The Massive Premiere Ratings of 'Two and a Half Men'

Going into last night's set of premieres, one big question lingered: how would "Two and a Half Men" fare without Charlie Sheen?

Answer: quite well, thank you.

Last night's premiere, which was the first without Charlie Sheen and with Ashton Kutcher in his place, drew 27.7 million viewers total, with a 10.3 rating in the demo. For comparison, last year's premiere saw 14.6 million and a 4.9, meaning that this premiere almost doubled those numbers.

It would seem that the Charlie Sheen circus paid off. Sheen's meltdown was his final gift to the show, bringing it massive amounts of free publicity (well, free if you don't count Sheen's upcoming settlement) and piquing the interest of scores of non-fans who possibly had never watched an episode before last night.

The question now is what the numbers will look like going forward. This seems unsustainable, and it's likely that there will be a sizable dip in viewership as those who just tuned in for curiosity's sake will go back to whatever else they did on Monday nights. However, getting people to even watch one episode of your show is a plus, and "Two and a Half Men" could see a season-long boost as a result of this big first episode.