Gratuitous Brunette: Jon Cryer

I'd like to think I'm not one of those people who tries to trap a star in amber, refusing to let them grow or develop beyond whatever adolescent crushes I might have had on them... For instance, as cute as Jason Bateman was in Silver Spoons - and he was - I'm just as comfortable perving on his tall, dark, and hilarious self in Arrested Development a generation later.

The same goes for Jon Cryer, who practically invented geek chic when he assayed the role of Duckie in Pretty in Pink opposite the scowl who walked like a girl (aka Molly Ringwald); but that doesn't mean I wasn't thrilled to see him resurface on television after some twenty years, courtesy of Two and a Half Men - a show I didn't want to like but that I ended up liking despite myself*.

Born on this day in 1965 to Broadway actors David and Gretchen Cryer, the world's foremost Matthew Broderick impersonator has been delighting audiences for a quarter of a century now, and shows no signs of slowing down... Although, the Sitcom Curse** being what it is, who knows where he might turn up next, or even if he and his career will even get a third act. One thing is certain - as long as there's a Pop Culture Institute Jon Cryer will have a following...

*Not to mention itself!
**The Sitcom Curse can be described as a combination of typecasting, burn-out, and the comfort that comes from earning fat residuals; it conveniently, if glibly, explains how an actor who's outstanding on one show can disappear from view entirely when it does.
*