Cybill was an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre, which aired on CBS from January 2, 1995, to July 13, 1998. It starred Cybill Shepherd, and revolved around the life of Cybill Sheridan, a twice-divorced single mother of two and struggling actress in her 40s, who had never gotten her big show business break. Alicia Witt and Dedee Pfeiffer co-starred as Sheridan's daughters, with Alan Rosenberg and Tom Wopat playing their fathers each, while Christine Baranski appeared as Cybill's hard-drinking friend Maryann.

The sitcom was produced by Carsey-Werner Productions and YBYL Productions, with Shepherd, Lorre, Howard Gould, Jay Daniel, Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner serving as the show's original executive producers. Broadcast to critical praise, Cybill was nominated for twelve Emmy Awards throughout its run and awarded the 1996 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy. Shepherd won a third Golden Globe Award for her performance, while Baranski received an Emmy, a SAG and an American Comedy Award.

Premise[link]

Cybill takes place in Los Angeles, California, and focuses on the character of a somewhat faded actress Cybill Sheridan (played by Cybill Shepherd) who, because of her age, had been relegated to playing character roles, bit parts and TV commercials. Also featured are her daughters, headstrong Zoey (Alicia Witt) and uptight Rachel (Dedee Pfeiffer), her two ex-husbands, Ira (Alan Rosenberg) and Jeff (Tom Wopat), and her hard-drinking best friend Maryann (Christine Baranski). Due to the show's premise, many episodes featured a show-within-a-show format, showing Cybill Sheridan playing a variety of other characters in her various film and TV acting roles.

In her autobiography, Cybill Disobedience, Shepherd stated the Cybill character was based on herself—or, at least, what her life as an actress could have been without the successes of The Last Picture Show and Moonlighting. Many the show's details and situations were also mined from her own family, marriages and experiences.^[1]

Main cast[link]

• Cybill Shepherd as Cybill Sheridan^[2] – Cybill is an aging actress who has a had a varied, though mediocre career (which, even in her salad days, seems to have consisted primarily of television commercials and B-movies). She now finds that, due to her age, roles are becoming harder to find and that the quality of roles she is offered is diminishing. Her fortunes seem to vary over the course of the series. Sometimes she has consistent work and appears to be relatively wealthy; other times she scrambles to find and keep jobs, and seems to be struggling financially as well. Cybill is a rather eccentric feminist who practices New Age philosophy, as well as a native Southerner from Memphis, Tennesee. Her loud, public and honest rantings about female sexuality, her perkiness, bouts of outrage and hysteria, and her exhibitions of “down-home” Southern behavior often embarrass her two daughters, Zoey and Rachel. Cybill has a civil relationship with her ex-husbands Jeff and Ira, even tolerating their tendency to cling to her. She does sometimes spar, however, with Jeff over his past infidelities, and is quick to remind Ira of how controlling he was when they were married. Cybill's best friend is the wealthy, alcoholic divorcee Maryann Thorpe, whom she supports emotionally and assists in her bitter war with her ex-husband. Cybill's own rival, Andrea (played by Morgan Fairchild), has also often been the target of Cybill's own immature pranks and their enmity has resulted in personal humiliations, professional loss and injury on both sides. Cybill has a caustic sense of humour and an acid tongue. Although eccentric and flawed, Cybill's strength and wisdom shines through in her support of her family and friends.

• Christine Baranski as Maryann Thorpe^[2] – Cybill's best friend, she is a former receptionist—now fabulously wealthy due to her divorce settlement with her unfaithful ex-husband, celebrity plastic surgeon Richard Thorpe (an infrequently and never fully seen character, to whom she always refers to with a sneer as "Doctor Dick"). Maryann is a bored, bitter alcoholic who often seems unstable and emotionally dependent on Cybill. When she is not stalking her ex-husband and playing elaborate and destructive pranks on him, she spends lavishly, drinks and pursues younger men. She has a few healthy relationships with men of her own age over the course of the series, including Cybill's ex-husband Ira, but these do not last. She has a son, Justin (played by Danny Masterson), who infrequently visits. A passionate environmentalist with excessive liberal beliefs, he is at odds with her frivolous and extravagant lifestyle. Maryann's most consistent and healthy relationship is with Cybill. They seem to be endlessly sharing martinis in an upmarket Hollywood restaurant and are accomplices in each others' bad behaviour. Maryann seems to spend most of her time at Cybill's house and involving herself in Cybill's family life to alleviate her own boredom. Her caustic tongue vies with Cybill's, but her remarks are more inappropriate, bitter and cynical. She is, however, a constant support for Cybill at crucial moments.

