon Cryer and Jones' co-star; the first seven were with the manic Charlie Sheen), "Men" has managed to crank out episode after episode on a premise that would appear to have a short shelf life.

Jones plays Cryer's son. Cryer is divorced and for the first seven years he shared an apartment with his boozing, womanizing brother Charlie (Sheen, in a real stretch). Cryer has a contentious relationship with his ex-wife, which, when Jones was younger, was played for laughs as Jones was the feuding ex-spouses' pawn.

Kutcher joined the show two seasons ago as suicidal billionaire Walden Schmidt, who was saved from his death march into the Pacific Ocean because it was too cold. Schmidt then wound up at the late Charlie Harper's home and taken in by Cryer's character, Alan.

So where is all the "filth" (Jones's word) that Angus T. Jones is talking about?

Well, pretty much everywhere.


Angus T. Jones

"Men" shoves sex in your face, plus juvenile bathroom humor; the hilarity of divorce when kids are involved; alcoholism; one-night stands; teen apathy; and other bad character traits of various guest stars and secondary players.

Other than that, it's clean and wholesome fun.

Jones's tirade would appear to be his way of ending his contract, though there has been no comment yet from Warner Brothers studios, the studio where "Men" is shot, about their child star's outburst.

When a celebrity spouts off such religious righteousness, it is often an indicator that he/she is about to walk away from the business. But it's far too early to determine whether Jones' pious-filled beat down of "Men" is an indictment of just that show, or of the business in general.

Maybe we'll see Jones turn up somewhere else on television, a medium not known for its dignity.

The kid is right about "Men," of course. Even if he is a bit of a slow learner.