If Charlie Sheen said "Boo," would Two and a Half Men jump?
Jump up, no.
Jump down, yes.
In the latest weekly Nielsen rankings, Two and a Half Men lost its claim as TV's most-watched comedy to The Big Bang Theory, and fell to third among all series in the 18-49 demo. Those are both firsts for the fall.
And all because Sheen said "Boo."
Or, rather, because Sheen masks said "Boo."
Trick-or-treaters and partyers dressed as skeletons, witches, and, no lie, the former Two and a Half Men star collectively put a hurt into all the Halloween-night shows—Two and a Half Men, included.
Last night, with the Sheen masks safely back in storage, Two and a Half Men rebounded, bulking up by about 1 million viewers.
Hopefully for Ashton Kutcher & Co., Sheen won't break out his own costume for at least another year.
Other key ratings results:
• Once Upon a Time (23rd place, per Nielsen broadcast rankings): Down five spots, but otherwise steady—and big.
• Bones (30th place): The show was back (finally)—and how. The seventh-season opener was up over last year's, and outdrew Grey's Anatomy (34th place), which itself edged Bones among 18-49-year-olds.
• Revenge (40th place): Dropped two places, but continued to beat CSI (27th place) and Law & Order: SVU (49th place) in the demo.
• Glee (46th place) and New Girl (47th place): The bad news is both shows had trouble getting back on track after their baseball-forced benchings. The good news is all is not lost—Terra Nova and House, which suffered from similar hiatuses, were significantly up last night.
• Grimm (56th place): A nice follow-up from its premiere meant bad worse news for Fringe (97th place), which tumbled further in the standings even as it held steady in viewers.
• Body of Proof (31st place): Hit a season high, with nearly 10 million viewers.
• Parenthood (62nd place): Withstood the Body of Proof competition to tick up in viewers from its last new episode.
Saturday Night Live: Who knew Charlie Day was bigger than Ben Stiller? Day's SNL posted the show's biggest overnight ratings in a month, beating episodes hosted by Anna Faris and, yes, Stiller.
• Hell on Wheels (4.4 million viewers, per Nielsen cable rankings): Who knew Westerns were bigger than mid-century modern furniture? This was AMC's second-biggest premiering series ever, behind only The Walking Dead. Sorry, Mad Men.
• Real Housewives of Atlanta (2.9 million viewers): Most-watched Housewives premiere ever.
Here's a complete look at the TV week's top 10 most-watched broadcast shows:
- Sunday Night Football, 22.1 million viewers
- ABC college football, 20 million viewers
- NCIS, 19.7 million viewers
- Sunday Night Football pregame, 17.6 million viewers
- Dancing With the Stars (Monday), 16.3 million viewers
- The Big Bang Theory, 16 million viewers
- Fox NFL postgame, 15.7 million viewers
- NCIS: Los Angeles, 15.5 million viewers
- Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday), 15.4 million viewers
- Two and a Half Men, 13.9 million viewers