• Alicia Witt as Zoey Woodbine^[2] – Cybill's younger daughter. A high-school teenager, Zoey is brilliant, rebellious and more sarcastic than her mother. She is a piano virtuoso (as is Witt) and hopes to attend the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. A self-imposed outcast, she is a vocal advocate of celibacy. In the later seasons, she is seen in an on-again-off-again relationship with Maryann's estranged son.

• Dedee Pfeiffer as Rachel Robbins Manning^[2] – Cybill's elder daughter. Uptight and pretentious, Rachel is married to Kevin Manning (played by Peter Krause), an equally uptight, untenured assistant professor from Boston. She is prone to outbursts of hysteria similar to her mother's, especially during her pregnancies of the first and fourth season. Rachel and Kevin's first child is a boy named William; the second is a girl, Amanda.

• Tom Wopat as Jeff Robbins^[2] – Cybill's first husband. Jeff is a Hollywood stuntman with a roving eye. Though his many indiscretions were the cause of the divorce, Cybill and Jeff still have a good relationship, bound together by their daughter and grandson (and the fact that Jeff lived over Cybill's garage in the early seasons of the show). Jeff is somewhat dim, making him a prime target for Zoey's dry wit, but possesses a good heart.

• Alan Rosenberg as Ira Woodbine^[2] – Cybill's second husband. Ira is the polar opposite of Cybill's first husband, Jeff. Unassuming and rather neurotic, he is a brilliant writer, though prone to "writer's block". His marriage to Cybill ended because he was unable to stop trying to control her life; even in divorce, he cannot help meddling in her life. For several episodes of the second season, he became involved with Maryann.

Reception[link]

Awards[link]

Cybill was nominated for twelve Emmy Awards throughout its entire run, winning three. Nominated for her performance in each season, Baranski was the only cast member to win an Emmy.^[3] Baranski also received an American Comedy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Viewers for Quality Television Award for her portrayal, while Shepherd was awarded the 1996 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.^[3] The same year, the sitcom also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy, its only win for both the crew and the cast.^[3]

Ratings[link]

The series got respectable ratings throughout its run, but was abruptly canceled by CBS at the end of the 1997-98 season, amid allegations by Shepherd that the network was uncomfortable with Cybill's feminist leanings and frank depiction of female sexuality.^[4]

Average seasonal ratings[link]

Episodes[link]

Episode Listing[link]

Season 1[link]

Season 2[link]

Season 3[link]

Season 4[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Syndication[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

• In the UK, Cybill is aired on Comedy Central (UK).
• In the United States, Cybill began airing on Lifetime Network in May, 2009. The series moved to TV Guide Network in fall 2011.

DVD releases[link]

Region 1[link]

On September 16, 2008, First Look Studios released Cybill the Collectors Edition, Vol. 1, a 2-disc best of DVD.^[8]

Region 2[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Anchor Bay Entertainment has released the entire series on DVD in the UK.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Cybill at the Internet Movie Database
• Cybill at TV.com
• Cybill at epguides.com

Cybill Shepherd
Shepherd at 42nd KVIFF, April 2007
Born	Cybill Lynne Shepherd (1950-02-18) February 18, 1950 (age 62) Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	1970–present
Spouse	David Ford (m. 1978–1982) «start: (1978)–end+1: (1983)»"Marriage: David Ford to Cybill Shepherd" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Cybill_Shepherd) Bruce Oppenheim (m. 1987–1990) «start: (1987)–end+1: (1991)»"Marriage: Bruce Oppenheim to Cybill Shepherd" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Cybill_Shepherd)
Partner	Peter Bogdanovich (1971-1978) Robert Martin (1994-1998)
Website
http://www.cybill.com/

Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950) is an American actress, singer and former model. Her best known roles include starring as Jacy in The Last Picture Show, as Betsy in Taxi Driver, as Madeleine Spencer in Psych, as Maddie Hayes in Moonlighting, as Cybill Sheridan in Cybill, and as Phyllis Kroll in The L Word.

