CBS gets raunchy on four sitcoms

Associated Press

PASADENA, Calif.

Last week seemed typical for CBS’ sitcoms on Monday night, television’s most popular — and raunchy — night of comedy.

There was a strip club visit on “How I Met Your Mother,” lap dance included. The stars of “2 Broke Girls” mistakenly believed an upstairs neighbor ran a brothel. “Two and a Half Men” included jokes about masturbation, oral sex, sex with moms, trading cigarettes for sex and two scenes with loud noises of passion from behind closed doors.

A quick count found 53 sex jokes on the network’s four comedies, which includes “Mike & Molly.” There were also nine jokes about flatulence or bowel movements, and two scenes where marijuana use was clearly implied — one with a teen-age boy and the other with an older woman.

The subject matter leaves some viewers queasy, such as Amanda St. Amand, mother of two college students from St. Louis. She said the shows go past raunchy fun to just plain raunchy. She rarely watches them anymore.

CBS and producers of the comedies strongly defend their work and point to the shows’ success as evidence they’re doing something right. “Two and a Half Men” is TV’s favorite comedy, “How I Met Your Mother” has its best ratings ever in its seventh year and “2 Broke Girls” is a breakout freshman hit. The four shows are among the seven most popular comedies on prime-time television this season, the Nielsen ratings company said.

“2 Broke Girls” creator Michael Patrick King reacted strongly when he was questioned about jokes in his show regarding anal sex.

“It’s 8:30 on Monday on CBS in 2012,” said King. “It’s a very different world than 8:30 on Monday on CBS in 1994. ... I consider our jokes really classy dirty. I think they’re high lowbrow. I think they’re fun and sophisticated and naughty, and I think everybody likes a good naughty joke.”