28 Million 'Two and a Half' Fans

Two big questions were answered with the premiere of Two and a Half Men last night: How would the show handle Charlie Harper's death, and would anyone tune in to find out? As it turns out, quite a lot of Americans were interested in how Charlie Sheen passed the proverbial baton to Ashton Kutcher. Twenty-eight million people, actually, making it Men's highest-rated episode, ever, besting a May 2005 episode that attracted 24 million eyes.

MORE: Best Jokes from the Roast of Charlie Sheen

The good news kept on coming for CBS as every element of their Monday night comedy block over-performed, with How I Met Your Mother's two episodes hitting series highs (11.3 million and 12.2 million, respectively) while Two Broke Girls used their post-Men debut to snag 19 million snarky eyes.

MORE: On the Set of How I Met Your Mother

Over at 10 p.m., the premiere of Hawaii Five-O was on par with last season, but that timeslot winner was actually Castle, as 12.8 million fans tuned in to see how Detective Beckett's shooting would be resolved.

Sadly, where there are winners there must also be losers, and NBC's The Playboy Club couldn't fight off the one-two punch from Castle and Hawaii, luring only 5 million people in for their alluring boobs and blood debut.