Every Chuck Lorre Sitcom Has The Exact Same Problem
https://www.looper.com/1246156/every-chuck-lorre-sitcom-has-the-exact-same-problem/
Chuck Lorre's sitcoms are populated with awful people and mean, unfunny jokesshare
Let's take "The Big Bang Theory," arguably Lorre's biggest hit, as a prime example of this issue.
Pretty much every character in this sitcom is, to put it lightly, a crappy person (particularly in regard to how male character treat female ones, which might be the show's biggest issue altogether). As the series continues, it seems bizarre that any of these people would stay friends based on how they treat one another. Sheldon (Jim Parsons) is, perhaps, the worst of them all — he seems to have nothing but contempt for his friends and loved ones, all of whom he views as utterly beneath him. Sure, he says nice stuff in the series finale. That's after 12 seasons of treating his chosen family horribly.
"Two and a Half Men," which focuses on Charlie Sheen's "hedonist" main character, is similarly odious, although the characters don't just insult each other: they're equal opportunity offenders and attack anyone who's different from them. Even the way Sheen was written off the show after he went completely off the rails in real life was unnecessarily over-the-top. In the series finale, though people believe Sheen's character (also named Charlie) had been dead for years, he nearly resurfaces only to be crushed by a falling piano. To really drive the point home that Charlie Sheen sucks, Lorre appears on-screen in a director's chair and says one of Sheen's real-life catchphrases, "Winning." Okay, Chuck. We get it, man. Just say he moved to Mongolia or something. This is embarrassing.
Chuck Lorre wants to make modern sitcoms, but he's stuck in the past
If Lorre had made "The Big Bang Theory" back when stuff like "Friends" was still on the air, it's possible nobody would have even noticed how depressingly cruel his comedy can be. That's not to say "Friends" is as mean-spirited as any of Lorre's work, because it definitely is not: the titular friends on "Friends" actually seem to like one another. The sitcom does suffer from outdated jokes that populate '90s sitcoms, but the intention behind jokes like that Monica used to be overweight or that Chandler's transgender mother is some sort of oddity isn't actually bad. In fact, according to Jennifer Aniston, those jokes were meant to mock bigotry (an explanation that definitely doesn't hold water, but whatever).
The point is that shows made in a different era are always going to age a little bit weirdly, and as long as everyone's fine with that, it's ultimately not a big deal. Recognizing that "Friends" made some problematic jokes clearly doesn't make anyone love it less, based on its enduring popularity (the reunion special just aired in 2021, after all). Lorre's sitcoms, though, seem to go out of their way to be mean-spirited, which just feels cold — especially because there is a way to do this without falling into Lorre's same pitfalls.
There are sitcoms that walk Chuck Lorre's intended tightrope correctly, but Lorre isn't involved with them
Okay, listen. Before you start firing off comments about how writers today just don't "get comedy," wait one second. We get what Chuck Lorre is going for, kind of. He just doesn't do it right.
"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is one of the cruelest television shows to ever exist. The characters openly hate each other only slightly less than they hate everyone who isn't within their inner circle. They're unrepentant dirtbags who constantly try and pull off huge scams to increase their wealth or standing, only to fail because they're so stupid. There's an episode where they try to sell a painting that might be by Hitler, an episode where two characters actually end up getting addicted to crack cocaine so they can get on welfare, and an episode where one character has a funeral for a baby that never existed just for a tax write-off. One of the main characters actively stalks and terrorizes his love interest until she falls off the wagon. It's also the longest-running sitcom in television history, and it's one of the funniest shows currently airing.
"Always Sunny" has never pretended to be anything that it's not — it's a show filled with despicable people doing despicable things, but perhaps most importantly, it evolves with the times and is still delightfully cruel. The characters don't develop, and that's actually kind of great. If this is what Lorre wanted to achieve, he totally missed the mark.