I haven’t watched Two and a Half Men much since Charlie Sheen left (was kicked out) but I decided to go back and try watching it last night. Big mistake. Ashton Kutcher, who plays Walden is kind of funny in his own way but has none of the joie de vivre that Sheen had with his dating life.

Instead, Walden, like goofy, needy, insecure Alan is just as goofy, needy and insecure with women. Sure, he looks better than Alan but it’s only worth something in getting women, not in maintaining some semblance of a normal relationship. In last night’s show, Walden was working with his ex-wife and his snobby, irritating British girlfriend, Zoey is upset. Naturally, Walden asks them to have dinner together, all three of them and the women hate each other and make condescending remarks all night about Walden. Instead of calling his girlfriend on her condescending behavior, he asks her to move in with him. Yeah, that’s going to work out.

In another scene, Alan is dealing with his snide, ball-busting girlfriend Lyndsey (Courtney Thorne-Smith.) She spends most of the show telling Alan to shut up and even Alan turns on himself and tells himself to shut up before she does. I can’t tell this girlfriend from the ex-wife who was just as belittling. The third wheel, Jake, who is in high school, just does dumb stuff with his male friend and provides at least some comic relief, though he is portrayed as an underachieving goof-ball. At least he does seem to have a good time. The show was a bit painful for me to watch. I have seen the show with Kutcher before when it was funny but I have to say, that with Charlie Sheen, the show was more fun, and not so painful.