Two and a Half times the ratings

Charlie Sheen (middle) makes an ash of himself on Two and a Half Men

Continuing the dick jokes from last night’s Two and a Half Men, knew it would be huge, but that big? CTV scored an overnight, estimated audience of 4,906,000 viewers across Canada for the ninth season premiere of Two and a Half Men. It is the largest audience ever for the series in Canada and among the biggest draws of all of 2011.
Charlie Sheen’s meltdown last spring, the well-hyped debut of Ashton Kutcher and the secrecy surrounding the storyline helped goose numbers on both sides of the border. CBS pulled 27.7 million for the episode, its highest score there as well and a tally sure to increase once PVR viewers are counted.
CTV-owned Comedy Network benefited from a well orchestrated Sheen-a-thon of marketing to score an additional 1,321,000 viewers at 10 p.m. for the Charlie Sheen Comedy Roast.
The new comedy airing directly after the 2Men megashow enjoyed a big leg up. Whitney drew 2,004,000 overnight, estimated, out-of-simulcast CTV viewers. Castle at 10 opened its season to 1,965,000.
The tidal wave of Sheen-sanity clobbered some competitors but not everybody. CBC took the biggest hit with their high road TV-movie John A. Birth of a Country managing 448,000 from 8 to 10 p.m.
Global wisely slummed at 9 with a rerun of House (348,000) and found plenty of viewers at 8 for NCIS (1,291,000) and especially at 10 for the season premiere of Hawaii FIVE-0 (1,908,000).
City also benefited from CBS’s monster night, starting at 8 with back-to-back How I Met Your Mother (950,000, 1,015,000), a throw-a-way rerun of Happy Endings opposite Men (147,000) then a strong start (964,000) for the new CBS comedy 2 Broke Girls (which followed Men in simulcast Stateside and pulled 19.15. mil there).
At 10 p.m., the rabbit died opposite all that Men heat with The Playboy Club getting off to a 485,000 start on City.