Fish in a Drawer
Encyclopedia
"Fish in a Drawer" is the seventeenth episode of the fifth season
of Two and a Half Men
and the 113th episode overall. The episode was written by Evan Dunsky, Sarah Goldfinger
, Carol Mendelsohn
and Naren Shankar
, the writers of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
, who swapped shows with the writing staff of Two and a Half Men.
The episode revolves around Teddy Leopold (Robert Wagner
), who is found dead on Charlie's (Charlie Sheen
) bed during his mother's wedding reception. A crime scene investigation
crew searches Charlie's house, trying to find out who murdered Teddy. "Fish in a Drawer" aired May 5, 2008 on CBS
, and was watched by approximately thirteen million viewers. It was the night's third most watched show, behind CSI: Miami
and Dancing with the Stars
.
After the police arrive and examine the crime scene, Charlie, Alan, Evelyn, Berta, Courtney, and Jake are brought to the station for separate questioning. Charlie ends up being more obsessed with his attractive interrogator (Jamie Rose
), Alan is afraid of going to jail and can not talk straight, Evelyn spends more time complaining about their coffee, Berta turns out to be a waste of time and Jake talks about food. It gets clear pretty soon that Evelyn is an easy target, since almost all of her prior husbands had died. Evelyn mentions her first husband died from food poisoning, explaining she was a young bride and didn't know you couldn't "keep fish in a drawer".
After the files of Teddy and his daughter Courtney come back, the crime team discovers that their real names are Nathan Krunk and Sylvia Fishman, and they are not even related. It turns out that Sylvia and Nathan actually were con artists
. The crime team thought that Nathan was murdered, because of the bruise on the back of his head, but it was revealed that he died of a heart attack, while attempting to have sex with Sylvia. The bruise had occurred two days earlier, when he bumped his head while having sex with Sylvia. As the police lead Sylvia away, Charlie attempts to tell her off for conning him, but he can only manage to say "I'll wait for you."
, the creator of Two and a Half Men, contacted Carol Mendelsohn
, the show runner
of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
, about a crossover. The first reactions to this were that it was a stupid idea. CSI writer and executive producer Naren Shankar
commented that when Mendelsohn first told him about the idea he replied: "What a nut". However, that same year, the idea resurfaced, when Lorre and Mendelsohn met at the World Television Festival in Banff
. Upon hearing this, the cast of both shows were surprised and not interested, but they eventually jumped aboard. In an interview with The New York Post, before the idea was fully worked out, Mendelsohn described the possible crossover as "a great challenge".
When Mendelsohn was giving a talk, she accidentally mentioned the crossover, as a result Variety
was already inquiring about the crossover episodes that same day. Mendelsohn eventually revealed the crossover at the Banff
event in Canada
. After the episode was taped, Lorre stated: "The biggest challenge for us was doing a comedy with a murder in it. Generally our stories are a little lighter. Would our audience go with a dead body in it? There was a moment where it could have gone either way. I think the results were spectacular. It turned out to be a really funny episode." "Fish in a Drawer" was written by Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar and directed by Jeff Melman
. As an inside joke, George Eads
, who plays crime scene investigator Nick Stokes
on CSI made a cameo
as a guest at the wedding reception. Three days after the initial airing of "Fish in a Drawer", "Two And a Half Deaths
", the corresponding CSI episode, aired on CBS
. However, in an early Zap2it
interview, both Mendelsohn and Lorre stated that this might be the last time a crossover like this might occur.
, and was watched by 13.61 million viewers, making it the night's third most watched show, behind CSI: Miami
and Dancing with the Stars
. The episode was the fifth most watched program on CBS
in the week of May 5 to May 11, 2008. Allison Waldman of AOL
's TV Squad, stated that she found the corresponding CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode Emmy Award
worthy, while she found "Fish in a Drawer", "not rip-roaring, but still good". Andy Grieser of Zap2it
, said that he was attracted to the episode due to the news about the crossover, he stated he found the Faux-Catherine
"brilliant" and that "the grainy flashbacks were the best parts".
The episode was submitted for consideration for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Comedy Series, by Conchata Ferrell
, who portrayed Berta. The director of the episode, Jeff Melman
, submitted the episode for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series. Neither submission resulted in a nomination.
