12
Economists take the fun out of TV
Susan Lee
To view this content, Javascript must be enabled and Adobe Flash Player must be installed.
TEXT OF COMMENTARY
Kai Ryssdal: We tend to hear a good amount from economists on this program, analyzing the news of the day, interpreting statistics for us, or looking at consumer behavior. Rarely, though, do we hear them talk about what they do when they're not on the job. What they do, in other words, for fun. We asked around a little bit, and the sad answer is that even when they're not working on economics, a lot of economists are still thinking about it. We start a week's worth of Econ fun-oh-one commentaries today with Susan Lee.
SUSAN LEE: If addictions can be considered fun, then I have a biggie. I'm addicted to the TV series "Two and a Half Men."
It's about two bachelor brothers. The handsome one, Charlie, lives in a three-bedroom house in Malibu. On the beach. He drives a Mercedes. He has a housekeeper. He goes out to dinner all the time. And he never seems to work -- except for the time he slept with his neighbor, who gave him a Steinway baby grand.
The nerdy brother, Alan, lives with Charlie. He drives a poopy car. He has to sponge off Charlie to buy popcorn at the movies. Yet he works very hard as a chiropractor. Once he even had to take a second job to pay his alimony.
It's real-world economics turned upside down. Charlie the slacker has everything. While Alan, the worker-bee, has almost nothing except a giant penny jar.
Anyway, the show is very funny.
If you're feeling really silly, you can find yourself laughing every two minutes. Unless you're a priggish economist like me.
For instance, I'm totally grumpy about Charlie's giant amount of disposable income. His life seems to be one big fat windfall gain.
However, according to economic theory, windfall gains are mostly saved -- not spent. Yet Charlie spends his money furiously.
But wait, I say to myself, maybe Charlie is borrowing to finance his lifestyle? No, I argue, nobody is going to lend money to a slacker like Charlie.
Or, wait! Charlie gambles a lot on sports. Maybe he wins big, too? Nah, unlikely. Most bettors are losers because bookies' odds are set pretty efficiently.
Well, my economist self usually debates with my silly self right through the first 20 minutes of the show. And so both selves miss 10 or 11 really good jokes.
Worse, if other people are watching, and I'm yelling out complaints, they miss the jokes, too.
But maybe that's the function of economists, to take the fun out of life.
Ah, I feel so much better.
RYSSDAL: Susan Lee is an economist in New York City.
Pages
I knew Charlie got his money from royalties from his jingles, but never thought much into it more than that. However, recently it started to bother me until I saw the episode "Young People Have Phlegm Too" where Charlie has a heart attack and admits to Allen that his lifestyle is a house of cards and he has two mortgages on his house.
Let's see. Lots of disposable income. Malibu. Maybe somethin' in showbiz? Elementary my dear Watson? Does someone need to be Sherlock Holmes to suspect showbiz? Maybe this is the kind of deductive reasoning a person needs to study 20th century American economic history and then write "Hands Off: Why the Government Is a Menace to Economic Health."
I'm with you, Ms. Lee. I love Two And A Half Men. It's sexist, rude, funny, and beautifully written. I hadn't thought of it as an economics lesson, but since you brought it up, I see that it is, but I'd suggest for much more positive reasons than those you cite.
First, as almost everyone else who commented here said, Charlie's back story is that he's an advertising jingle writer and a children's book author. So he collects royalties - which means he makes money while he sleeps - and isn't that sort of the entrepreneurial American dream: start your own business using your best talents so your income is not 100% tied to the sweat of your labor? Second, Charlie has no dependents, and since the show's set decorators have never made any noticeable changes to Charlie's house, I'm going to take a suspension-of-disbelief leap here and say that he spends minimal money on his living expenses so he can you-know-what it away on booze and women.
Brother Allan is the example of the standard "working stiff." He earns only the money his actual labor brings him and then pays out most of it in child support for his teenage son and in alimony to his first ex-wife, Judith. (At least he did, but maybe not anymore since she remarried.) And maybe also to his second ex, the ditsy Candy, though as far as I know the writers haven't said.
All this is to say that while I should probably be spending more time reading oh, say, your latest book, and less time watching tv sitcoms - if Two And A Half Men is teaching an economics lesson I think it's more on the order of "do what you love and the money will follow." And it's one of the funniest shows on tv. And today's Monday - which means it's on tonight!!! Woo-hoo!!! Can't wait to see what Chuck Lorre says on a future post-show vanity card about all this...
Of course Charlie works writing jingles for advertising and publishing children songs with unmentionable topics. So, are we to believe that you are a true fan of the show and continually missed this oft presented fact, or is this just another case of news media presenting partial truths to force economic conclusions??? BTW, I do agree, good show.
Susan Lee, you jump to all wrong conclusions, and you do it on public radio to make a fool of yourself. Apparently you saw a couple of episodes of a sitcom and feel you have something to say that is worth broadcasting on NPR. You don't have any idea what you're talking about. I watch "Two and a Half Men" and I will explain the show because you are clueless and nearly everything you said was wrong. Charlie is a musician and a composer and works as a successful commercial jingle writer. He also had a brief and very successful career as a performer of kids music. There have been some episodes about his work. You don't see either Charlie or Allen working very often because most of the show occurs during weekends. That is when Allen has his son Jake staying with him at Charlie's house. Allen works as a chiropractor and pays most of his income to his ex-wife as alimony and child support. His ex-wife also got the house in the divorce settlement. Now do you understand? You identify yourself as an economist, but you are probably a bad economist because you draw conclusions and even go public with them without sufficient information.
Susan,
Did you miss the episode of Two and a Half Men (Is There a Mrs. Waffles - 11/19/07) when we learned that Charlie makes his living writing advertising "jingles". My guess is he lives off contracts and royalties. This is a talent I do not have nor will I ever be able to develop. As an economist I am sure you have a better idea than I regarding how much this talent would on the open market today.
Emmy
Market Place Listener and Fellow Lover of Two and a Half Men
Pages
