As one of the most longest-running sitcoms of its era, there’s no question that Two and a Half Men enjoyed quite a successful fun on CBS.
Yet even with its high ratings and assortment of prestigious awards and other related accolades, series star Jon Cryer admitted he was “exhausted” by the time the series came to a close after 12 years on the air.
Remembering his time on the show, the 61-year-old Cryer said he was ready for Two and a Half Men to end at the start of 2015, having grown wearied by playing the same character for over a decade.
“I had felt like I had done so much of Alan that I was starting to run out of places to go with the character,” Cryer told People magazine. “The writers had done amazing work coming up with new stuff and really doing wonderful things with the character, but I had become exhausted with it.”
Of course, Two and a Half Men was not without its fair share of challenges and setbacks. Perhaps most famously, the show faced potential cancelation after the highly publicized departure of Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men’s main star, following a falling out with series creator Chuck Lorre.
Following Sheen’s exit, the series continued for another four seasons with Ashton Kutcher in the lead role, with Cryer explaining, “We had to sort of remake what the show was.”
Reflecting on his long-running stint on Two and a Half Men, Cryer said that he was anxious get back to work playing other characters than the cheap, perpetually down-on-his-luck chiropractor Alan Harper in Two and a Half Men, stating that he had no desire to play the character as long as, say, Kesley Grammer, portrayed Frasier Crane on TV.
“That’s amazing,” Cryer reflected. “He’s a really singular talent, but I just felt like that there were other characters I wanted to do.”