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Two and a Half Men Bosses and Jon Cryer Explain Why the Gay Marriage Idea Is “F—king Great”

Chuck Lorre hoping there's no backlash from the LGBT community

By Kristin Dos Santos Jul 18, 2014 8:45 PMTags
Watch: "Two and a Half Men" Plans 'Gay' Wedding

In case you haven't heard, Jon Cryer and Ashton Kutcher are getting married on Two and a Half Men. To each other. In a same-sex ceremony. Because they want to raise a baby. This is a real thing.

And though creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre is well aware this idea won't be loved by everyone, he's also hoping there isn't any significant backlash among the LGBT community.

"I hope there's none," Lorre told E! News at the CBS TCA party on Thursday. "The show has always caused controversy. We have. There's no intention to insult or diminish anyone. The intention is to create laughter. That's it. Great laughter and if it's got a heartbeat in there that would be nice, too."

(GLAAD has decided not to comment directly on the storyline until they see it.)

But why is the gay marriage storyline happening?

The executive producer who came up with the idea, head writer Jim Patterson, tells us: "This is our last year. So we wanted to center the last year on Alan and Walden and have those guys do an adventure together the whole season because they're so great together."

"You'll definitely see a wedding," fellow head writer Don Reo adds. "A same-sex marriage. It's real."

And Lorre, for the record, had absolutely no hesitation when Patterson and Reo pitched the idea.

"All I said was, ‘That's f--king great!'" Lorre told us. "It's timely and it has a heartbeat. Ashton's character because it's Ashton and Ashton is a man with a huge heart, he's really engaged in social welfare. He puts a lot of time and money into getting better. And we're getting the spirit of that into the show. This seems like the next logicial step. Not romance, not sex, raising a child."

Jon Cryer himself admitted that initially, he was thrown by the idea of a gay marriage for his character, but then warmed up to it. (See the video above.) "The first time I heard it I said, WHAT?!" he told E! News on the CBS party carpet. "And then I thought, ‘Oh yeah it kind of makes sense, because last season Alan's wedding fell apart and Ashton's wedding has fallen apart. The writers have a good idea and it opens up a lot of doors. Two heterosexual guys who are getting married because they want to have a kid together. OK. Why not? You know, I'm sure it's gonna happen. I can't imagine that kind of thing won't be happening in real life at some point."

Maybe?

Lorre particularly likes the idea because it brings the show back full circle to its namesake, after the loss three years ago of star Charlie Sheen.

"I thought it was both very funny and heartwarming that these guys would go to such great lengths to get a kid out of the foster system and give him a home," Lorre explained. "Yes, there's some subterfuge in doing that, they are gaming the system, but the intention is to give a child a home, and it brings the series back to being about two men teaching a young man to become a man."

Men's producers also hinted that this concept could possibly lead to some kind of spinoff down the road, although Lorre pointed out: "This is the last year of Two and  a Half Men. Beyond that, I don't know."

Alan and Walden's new kid hasn't yet been cast, but Lorre believes he will be a boy between the ages of five and 10.

And though there are no current plans to bring back Charlie Sheen—"I don't know how they would do that," Cryer mused—producers are hoping that the original "half man" Angus T. Jones (who has said some not-so-flattering things about the show) will return before the show comes to an end. "I would think so," Reo told us. "That would be wonderful. We love him."

Oh, and one last note: Don't start thinking that just because Alan and Walden are getting married, there won't still be other love interests.

"Their romantic travails will go forward," explains Lorre. "Because as soon as the child is part of this household, then their lives go on. It's a TV series. It's not a movie. Their lives go on. And they're going to be cheating spouses."

Lorre adds: "There will be more sex and more sex jokes. We know what this show is. There's no effort here on our last and final season to try and reach for any dignity. It's too late for that."