The humor of Two and a Half Men is a tad more genial.

Two and a Half Men fares better with its variation on a theme (call it Bringing Up Bachelor). Here the clueless dude who begrudgingly loves his family is Charlie, a boozing womanizer who opens his home to his nerdy, newly dumped brother Alan and Alan's 10-year-old son. With Cryer in the wifely role and Holland Taylor doing double duty as the brothers' cloying mother who also happens to be a wild single gal, ''Two and a Half Men setup ain't edgy, but its humor is a tad more genial -- brotherly ribbing as opposed to bad-tempered potshots. Its one nasty spot revolves around, unsurprisingly, women: In addition to Taylor, who reprises her saucy sexagenarian role for like the sexagenarianth time, the other female regulars are Alan's estranged, sexually exploring wife, a spiteful, chilly pill who may be gay, and a neighbor girl who's stalking Charlie. Still, two and a half men is a show about men (the theme song -- which goes something like ''menmenmenmen'' -- warns us as much), and in recent episodes ''Two and a Half Men has wisely scaled back on gender warfare and played more with the yo-yo between its Felix and Oscar (or Kate and Allie). Cryer, the epitome of weenie vulnerability in numerous TV and movie roles, has honed this vibe to make Alan a likable -- if overshadowed and underconfident -- twerp. Sheen, with his casually vulpine persona, is nearly impossible not to enjoy two and a half men.
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Two and a Half Men DVD 1-7
Monk DVD 1-8
Queer As Folk DVD 1-5
Law and Order DVD 1-10