With Charlie Sheen's demise and Ashton Kutcher's introduction over and done with, Two and a Half Men was supposed get back to normal.
But it didn't:
A look at Monday's key TV ratings performances, including the series premieres of Hart of Dixie and Terra Nova:
STILL HUGE
• Two and a Half Men (20 million viewers, per estimates): The Lion King is back, and so are 1990s-sized audiences.
• 2 Broke Girls (11.6 million viewers): This time, the newbie impressed without Two and a Half Men's help. (Or, without Two and a Half Men's lead-in, at least. Across the board, CBS' Monday comedies, including Mike & Molly, which finally joined the fun last night, are way up from last fall.)
STILL NOT HUGE (OR, STILL NOT AS HUGE)
• Dancing With the Stars (16 million viewers): The overall numbers aren't bad; the comparisons are scary. Last night's episode was down more than 5 million viewers from the same ballroom night last year.
PAM AM WITH DINOSAURS
• Terra Nova (9 million viewers): Like a certain retro series, this Steven Spielberg adventure was mega-expensive. And like a certain retro series, this show got off to a good, though not mega-big, start.
IS THIS GOOD?
• Gossip Girl (1.4 million viewers) and Hart of Dixie (1.8 million viewers): Who knows what's considered a success on the CW these days. To the naked eye, these shows' season and series premieres, respectively, were sparsely, sparsely attended.
THIS CAN'T BE GOOD
• The Playboy Club (3.9 million viewers): For the second week, the other retro series was dead last among the Big Four networks' shows. Pretty soon, it may just be dead.