We watched it all the time, and loved it. The humor? About as close as you can or will get these days to implied humor without actually having the actual words being said like in so many other prime-time comdedies. So for us? It was adult humor, and while at times raunchy; still tongue in cheek.
I think the original cast of having two dysfunctional brothers and a dysfunctional Mother with a snarky housekeeper, and an underachieving son - an uptight, divorce/bi-curious exwife, and a neurotic dolt second husband? Goes well together as a mixed bag family that mirrors so many other famiilies in "essence". The fact that Charlie went off the deep end to me has nothing to do with the show. Unfortunate yes - but the producers didn't seem to me to allow the deep-end antics to become part of the show. Doggy-he man womanizer, with a drink in his hand? That was his personna from the git-go. Not talking all crazy about warlocks ruling his world. So the two to me didn't seem to meld at all. The fact that he earned two million an episode and now gets nothing but is suing makes him a complete idiot...but I'm not his manager, nor his counselor.
As far as Ashton Kutcher coming in? Wow....well - how hard that comparison huh? There isn't one. So I can't make one. He is NOT Charlie. I really thought WB's original idea of a "lost" brother would have been the way to go (rumored) and to have a billionaire, aire-head, hung like an elephant guy, just walk in and save the day, take over the house and Alan not say much? Well - Seriously how long CAN a show where two single men live in the same house go on unless one of them is doing something with women to keep people tuning in? You'd almost have to bring in a younger man to keep the place "rolling" as it were for an audience. Otherwise it's just a middle aged divorcee, his graduate kid, and some other mid thirties guy living in a house with occasional girlfriends - not much for a show there.
Rose will still have a "shot" at the new guy - with her quirky multiple personality and millions.....so they have something in common. Berta will still have a job. Mom will still get to do her thing.....so I guess we'll just have to see. I'm just hoping that Ashton finds a smart sound quickly because he has already played the dumb guy on That Seventies Show - and it got old quick. Then again you don't invent some software for Microsoft and sell it for billions by being a dummy -------so maybe there is a twist there. We'll just have to wait and see.
And yeah ------the dust buster thing......done to death. Would have rather seen Alan grab a leaf blower or open the sliding glass doors and have the ocean wind blow him out.......Something --------but the cool thing is ----he never really got cleaned up......think about it. They left.