Early life[link]

Shepherd was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Patty (née Shobe), a homemaker, and William Jennings Shepherd, who managed a home appliance business.^[1] Named after her grandfather Cy and her father Bill, Shepherd won the 1966 "Miss Teenage Memphis" contest at age 16, and the 1968 "Model of the Year" contest at age 18, making her a fashion star of the 1960s, resulting in fashion modeling work through high school and after.^[2]

Career[link]

According to Shepherd's autobiography, it was a 1970 Glamour magazine cover that caught the eye of film director Peter Bogdanovich. His then-wife Polly Platt, claimed that it was she who upon seeing the cover in a check-out line in a Ralphs grocery store in southern California, said "That's Jacy,"^[3] referring to the role Bogdanovich was casting — and ultimately offered to Shepherd — in The Last Picture Show (1971).

First experience of fame[link]

One of her first films was The Last Picture Show (1971 film), also starring Jeff Bridges and Timothy Bottoms.

Shepherd was cast opposite Charles Grodin in The Heartbreak Kid (1972). She played Kelly, the beautiful, sunkissed young woman whom Grodin's character falls for while on his honeymoon in Miami. Directed by Elaine May, it was a critical and box office hit.^[4]

Also in 1972, Shepherd posed as a Kodak Girl for the camera manufacturer's then ubiquitous cardboard displays.^[5]

In 1974, Shepherd released her debut studio album Cybill Does It...To Cole Porter for MCA Records^[6] and again teamed with Peter Bogdanovich for the title role in Daisy Miller, based on the Henry James novella. The film — a period piece set in Europe — proved to be a box office failure. Her next film, At Long Last Love (1975), a musical again directed by Bogdanovich, also flopped.

Shepherd returned with good reviews for her work in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976). According to Shepherd, Scorsese had requested a "Cybill Shepherd type" for the role. She portrayed an ethereal beauty with whom Robert De Niro's character, Travis Bickle, becomes enthralled.

After a series of less successful roles, including The Lady Vanishes, the remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1938 film of the same name, she dropped out of show business from 1978 to 1982.^[7]

Return to Hollywood[link]

Back from Memphis, Shepherd won the role of Colleen Champion in the night-time drama The Yellow Rose (1983), opposite Sam Elliott. Although critically acclaimed, the series lasted only one season.

A year later, Shepherd was cast as Maddie Hayes in ABC's Moonlighting (1985–1989), which became the role that would define her career. The producers knew that her role depended on having chemistry with her co-star, and she was involved in the selection of Bruce Willis. A lighthearted combination of mystery and comedy, the series won Shepherd two Golden Globe awards.^[8]

She starred in Chances Are (1989) with Robert Downey Jr. and Ryan O'Neal, receiving excellent reviews. She then reprised her role as Jacy in Texasville (1990), the sequel to The Last Picture Show (1971), as the original cast (including director Peter Bogdanovich) reunited 20 years after filming the original. She also appeared in Woody Allen's Alice (1990), and Eugene Levy's Once Upon a Crime (1992), as well as several television films.

In 1997, she won her third Golden Globe award^[8] for CBS' Cybill (1995–1998), a television sitcom, in which the title character—Cybill Sheridan, an actress struggling with hammy parts in B movies and bad soaps—was loosely modeled on herself (including portrayals of her two ex-husbands).

