2. YAM YIH HWAN (0305861) FNBE July’12 Page 2
The Big Bang Theory vs. Two & a Half Men
Sitcom, a shortened name for situation comedy, is a genre of comedy filled with jokes to
entertain audiences. It features on the characters sharing common environment as the
others, for example; school or household. A situation comedy television program is
more likely recorded in front of audience as they were able to gain the effect of laughter
from the audiences. “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two & a Half Men” are known as North
American sitcoms, generally a half-hour programs in which it include eight minutes of
commercials and a total of twenty-two minute of the written story.
Both “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two & a Half Men” are directed by Chuck Lorre. Even
though it has the same creator, it doesn’t mean both have the same story impact or
story timelines. I chose these two dramas as my contrast essay because both dramas
talk about the differences of the plot,their occupation, and thecharacteristic of each main
character.
First of all, the difference between “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two & a Half Men” that I
would like to discuss is the plot of the story. “The Big Bang Theory” is about four good
friends, which often spend their time working on their work projects, playing video
games, watching science-fiction movies, or reading comic books. They have little or no
luck with women and been called as self-professed nerds, until a guy named Leonard
met his new neighbor who lives across the hall, Penny, and get his new aspiration. On
theother hand, “Two & a Half Men” is about two adults and a kid. They called
themselvesthe harper brothers; they have little in common except their dislike toward
their mundane mother. Elder brother, Charlie, temporarily allowed his younger brother,
3. YAM YIH HWAN (0305861) FNBE July’12 Page 3
Alan, which just divorced with his wife and his son, Jake, a food obsessed, lazy school
kid who shuttles between his parents to move in with him. The sitcom revolved around
their conflicting lifestyles, raising Alan’s son, and Alan’s moving on his life after the
death of his brother, Charlie, by the help of his new best friend, Walden.
Next, the second difference between “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two & a Half Men”
that I would like to discuss is their occupation.In “The Big Bang Theory”, most of the
characters are mainly smart and genius. They are mostly Ph.D. holder with IQ exceed
of 170. Sheldon Cooper is a Ph.D. in theoretical physicist. He completed fifth grade at
the age of 10, and started college right after. Leonard Hofstadter is aPh.D. in
experimental physicist with an IQ of 173. He received his Ph.D. title when he was 24
years old. Howard Wolowitz, a mechanical engineer works as an aerospace engineer.
Among his friends, Howard is the only one lackedof a Ph.D. Instead of being criticized
by his friends, he always defends himself by pointing out that he has a master's degree
in Engineering from MIT and his designs are built and had been launched into space,
unlike their purely abstract work. Rajesh Koothrappaliis a Ph.D. in particle
astrophysicistand faculty member at Caltech's Physics Department. All four of the main
characters has the occupation rarely been choose by people nowadays, those are the
occupation that required smart, hardworking, and genius.
Furthermore, the last difference between “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two & a Half
Men” that I would like to discuss is the characteristic of themain character. In “Two & a
Half Men”, Charlie is a filthy guy, whenever he ran through a dry spell or wanted to
spice things up, he would just call a hooker, sparing no expenses for sex. As for Alan,
he is an extremely shy person. When it comes to women, he had several long-term
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relationships end badly, making him the polar opposite of his brother Charlie, who can
get any girl he wants but rarely sees women after he sleeps with them. He cares for his
son, but often finds himself even less appealing to women than him.
In conclusion, there’s a big differences between these two dramas, “The Big Bang
Theory and Two & a Half Men”, in every aspects such as the plot, their occupation, the
characteristics of each main character.
(710 words)
5. YAM YIH HWAN (0305861) FNBE July’12 Page 5
References
1. Situation Comedies Dominate Television Programming. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.enotes.com/topic/Sitcom
2. Plot Summary for Two & a Half Men, (2003). Retrieved from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369179/plotsummary
3. Plot Summary for The Big Bang Theory, (2007). Retrieved from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898266/plotsummary
