You Gotta Love Charlie Sheen—er, Right?

Two and a Half Men ratings not arrested by star's domestic-violence arrest; Biggest Loser, Bachelor start new year—and new seasons—strong

By Joal Ryan Jan 06, 2010 8:40 PMTags
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half MenGreg Gayne/CBS

Did you give up your Charlie Sheen habit for New Year's? Are you back on with The Bachelor and The Biggest Loser? And why is Lindsay Lohan stuck in her own personal Groundhog Day?

The answers—and more questions—in the first TV ratings quiz of 2010:

1. Has Sheen's domestic-violence arrest arrested Two and a Half Men's Nielsen development? Nope. The CBS sitcom has added viewers in each of its two (rerun) airings since Sheen's unmerry Christmas Day.

2. Did you keep your resolution to work out watch The Biggest Loser? Yup. Last night's season opener (estimated 11.7 million viewers) pulled the franchise's biggest-ever premiere audience among the demographically desirable (who, presumably, could benefit from doing a sit-up or two).

3. Wasn't the Jason Mesnick mess supposed to have turned you off to The Bachelor? Yeah, right. Monday's season 14 premiere (estimated 9.5 million) was up over the 2009 Mesnick opener.

4. When did you step off the Conveyor Belt of Love? Shortly after The Bachelor ended. The Monday night ABC special (estimated 6.5 million) lost 1 million viewers from its first gimmicky half-hour to its last.

5. Why will it always be 1998 for Lindsay Lohan? Because after all these years, and all these reruns, we still can't stop watching The Parent Trap. The flick's latest Disney Channel airing (4.1 million) was the third most-watched nonfootball thing in all of prime-time cable last week. Only the Food Network's Iron Chef America special (4.6 million) and E!'s Keeping Up With the Kardashians (4.3 million) were bigger.

6. Where was Eastwick buried? In 79th place, per the latest broadcast TV rankings. The canceled ABC show's final scheduled airing averaged 3.3 million.

Here's a rundown of the top 10 scripted and reality shows (read: we excised football, which, trust us, won't suffer for the lack of promotion) for the week ended Sunday, per Nielsen Media Research:

  1. Desperate Housewives, 15.3 million viewers
  2. 60 Minutes, 14.8 million viewers
  3. NCIS (rerun), 12.9 million viewers
  4. Two and a Half Men (rerun), 11.1 million viewers
  5. Criminal Minds (rerun), 11.06 million viewers
  6. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, 11 million viewers
  7. CSI: NY (rerun), 10.9 million viewers
  8. Brothers & Sisters, 10.8 million viewers
  9. America's Funniest Home Videos, 10.2 million viewers
  10. The Big Bang Theory (rerun), 9.9 million viewers

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Can't wait for the return of Lost? Whet your appetite here.