It's a good thing for Two and a Half Men that Charlie Sheen's back down to Earth these days because the ol' Warlock would've lit into this news:
His old new-look sitcom isn't what it used to be.
Two and a Half Men finished third in Nielsen's latest weekly rankings—a lofty result that nonetheless marks the first time this season Ashton Kutcher and crew haven't landed at No. 1.
The inevitable cooldown from last month's super-sized premiere continued last night. The comedy got beat for the first time this fall by Dancing With the Stars, which took honors as the night's most-watched show.
Sheen's Twitter army should take note, though: Two and a Half Men is still the season's overall No. 1 show, and it's still TV's No. 1 comedy.
For now…?
Other notable shows and results:
• The Big Bang Theory (eighth place): This sitcom trumped the Sheen-hampered Men last season, and could do it again should Men drop a few more million viewers.
• Glee (40th place): No bump for the Harry Shum Jr. extravaganza.
• Parenthood (63rd place): Didn't gain any ground in the standings, but did add viewers as the birth of the new Braverman baby drew nearer.
• Community (87th place): Ranked lower than The Playboy Club (84th place), which got canceled.
• Fringe (89th place): Ranked lower than The Playboy Club and Free Agents (88th place), which also got canceled.
• The Vampire Diaries (104h place): The No. 1 CW show.
• 90210 (131st place): After H8R (139th place), which, natch, got canceled, this was the CW's next least-watched show.
• Jersey Shore: Cable's No. 1 show (6.6 million viewers) not concerned with balls—um, make that, sports balls. Other top prime-time performers included the Disney Channel comedies Shake It Up (4.5 million viewers) and Good Luck Charlie (4.5 million viewers), and the first part of a little nuptials special called Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event (4.4 million viewers).
• Breaking Bad: With 1.9 million viewers, the fourth-season finale wasn't the show's most-watched episode ever, but it helped the season end as the series' biggest yet.
Here's a complete look at the TV week's Top 10 most-watched broadcast shows, per the late Mr. Nielsen's world-famous service:
- Sunday Night Football, 22 million viewers
- NCIS, 19.3 million viewers
- Two and a Half Men, 17.7 million viewers
- Dancing With the Stars (Monday), 16.6 million viewers
- Sunday Night Football Pre-Kick, 15.5 million viewers
- Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday), 15.3 million viewers
- NCIS: Los Angeles, 14.8 million viewers
- The Big Bang Theory, 13.9 million viewers
- Criminal Minds, 13.4 million viewers
- 60 Minutes, 13.3 million viewers
__________
UPDATE: Monday's concluding installment of Kim's Fairytale Wedding kept on keeping on, averaging 4 million viewers, and drawing higher ratings than Sunday's installment among women 18-34.