Two and a Half Men (Season 5)
The fifth season of Two and a Half Men originally aired on CBS from September 24, 2007 to May 19, 2008. A total of only 19 episodes were aired, due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Unlike the previous seasons, the Season 5 DVD came without a gag reel.-Writer's strike:Production on...
of Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
and the 113th episode overall. The episode was written by Evan Dunsky, Sarah Goldfinger
Sarah Goldfinger
Sarah Goldfinger was a television writer/producer for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, for Brothers and Sisters and for the new Hawaii Five-0.-Education:She graduated from Hampshire College with a BA in creative writing and literature....
, Carol Mendelsohn
Carol Mendelsohn
Carol Mendelsohn is a TV writer, notable for her work on the crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.-Education:Mendelsohn grew up in Chicago. She attended the Latin School Of Chicago. Also she went to Smith College, but later transferred and in 1973 graduated from Cornell University...
and Naren Shankar
Naren Shankar
Naren Shankar is a writer, producer and director of several television series. As a writer Shankar has contributed with works for Farscape, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Night Visions, The Outer Limits, The Chronicle, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, seaQuest 2032, and Star Trek: Voyager.After...
, the writers of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, who swapped shows with the writing staff of Two and a Half Men.
The episode revolves around Teddy Leopold (Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
), who is found dead on Charlie's (Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen
Carlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....
) bed during his mother's wedding reception. A crime scene investigation
Crime scene investigation
Crime scene investigation may refer to:* Forensic science, science used in determining facts during legal proceedings* CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a US television series...
crew searches Charlie's house, trying to find out who murdered Teddy. "Fish in a Drawer" aired May 5, 2008 on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, and was watched by approximately thirteen million viewers. It was the night's third most watched show, behind CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
and Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...
.
Plot
At the reception of Evelyn and Teddy's wedding, Charlie still wants to marry Courtney, his new stepsister, and decides to go up to his room with her. When they lie down on the bed, in the dark, Courtney discovers that she is lying on something, when Charlie turns on the light he finds Teddy lying dead on his bed with his pants around his knees, and lipstick on his "Who Who" When Charlie tells Alan, they find out they have an even bigger problem: telling their mother. After pulling Evelyn away from the piano, they tell her and she then cashes in their honeymoon tickets for a trip for one to Fiji before calling the police.After the police arrive and examine the crime scene, Charlie, Alan, Evelyn, Berta, Courtney, and Jake are brought to the station for separate questioning. Charlie ends up being more obsessed with his attractive interrogator (Jamie Rose
Jamie Rose
Jamie Rose is an American actress possibly best known for playing Vickie Gioberti in the prime time 1980s soap opera Falcon Crest. Rose played the role from 1981 to 1983, leaving at the beginning at the show's third season...
), Alan is afraid of going to jail and can not talk straight, Evelyn spends more time complaining about their coffee, Berta turns out to be a waste of time and Jake talks about food. It gets clear pretty soon that Evelyn is an easy target, since almost all of her prior husbands had died. Evelyn mentions her first husband died from food poisoning, explaining she was a young bride and didn't know you couldn't "keep fish in a drawer".
After the files of Teddy and his daughter Courtney come back, the crime team discovers that their real names are Nathan Krunk and Sylvia Fishman, and they are not even related. It turns out that Sylvia and Nathan actually were con artists
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
. The crime team thought that Nathan was murdered, because of the bruise on the back of his head, but it was revealed that he died of a heart attack, while attempting to have sex with Sylvia. The bruise had occurred two days earlier, when he bumped his head while having sex with Sylvia. As the police lead Sylvia away, Charlie attempts to tell her off for conning him, but he can only manage to say "I'll wait for you."
Production
In 2007, Chuck LorreChuck Lorre
Chuck Lorre is a writer, director, producer and composer who has created many American sitcoms, including Grace Under Fire, Cybill, Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory...
, the creator of Two and a Half Men, contacted Carol Mendelsohn
Carol Mendelsohn
Carol Mendelsohn is a TV writer, notable for her work on the crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.-Education:Mendelsohn grew up in Chicago. She attended the Latin School Of Chicago. Also she went to Smith College, but later transferred and in 1973 graduated from Cornell University...
