Chuck Lorre: The king of sitcoms turns 70

His name may not be as well known as the series he created: Chuck Lorre, who will be celebrating his 70th birthday on October 18, has been the absolute king of sitcoms on US television for around 20 years now. At a time when the death of this classic TV genre is often being invoked, he created series such as “Two and a Half Men” (2003-2015), “The Big Bang Theory” (2007-2019) and most recently Spin -off “Young Sheldon” (since 2017) hit after hit. his annual earnings to $100 million. Lorre had already earned over a billion dollars from the licensing rights for his two biggest hits “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory” in 2012, even before the latter show’s huge global success.

Via the music business into sitcoms

Born in 1952 in upstate New York, Lorre originally wanted to be a musician, but ended up being “second-rate guitar player in third-rate bands playing in fourth-rate clubs”. In 1986 he therefore switched to television. “As a songwriter, I’ve always been fascinated by storytelling”. After starting out on “Roseanne” (1988-1997, Revival: 2018) starring Roseanne Barr (69), he created “Grace” (original title: “Grace Under Fire”, 1993-1998) and “Cybill ” (1995-1998) first own sitcoms, which were also very successful, but have tended to be forgotten nowadays.

With “Dharma & Greg” Chuck Lorre finds his recipe for success

In 1997, the fourth show created by Lorre, “Dharma & Greg,” premiered. The premise of the sitcom is as simple as it is captivating: hippie free spirit Dharma (Jenna Elfman, 51) falls in love with stuffy, structured and value-conscious lawyer Greg (Thomas Gibson, 60). The two get married and move in together. Due to the polarity of the main characters, doubled again in the parents’ generation, minor conflicts and thus laughter are inevitable – and an almost inexhaustible reservoir of stories for a long-lasting sitcom with a large number of episodes has been found.

Lorre would later pursue a similar concept of opposites on his even more popular sitcom, Two and a Half Men, which starred hedonistic, laid-back Charlie Harper, played by Charlie Sheen, 57, with his stuffy, overly correct brother, Alan (Jon Cryer, 57). ) lives under one roof. And the socially awkward physics nerds Sheldon (Jim Parsons, 49), Leonard (Johnny Galecki, 47) and Raj (Kunal Nayyar, 41) as well as engineer Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg, 41) meet in the zeitgeist hit “The Big Bang Theory” on her far more intelligent and joyful neighbor Penny, played by Kaley Cuoco (36).

Charlie Sheen’s sacking from ‘Two and a Half Men’

Chuck Lorre’s name will also be forever associated with Charlie Sheen’s inglorious departure from Lorre’s sitcom Two and a Half Men. After Sheen completed rehab in early 2011 and claimed to be drug-free, he insulted his boss on the radio show “The Alex Jones Show” by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones (48). At the time, he was earning two million US dollars per “Two and a Half Men” episode, and was unceremoniously replaced by Ashton Kutcher (44) so ​​that four more seasons of the hit series could be produced.

“The Big Bang Theory”: Chuck Lorre’s most successful sitcom

However, Lorre’s greatest success by far is the nerd sitcom “The Big Bang Theory”, for which Jim Parsons alone received four Emmys for best actor in a comedy series. Aside from the game of opposites mentioned above, this is where Lorre and his team hit the zeitgeist of the late 2000s, when it suddenly became cool – or at least interesting – to be a nerd interested in comics, superheroes, pop culture and the like.

However, Sheldon actor Parsons also sees the slow development of the main characters – compared to other sitcoms – as a secret of success. “It seems illogical, but I think what led to the development of the show and gave it depth is the excruciatingly slow pace at which [die Hauptfiguren] develop. I think that gives them realistic credibility.”

After his biggest success so far “The Big Bang Theory”, Lorre drew for some big sitcom hits like “Mike & Molly” (2010-2016), “Mom” (2013-2021) and the “The Big Bang Theory” offshoot “Young Sheldon” responsible. With “How to Be a Bookie” the next comedy series is already in the making – .