In the upcoming season of the CBS sitcom, Walden and Alan want to get married as a gay couple so that they can adopt a child.
- Jul 18, 2014
AceShowbiz - "Two and a Half Men" plans a gay wedding, but there's a twist. CBS Entertainment Chairman Nina Tassler revealed that in the upcoming 12th season of the comedy series, Walden (Ashton Kutcher) and Alan (Jon Cryer) would fake a gay relationship as part of Walden's attempt to adopt a child.
"Walden is going to have a major health scare and it is going to give him a little bit of an existential crisis," Tassler told reporters at the TCA summer press tour after her executive session. "He wants to find a way to add more meaning to his life, so he decides he wants to adopt a child. In doing so, he starts the process and he realizes that it's very difficult, to adopt a child as a single, straight man. So, once and for all, he decides, 'I'm going to propose to Alan, we're going to get married and adopt a child as a gay couple.' "
Asked if CBS was concerned that such plotline would cause backlash from the LGBT community, she said, "I think it's a very positive statement [to say] 'I am going to adopt a child as a gay couple.' The reality is he can do that. And at one point you couldn't do that, and now you can do that, so I think that's a much more positive statement."
She, however, realized that it would start a debate. "You know [showrunner] Chuck Lorre," Tassler said. "There is no topic that he won't dive into and make a part of the public conversation." She added, "It's going to engage people who perhaps have not wanted to be part of this conversation before... It's a ruse, but the reality is it is legal and it may engage viewers who haven't necessarily wanted to talk about it before and people will be talking about it."
GLAAD won't comment on the storyline until they see the finished product, but the organization's president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement, "We hope the show will acknowledge not only the progress made in acceptance of gay and lesbian couples, but also the fact that - in many areas of the country - same-sex couples are often under greater scrutiny or still barred from adoption options that straight couples have."
The new season of "Two and a Half Men" premieres Thursday, October 30 at 9 P.M. on CBS.