In 2000, Shepherd's bestselling autobiography was published, titled Cybill Disobedience: How I Survived Beauty Pageants, Elvis, Sex, Bruce Willis, Lies, Marriage, Motherhood, Hollywood, and the Irrepressible Urge to Say What I Think, written in collaboration with Aimee Lee Ball.^[9]

In 2003, she guest-starred on 8 Simple Rules as Cate Hennessy's (portrayed by Katey Sagal) sister.

She has played Martha Stewart in two television films: Martha, Inc.: The Story of Martha Stewart (2003) and Martha: Behind Bars (2005).

From 2007, Shepherd has been appearing on the Showtime drama, The L Word as the character Phyllis Kroll. In 2008, she joined the cast of the USA Network television series Psych as Shawn Spencer's mother, Madeleine Spencer.

On November 7, 2008, TV Guide reported that Shepherd will guest-star in a February episode of the CBS drama Criminal Minds.^[10]

In the fall of 2010, Shepherd appeared in an episode of ABC's new show, No Ordinary Family.^[11]

In November 2010, Shepherd guest-starred in an episode of CBS' $h*! My Dad Says.^[12]

Political activism[link]

Throughout her career, Shepherd has been an outspoken activist for issues such as gay rights^[13] and abortion rights.^[14][15] In 2009, Shepherd was honored by the Human Rights Campaign in Atlanta to accept one of two National Ally for Equality awards.^[16] She has been an advocate for same-sex marriage^[17] and parental rights.^{[citation needed]}

She was present at the opening of the National Civil Rights Museum in her hometown of Memphis, for which she lent some financial support.^[18]

Personal life[link]

In her autobiography^[19] she revealed that in 1978 she called her mother, crying, unhappy with the way her life and career were going, to which her mother replied "Cybill, come home." She went home to Memphis where she met and began dating local auto parts dealer and nightclub entertainer David M. Ford. She became pregnant and they married that year. Their daughter Clementine Ford was born in 1979 but the marriage ended in divorce in 1982.

In 1987 she became pregnant by chiropractor Bruce Oppenheim and married him, giving birth to twins Cyrus Zachariah and Molly Ariel Shepherd-Oppenheim^[1] during the fourth season of Moonlighting. They were divorced in 1990. By 1996, she was engaged with Bobby Martin, a multi-instrumentalist who played with Frank Zappa.

Sexuality[link]

Shepherd has revealed her sexual curiosity and desire in various interviews about having a physical relationship with a woman. In 2006, in an interview about The L Word she said more than once that she was "turned on" by the woman-woman sex scenes: "If you look at what we know about men, women and our sexuality, a great majority of people are bisexual. So what's wrong with that?"^[20]

She also said in an interview: "I have wondered about lesbianism ... At various times in my life I wanted to be open to the possibility of having a woman as a lover. I am not actively pursuing it but it is not over yet."^[21] She has confessed to having a longtime crush on Salma Hayek and admits to having fantasized about her.^[22]

Religious beliefs[link]

Shepherd has described her religious beliefs as "a goddess-worshipping Christian Pagan Buddhist".^[23]

Autobiography[link]

Shepherd made the following claims in her autobiography:^[19]

• She dated Elvis Presley in the early 1970s and cared for him but could not handle his dependence on drugs and ultimately chose her boyfriend, film director Peter Bogdanovich, over Presley.
• She agreed to a date with actor Jack Nicholson to make Bogdanovich jealous. She later canceled the date and Nicholson would not speak to her again, except to say "hi" at a party many years later.
• She did not like working with Charles Grodin on The Heartbreak Kid (1972), and that it took her several years to like him enough to have a one-night stand with him.
• Robert De Niro asked her out during the filming of Taxi Driver (1976). She turned him down, and he did not speak to her, except in character, for the rest of the filming.
• She had a sexual encounter with co-star Don Johnson during the making of the television miniseries The Long, Hot Summer (1985).
• The jazz musician Stan Getz came on to her during a recording session for her album but she declined and he did not speak to her.
• She and her Moonlighting costar Bruce Willis almost became lovers off-screen but they agreed that it would hurt the series so they chose not to consummate their relationship on a physical level.

