'Two and a Half Men' Ratings Soar in Season Premiere
The "Two and a Half Men" season premiere aired Monday night, and the ratings went through the roof. This was the first episode of the show since Charlie Sheen was fired, and apparently viewers were quite interested in seeing what Ashton Kutcher could do with his new starring role.
According to Entertainment Weekly, "Two and a Half Men" brought in 27.7 million viewers for its Sept. 19 episode. That number represents the highest-rated season premiere of a scripted show since the series premiere of "Desperate Housewives" on ABC. The best news for CBS and the show-runners is that the rating for adults 18-49 (the key demographic for advertisers) was 10.3. Both numbers set an all-time record for the show, and helped CBS to an easy victory over the other networks Monday night.
The news of how well the season nine opener did is bigger than the show succeeding without Sheen. Typically in the fall the most watched show on television is "Dancing With the Stars," which ironically was premiering at the same time Kutcher was debuting. ABC only drew 18.6 million estimated viewers for the premiere, sporting only a 3.9 mark in the key demographic of 18-49.
That's a tick down from the 20.99 million viewers estimated to have watched the 2010 fall premiere. Maybe it has to do with the cast this year, but CBS would probably like to believe these numbers are due to added interest in Kutcher.
For anyone assuming "Two and a Half Men" was going to take a dip in viewers after Sheen left the show, the numbers from the first week are pointing in a different direction. It's entirely possible this is due to all of the buzz that took place over the summer; by having the show in the news nearly every day, more viewers ended up learning about it. How the show performs in week two might be even more important, as it will dictate what the audience thought about Kutcher's debut.
The immediate impact of CBS drawing more viewers to the 9 p.m. time slot was a bigger audience was watching the debut of the new comedy "2 Broke Girls" at 9:30 p.m. The series premiere drew an estimated 19.1 million viewers (7.0 mark in 18-49) and could easily become the biggest debut of a new show this year.
According to Entertainment Weekly, "Two and a Half Men" brought in 27.7 million viewers for its Sept. 19 episode. That number represents the highest-rated season premiere of a scripted show since the series premiere of "Desperate Housewives" on ABC. The best news for CBS and the show-runners is that the rating for adults 18-49 (the key demographic for advertisers) was 10.3. Both numbers set an all-time record for the show, and helped CBS to an easy victory over the other networks Monday night.
The news of how well the season nine opener did is bigger than the show succeeding without Sheen. Typically in the fall the most watched show on television is "Dancing With the Stars," which ironically was premiering at the same time Kutcher was debuting. ABC only drew 18.6 million estimated viewers for the premiere, sporting only a 3.9 mark in the key demographic of 18-49.
That's a tick down from the 20.99 million viewers estimated to have watched the 2010 fall premiere. Maybe it has to do with the cast this year, but CBS would probably like to believe these numbers are due to added interest in Kutcher.
For anyone assuming "Two and a Half Men" was going to take a dip in viewers after Sheen left the show, the numbers from the first week are pointing in a different direction. It's entirely possible this is due to all of the buzz that took place over the summer; by having the show in the news nearly every day, more viewers ended up learning about it. How the show performs in week two might be even more important, as it will dictate what the audience thought about Kutcher's debut.
The immediate impact of CBS drawing more viewers to the 9 p.m. time slot was a bigger audience was watching the debut of the new comedy "2 Broke Girls" at 9:30 p.m. The series premiere drew an estimated 19.1 million viewers (7.0 mark in 18-49) and could easily become the biggest debut of a new show this year.
Published by Ryan Christopher DeVault
Born in Seattle, Washington, I am a 31 year old college graduate working in the field of Education and Research. I am also a professional freelance writer and news content provider. I can be reached at... View profile
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1 Comments
Post a CommentI think the ratings will quickly go down. Forgiving fans like me will continue to watch to see where it goes. However most people I spoke with only watched out of curiosity and were never really into the original. I'm so OVER DWTS though, just bored of that show and how many hours of time you need to keep up with. I'd rather 30 mins of 2.5 men!