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For All the Hassles Between Sheen and Lorre Over ‘Two and a Half Men’ CBS Winds Up With a Big Ratings Night; the Numbers Are Less Encouraging for NBC

Sep 20, 2011  •  Post A Comment

The season premiere of CBS’s “Two and a Half Men,” with Ashton Kutcher taking over for Charlie Sheen, was a big ratings winner Monday night, helping CBS win the night in the 18-49 demo, TVbytheNumbers.com reports.

NBC, meanwhile, had little to cheer about, with a low-rated two-hour season premiere for “The Sing-Off” followed by a ho-hum series bow for the much-hyped “The Playboy Club.”

“Men” pulled in 27.76 million total viewers, by far the most of any show on the night. The network fell just short of ABC for the night in total viewers, with CBS averaging 15.7 million to ABC’s 16.9 million. Both were well ahead of the competition, as Fox averaged 5.9 million and NBC had 5.1 million.

In the key battle for viewers in the 18-49 demo, CBS led comfortably for the night with a 5.7 average rating, ahead of ABC (3.7 average), Fox (2.5), NBC (1.8) and Univision (1.7).

Hour by hour, CBS won 8 p.m. in the 18-49 demo with the season premiere of "How I Met Your Mother" earning a 4.7 average rating, followed by a second episode of the show at 8:30 with a 5.1. That was better than ABC’s season premiere of "Dancing With the Stars," which averaged a 3.9 rating in the same demo for the hour. Hour one of Fox’s season finale of "Hell’s Kitchen" logged a 2.5 in the 18-49 demo, while the first part of NBC’s season premiere of "The Sing-Off" managed only a 1.9.

9 p.m. was dominated by CBS and "Two And A Half Men," with a whopping 10.3 average rating in the 18-49 demographic, followed by the debut of "2 Broke Girls" with a 7.0 in the same demo. Those two shows trounced hour two of "DWTS," which had a 3.9 in the 18-49 demo, and the remainder of the "Hell’s Kitchen" finale with a 2.6 in that demo. Hour two of "The Sing-Off" fell to a 1.8 in the 18-49 demo.

The 10 p.m. hour saw the season premiere of CBS’s "Hawaii Five-0" edging ABC’s "Castle" 3.4 to 3.25 in the 18-49 demographic. Wrapping up a grim night for NBC, the season bow of "The Playboy Club" lagged with a 1.6 for the hour in the 18-49 demo.

2 Comments

  1. Is anyone surprised about the bunnies? Their time was over 20 years ago and no woman, and most men, have no interest in revisiting. Another example of the need for real diversity in the management ranks at the Networks.

  2. I have to say of the whole evening, Three and a Half Men was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t know what to expect and liked how they addressed Charlie being killed and introducing Ashton to the show. Really liked him and can’t wait to see second half next week. Tuned into the first part of Dancing…but had to turn it off. Time to cancel that show.

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