, the show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, about a crossover. The first reactions to this were that it was a stupid idea. CSI writer and executive producer Naren Shankar
Naren Shankar
Naren Shankar is a writer, producer and director of several television series. As a writer Shankar has contributed with works for Farscape, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Night Visions, The Outer Limits, The Chronicle, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, seaQuest 2032, and Star Trek: Voyager.After...
commented that when Mendelsohn first told him about the idea he replied: "What a nut". However, that same year, the idea resurfaced, when Lorre and Mendelsohn met at the World Television Festival in Banff
Banff, Alberta
Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise....
. Upon hearing this, the cast of both shows were surprised and not interested, but they eventually jumped aboard. In an interview with The New York Post, before the idea was fully worked out, Mendelsohn described the possible crossover as "a great challenge".
When Mendelsohn was giving a talk, she accidentally mentioned the crossover, as a result Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
was already inquiring about the crossover episodes that same day. Mendelsohn eventually revealed the crossover at the Banff
Banff, Alberta
Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise....
event in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. After the episode was taped, Lorre stated: "The biggest challenge for us was doing a comedy with a murder in it. Generally our stories are a little lighter. Would our audience go with a dead body in it? There was a moment where it could have gone either way. I think the results were spectacular. It turned out to be a really funny episode." "Fish in a Drawer" was written by Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar and directed by Jeff Melman
Jeff Melman
Jeffrey L. Melman is an American television director and producer. Melman has directed for several present-day network television series. More recently Melman has directed episodes of ABC's Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Desperate Housewives...
. As an inside joke, George Eads
George Eads
George Coleman Eads III is an American actor, best known for his role as Nick Stokes on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.-Early life:...
, who plays crime scene investigator Nick Stokes
Nick Stokes
Nicholas "Nick" Stokes is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, portrayed by George Eads. Nick has appeared in every episode except for "Blood Lust" from season three, "Jackpot" and "Butterflied" from season four, "Committed" from season five, and "Spellbound"...
on CSI made a cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
as a guest at the wedding reception. Three days after the initial airing of "Fish in a Drawer", "Two And a Half Deaths
Two And a Half Deaths
"Two and a Half Deaths" is the sixteenth episode in the eighth season of the American crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation which is set in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It was written by Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn in a crossover between CSI and Two and a Half Men...
", the corresponding CSI episode, aired on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. However, in an early Zap2it
Zap2it
Zap2it is an American website and affiliate network that provides news, photos and video, local TV listings and movie showtimes. The site is produced by Tribune Media Services , part of the publishing division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...
interview, both Mendelsohn and Lorre stated that this might be the last time a crossover like this might occur.
Reception
"Fish in a Drawer" was broadcast on May 5, 2008 on CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, and was watched by 13.61 million viewers, making it the night's third most watched show, behind CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
and Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...
. The episode was the fifth most watched program on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in the week of May 5 to May 11, 2008. Allison Waldman of AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
's TV Squad, stated that she found the corresponding CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
worthy, while she found "Fish in a Drawer", "not rip-roaring, but still good". Andy Grieser of Zap2it
Zap2it
Zap2it is an American website and affiliate network that provides news, photos and video, local TV listings and movie showtimes. The site is produced by Tribune Media Services , part of the publishing division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...
, said that he was attracted to the episode due to the news about the crossover, he stated he found the Faux-Catherine
Catherine Willows
Catherine Willows is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, portrayed by Marg Helgenberger, who has received two Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations for the role...
"brilliant" and that "the grainy flashbacks were the best parts".
The episode was submitted for consideration for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Comedy Series, by Conchata Ferrell
Conchata Ferrell
Conchata Galen Ferrell is an American actress. She is best known for playing Berta the housekeeper in the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, for which she received two Emmy Award nominations in 2005 and 2007.-Personal life:...
, who portrayed Berta. The director of the episode, Jeff Melman
Jeff Melman
Jeffrey L. Melman is an American television director and producer. Melman has directed for several present-day network television series. More recently Melman has directed episodes of ABC's Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Desperate Housewives...
, submitted the episode for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series. Neither submission resulted in a nomination.