Ashton Kutcher's Two and a Half Men Debut Gets Idol-Like Numbers: 27.76 Million

Two and a Half Men How curious were people about Ashton Kutcher replacing Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men? Some 27.76 million people tuned in - numbers that rival American Idol. VIDEO: The 6 best jokes from Charlie Sheen's Roast On the first official Monday of the 2011-12 TV season, the sitcom's Season 9 premiere snared a 10.3 rating among 18-to-49-year-olds - the highest ever for the program, and more than double that of Season 8's first episode. It's also the most-watched scripted debut since Desperate Housewives' second season start (which drew 28.36 million in September 2005). What did you think of Ashton Kutcher's Two and a Half Men debut? Drafting behind at 9:30/8:30 on Monday, the series debut of 2 Broke Girls was seen by 19.15 million (7.0 demo rating). Read our Dancing With the Stars recaps The two-hour, 13th season premiere of the irrepressible Dancing With the Stars entertained 18.57 million (3.9 demo rating, down 24 percent from last fall and its lowest-rated start of all time) - far outpacing the return of The Sing-Off, which managed to average just 5.20 million (1.9). And in the same 8-10 p.m. time slot, the championship finale of Hell's Kitchen lured 5.87 million (2.6). The Season 9 Hell's Kitchen winner is ... In the first hour of prime time, the season premiere of How I Met Your Mother pulled in 11.75 million fans (4.9 demo rating). Fall Preview: Get scoop on your favorite returning shows In prime time's final hour, the debut of NBC's The Playboy Club failed to attract many potential members - just 5 million and a 1.7 demo rating. With numbers like that (worse than last year's Chase) the Club is likely to be shuttered. ABC's surging Castle won the slot with 13.60 million viewers - a big jump from last year's 11.2 million - and 3.3 demo rating (up 22 percent), and CBS' sophomore reboot of Hawaii Five-0 (11.99 million/3.4) was down 13 percent.

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