Award nominations[link]

Emmy Awards[link]

Nominations:

• 1986 - Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series - Moonlighting
• 1995 - Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series - Cybill
• 1996 - Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series - Cybill
• 1997 - Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series - Cybill

In her autobiography,^[19] Shepherd addressed rumors that she was jealous of her co-stars Bruce Willis and Christine Baranski for winning Emmy awards while she has not: "The grain of truth is this: Who doesn't want to win an Emmy?"

Golden Globe Awards[link]

Wins:

• 1985 - Best Actress in a TV series, Comedy/Musical - Moonlighting
• 1986 - Best Actress in a TV series, Comedy/Musical - Moonlighting
• 1995 - Best Actress in a TV series, Comedy/Musical - Cybill

Nominations:

• 1971 - Most Promising Newcomer (Female) - The Last Picture Show
• 1987 - Best Actress in a TV series, Comedy/Musical - Moonlighting
• 1996 - Best Actress in a TV series, Comedy/Musical - Cybill

Filmography[link]

• The Last Picture Show (1971)
• The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
• Daisy Miller (1974)
• At Long Last Love (1975)
• Taxi Driver (1976)
• Special Delivery (1976)
• Aliens From Spaceship Earth (1977)
• Silver Bears (1978)
• The Lady Vanishes (1979)
• Americathon (1979)
• The Return (1980)
• Chances Are (1989)
• Texasville (1990)
• Alice (1990)
• Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas (1991) (documentary)
• Married to It (1991)
• Once Upon a Crime... (1992)
• The Last Word (1995)
• The Muse (1999)
• Marine Life (2000)
• Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003) (documentary)
• Signs and Voices (2004) (short subject)
• Open Window (2006)
• Hard Luck (2006)
• Barry Munday (2009)
• Another Harvest Moon (2009)
• Listen to Your Heart (2009)
• 4Chosen (2010)
• Expecting Mary (2010)

Television credits[link]

• A Guide for the Married Woman (1978)
• Fantasy Island (1983)
• The Yellow Rose (1983–1984)
• Masquerade (1983) (pilot for a series which Shepherd did not appear in)
• Secrets of a Married Man (1984)
• Moonlighting (1985–1989)
• Seduced (1985)
• The Long Hot Summer (1985)
• Which Way Home (1991)
• Memphis (1992) (also executive producer and writer)
• Stormy Weathers (1992) (also executive producer)
• Telling Secrets (1993)
• There Was a Little Boy (1993)
• Baby Brokers (1994)
• While Justice Sleeps (1994)
• Cybill (1995–1998) (also executive producer)
• Journey of the Heart (1997) (also co-executive producer)
• Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus (2000–2001)
• Due East (2002)
• Martha, Inc.: The Story of Martha Stewart (2003)
• 8 Simple Rules (2003)
• I'm With Her (2004)
• Detective (2005)
• Martha: Behind Bars (2005)
• The L Word (2007) as Phyllis Kroll
• Psych (2008–2010) as Madeleine Spencer
  • Ghosts (3.01)
  • Murder? ... Anyone? ... Anyone? ... Bueller? (3.02)
  • An Evening with Mr. Yang (3.16)
  • Yang 3 in 2D (5.16)
• Samantha Who? (2008)
• Alligator Point
• Criminal Minds (2009)
• High Noon (2009)
• Mrs. Washington Goes to Smith (2009)
• Eastwick (2009) as Eleanor Rougement
• The Client List (2010)
• Drop Dead Diva (2010)
• $h*! My Dad Says (2010)
• No Ordinary Family (2010)
• The Client List (2012)
• Hot In Cleveland (2012)

Album Discography[link]

