BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — When "Two and a Half Men" premiered two years ago, it hardly seemed possible that Rose, the character played by Melanie Lynskey, could remain part of the cast for long.
After all, Rose was stalking Charlie (Charlie Sheen). After a one-night stand, she was obsessed with the guy, often sneaking into his house. And she's his neighbor.
But as the hit sitcom prepares to enter its third season, Rose and Lynskey are still there, still very much a part of the ensemble, still very funny.
Is Rose crazy?
"No, of course not," Lynskey said. "She's perfectly sane.
"It's like she lives in her own little funny category. Everything she does comes out of such pure intentions in such a well-meaning way."
Creator/executive producer Chuck Lorre describes Rose as "a character of unconditional love. It's just it doesn't have any boundaries, unfortunately."
Rose does some nutty stuff, and there have been some surprises along the way. Not only is she independently wealthy but she's extremely bright — she has graduate degrees in psychology.
But she's still sort of nutty.
"She can do anything. I never get letters where people say, 'Oh, your character's so crazy,' " Lynskey said. "When I see people on the street, everyone just says, 'She's so sweet and so adorable.' "
While stalking wouldn't seem an obvious source of humor, Rose isn't an obvious stalker. She's harmless and has become a friend, of sorts, to both Charlie and his brother, Alan (Jon Cryer).
"There's no sort of menace or anything. There's nothing frightening about her," Lynskey said. "So it sort of makes her a little bit less crazy. It's like she just doesn't know what's wrong about it."
Rose seems like a bright, charming, weird American girl. Even though Lynskey herself is a New Zealander who's affecting an American accent.
"She came in and introduced herself in her normal speaking voice and then did a perfect American accent," Lorre said.
"The voice is helpful because it's so different to me," Lynskey said. "There's kind of, like, a demeanor rather than a phrase. There's a sort of brightness and happiness, which is sort of a little bit wrong" in most situations.
"And the costumes are also another thing. . . . I put them on and it's not me anymore."
"There's really a wide realm of what's possible with that character," Lynskey said. "I feel so lucky just to get this crazy, wonderful dialogue and not knowing what's she's going to come up with. It's fun."
Even after two seasons on one of TV's top-rated shows, she's not exactly a household name in America. But Lynskey is no novice — at the age of 16, she starred in the award-winning film "Heavenly Creatures."
"She was just staggeringly good," Lorre said. "We laughed so much when she auditioned for the part. But she also brought a gentleness to this character that was not necessarily on the page and took it far beyond where we anticipated.
"That's a gift. I mean, I think you're looking at a whole cast of actors who bring far more to the parts than originally envisioned, which is why the show is successful. Melanie did the same thing. She made the part genuinely lovable and wonderful."
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com