One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
'Two and a Half Men' Kills, In Both Plotline and Ratings
Last night's season premiere of "Two and a Half Men," the first time Ashton Kutcher showed up onscreen to replace Charlie Sheen, drew 27.7 million viewers, which is a record for the show, according to CBS News.
The episode featured the highly-touted introduction of Ashton Kutcher's character, Walden Schmidt, there to replace now-deceased Charlie Harper, played by Charlie Sheen. In case you have arranged your living quarters under a boulder for the past year, Sheen was fired by the show's producers over his drug use and erratic behavior, then spent a few months spewing manic public rants about the show's executive team, then sued the show for $100 million.
According to the Huffington Post, "Two and a Half Men" creator Chuck Lorre took the season premiere as an opportunity to get back at Sheen for all the trash-talking Lorre endured.
During Harper's onscreen funeral, one woman claimed that she wanted to spit in his coffin while others yelled out the names of STDs they got from him, and later the character was referred to as lacking dignity and exploding "like a balloon full of meat" when he died by being hit by a train.
It's tough to say whether the show will keep up this initial audience. Commenters at the New York Times, for instance, were nearly unanimous in saying that Ashton Kutcher wasn't funny and that the show won't be as good without Sheen, but MTV has a roundup of quotes from critics who say that he did just fine.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