• Cybill Does It...To Cole Porter (1974)^[24]
• At Long Last Love: Film Soundtrack (1975) - Cybill sings various songs
• Mad About The Boy (1976)
• Vanilla (1979)
• Cybill Does It...To Cole Porter (1974)
• Moonlighting: TV Soundtrack (1987) - Cybill sings "Blue Moon" & "I Told Ya I Love Ya, Now Get Out"
• Somewhere Down The Road (1990)
• Talk Memphis To Me (1997)
• Songs From The Cybill Show (1999)
• Live At The Cinegrill (2001)
• At Home With Cybill (2004)

References[link]

External links[link]

For the official website, see the Infobox

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cybill Shepherd

• Cybill Shepherd at the Internet Movie Database
• Time Out New York: Interview with Cybill Shepherd, January 4-10, 2007
• Talk Memphis To Me - A British Cybill Shepherd fan website

Chuck Lorre
Lorre in September 2011
Born	Charles Michael Levine (1952-10-18) October 18, 1952 (age 59) Bethpage, Long Island, New York
Occupation	Writer, television producer, composer, television director, production manager
Years active	1984–present
Notable work(s)	Grace Under Fire Cybill Dharma & Greg Two and a Half Men The Big Bang Theory
Salary	$35 million (2011)[1]
Spouse	Karen Witter (2001–2010)
Children	2
Awards	BMI Television Music Awards 2004, 2005, 2008
Website
ChuckLorre.com

Chuck Lorre (born Charles Michael Levine October 18, 1952)^[2] is an American writer, director, producer and composer. Lorre has created many American sitcoms including Grace Under Fire, Cybill, Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory. Lorre also served as an executive producer of the sitcom Roseanne, and currently serves as an executive producer for CBS's Mike & Molly.

Early life[link]

Lorre attended State University of New York at Potsdam, dropping out after two years to pursue a career as a songwriter.^[2]

Career[link]

After leaving school, Lorre toured the United States as a guitarist and songwriter.^[3] He wrote Deborah Harry's radio hit single "French Kissin' in the USA" for the 1986 Rockbird album.^[3] Lorre also composed the soundtrack to the 1987 television series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Dennis Challen Brown.^[4][5][6]

Lorre shifted into writing, being a writer on the show Roseanne. Lorre's first show as creator was the ABC sitcom Grace Under Fire, starring comedienne Brett Butler.^[3] It premiered on ABC in 1993, and was nominated at the 52nd Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.

Lorre's next project was the sitcom Cybill, starring Cybill Shepherd. The show aired for four seasons on CBS and received critical acclaim, winning an Emmy in 1995: Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy series for co-star Christine Baranski and 2 Golden Globe Awards in 1996: Best TV series (Musical or Comedy) and Best Actress in a TV series (Musical or Comedy) for Shepherd's performance as Cybill Sheridan. Lorre's next project, Dharma & Greg, was conceived in 1997, one year before the end of Cybill.^[2] The show starred Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as the title characters, whose characters were felt by loyal watchers to smolder with warmth and tension as they grappled with challenges of conventional couple-dom for the show's duration.

In 2003, Lorre co-created Two and a Half Men with Lee Aronsohn. The show focuses on two brothers, Charlie (Charlie Sheen) and Alan (Jon Cryer). Charlie is a rich, successful Hollywood composer/producer and womanizer who owns a beach house in Malibu. When Alan gets a divorce, he is forced to move into Charlie's house. Alan also has a son, Jake (Angus T. Jones) the "half" who comes to visit the brothers on weekends. The series premiered on CBS in September 2003 and has become the most popular sitcom in America.^[2] As of the 2010–11 season, Two and a Half Men would have completed eight seasons. In February 2011, however, CBS canceled the production of the rest of the eighth season, following several incidents of production shutdowns allegedly due to Sheen's problems with substance abuse, the last of which culminated in Sheen's verbal attacks directed at Lorre in a radio interview.^[7][8] Sheen ended up being fired from Two and a Half Men,^[9] and because of this, he later filed a $100 million lawsuit against Lorre and Warner Bros. Television.^[10] In May 2011 it was announced that Ashton Kutcher would replace Sheen as the lead of the show. His character's name is Walden Schmidt. Kutcher made his debut in the season 9 premiere on September 19, 2011.

