Why Monday Night Was A '3 And a Half' Way Tie

Monday was a night for new beginnings. The highly anticipated premier of  “Two and a Half Men” returned to CBS and Comedy Central found a very convenient date and time to air the perhaps equally as anticipated Roast of Charlie Sheen.

Comedy Central’s purposeful decision to roast the Rock-star from Mars at the same time as the premier of his previous ‘Two And a Half” home planet immediately turned the evening into a competition for ratings—thank G-d for DVR.

Before we go to the scorecards for this clash of the TV titans, lets quickly step back to evaluate the opposing sides.

Since the Wild Thing parted ways with the Two And a Half cast last spring – and by that I mean after telling his boss to go f#*% himself – the 46 year-old warlock has been on what some would consider a “winning-less” streak.  From his YouTube rants that may as well have outlined his life as student at Hogwarts, to his coke-driven run-in with his goddesses of porn, it was safe to say that Charlie Sheen had pointed a wand at a chest and said “Avada-Kedavra” to his career—that’ll do for the Harry Potter references.

While the real Charlie was busy spraying Bree Olson with a hose—and, feel free to take that how you want—the cast and crew over at Two And a Half Men had a job ahead of them to find a replacement for the killed off Uncle Charlie. And who better to bring the life back to a set than the young and charismatic Ashton Kutcher?

Both the Roast and the Two.5 premier put up incredible numbers. According to the Social Guide, the Comedy Central Roast finished at the top, generating 16.92% of the Social Media buzz, just ahead of the Two And a Half Men’s 13.24%. So, at the number one spot, we can declare Charlie Sheen the winner, right?—not exactly.

With a reportedly 27.7 million viewers tuned in to CBS for the Two And a Half Men premier and an 11.25 average rating –compared to last seasons drop to 14.6 million viewers and an average rating of 5.5—it would appear that this matchup is far from over.

Final Fraze

When looking strictly at the numbers, you could really go either way. But this debate goes much deeper than ratings. Yes, the Two and a Half premier was impressive, enjoyable and all of the above, but for the show to continue to put up the same numbers every week would be unthinkable. Still, the crew had big sperry’s to fill in finding a viable replacement for Uncle Charlie, and, in my eyes, Ashton Kutcher exceeded expectations, proving that he was up to the task. Two and A Half Men—I tip my hat.

Now, Charlie Sheen had quite possibly the biggest blow up of all time—in the shortest period of time. During the Roast however, it appeared that he had finally channeled his inner tiger-blood and was the epitome of the American comeback story. Has the Wild Thing finally said goodbye to his old ways?—only time will tell. Even though the Roast was a only a one-night event and the actor is still technically unemployed, he spoke with resilience, and, on Monday night, Charlie Sheen was truly  #Winning.