Charlie Sheen roast gives Comedy Central hot ratings

By Greg BraxtonSenior Writer, Culture and Representation

Sept. 20, 2011 2:26 PM PT

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Comedy Central’s roast of Charlie Sheen sparked blazing hot ratings, becoming the highest-rated roast in the franchise’s history.

The special drew 6.4 million total viewers, making it the most-watched Comedy Central roast ever. The second-highest rated roast was Jeff Foxworthy with 6.2 million, followed by Pamela Anderson with 4.3 million.

Sheen — or rather, the lack of Sheen — also propelled ‘Two and a Half Men’ to its best performance Monday with its first episode without the actor, who was fired earlier this year after a highly publicized public meltdown. The return of the CBS comedy, which introduced Ashton Kutcher, pulled in almost 29 million viewers, the best scripted-series premiere since 2005.

Charlie Sheen: A roundup of his ‘winning’ apologies

Review of ‘Two and a Half Men’ minus Charlie Sheen

— Greg Braxton

Show Tracker

Greg Braxton

A lifelong Los Angeles resident, Greg Braxton has written for the Los Angeles Times for more than three decades. He currently is a staff writer covering television for the Calendar section, and has also written extensively about trends and cultural issues in the entertainment field.