In 2007, Lorre co-created The Big Bang Theory with Bill Prady. The show follows two nerdy physicists living next door to an attractive young woman. Each episode usually focuses on the daily lives of the men and two of their equally nerdy friends, with a dose of absurdity from the relationship with their normal neighbor. The two main protagonists, Sheldon and Leonard, are named after the actor and television producer Sheldon Leonard.^[11] The show is the second highest rated comedy series in America.^[3]

Lorre's most recent production Mike & Molly premiered on CBS in September 2010.^[12]

Vanity cards[link]

Lorre in 2007

On the vanity card for Chuck Lorre Productions at the end of every episode of Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory and Mike & Molly, Lorre includes a message that usually reads like an editorial, essay, or observation on life. A typical card might include a range of topics as diverse as what the Bee Gees never learned, the cancellation of Dharma & Greg, the competence of AOL Time Warner management, and the genesis of Two and a Half Men.

The card is shown for only a few seconds at most, so longer messages cannot be read unless recorded and paused, although Lorre now posts the cards on his website. CBS has censored Lorre's vanity cards on several occasions;^[13] Lorre posts both the censored and uncensored versions of the cards.

Several of the cards became prominent elements of the Charlie Sheen incident.^[14]

The vanity card used on Grace under Fire and Cybill featured a wooden desk with an Apple Macintosh SE.

The vanity cards often are unapologetic in support of President Obama.

Selected credits[link]

Lorre in September 2008

• Roseanne, 1990–1992, (writer, co-executive producer / supervising producer)
• Grace Under Fire, 1993–1998 (creator, writer, co-executive producer / supervising producer)
• Cybill, 1995–1998 (creator, writer and executive producer)
• Dharma & Greg, 1997–2002 (creator, writer, executive producer)
• Two and a Half Men, 2003–present (creator, writer, executive producer)
• The Big Bang Theory, 2007–present (creator, writer, executive producer)
• Mike & Molly, 2010–present (executive producer, writer)

Show crossovers[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2011)

Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory are both taped at the Warner Brothers lot, in adjacent stages; the shows share several writers and technical crews.^[15] The Big Bang Theory has cast several actors from Lorre's past, starting with Johnny Galecki from Roseanne (he was Darlene's boyfriend and later husband).^[16] Sara Gilbert, who played Darlene on Roseanne, was Leslie Winkle on Big Bang. Laurie Metcalf, who played Jackie in Roseanne, plays Sheldon's mother Mary. Christine Baranski, Emmy Award winner on Cybill, was cast as Leonard's mother.

Also on The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon, Leonard and Penny are seen watching Oshikuru: Demon Samurai. Oshikuru was the show for which the character Charlie Harper wrote the theme song on Two and a Half Men. Charlie Sheen's character also makes a cameo appearance in the Big Bang episode "The Griffin Equivalency".

Jon Cryer of Two and a Half Men appeared in one episode of Dharma & Greg. Jenna Elfman, Susan Sullivan, and Joel Murray of Dharma & Greg also appeared in various episodes of Two and a Half Men. In the eighth episode of the fifth season of Two and a Half Men ("Is There a Mrs. Waffles?") Charlie watches Dharma & Greg after watching the first commercial for his CD. In the first episode of the ninth season after Charlie Sheen got fired from the show, Dharma & Greg were one of the couples looking over Charlie's house, which is on sale.

Awards and recognition[link]

Lorre won BMI Television Music Awards in 2004, 2005, and 2008 for Two and a Half Men.

On March 12, 2009, Lorre received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[17] Three months later, Lorre received an honorary degree from the State University of New York at Potsdam and gave a keynote address at the graduation.^[18]

Lorre was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in March 2012.

Personal life[link]

Lorre is Jewish. He was married to actress and former Playboy Playmate Karen Witter for 10 years but divorced in July 2010^[19][20]. He has two children.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chuck Lorre

• Chuck Lorre Productions
• Chuck Lorre at the Internet Movie Database
• The New Yorker profile of Chuck Lorre (December 2010)