Two and a Half Men (season 9) Two and a Half Men (season 9) The ninth season of "Two and a Half Men" premiered on CBS on September 19, 2011, with Ashton Kutcher joining the cast as Walden Schmidt. This season is the first without the show's previous star Charlie Sheen, and features a rebooted plot, marking a major change in the series by focusing on Alan and Jake coping with life after the death of Charlie, with help from their new best friend and housemate, Walden, a dot-com billionaire who is in the process of being divorced by his wife. The trio bond and form a
Two and a Half Men and a Half Men" improved ratings for this time slot, which were up from the previous year. Jennifer Graham Kizer of "IVillage" thought that the series changed tone in the Kutcher era of the show, saying it felt "less evil". Lorre, Cryer, Hinkle, Taylor, Ferrell and Lynskey had nothing but praise for Kutcher, believing he had "saved the show." Kutcher was the highest-paid actor on television for four years according to "Forbes", earning an estimated $24 million between June 2012 and June 2013, $750,000 per episode. Cryer was the second-highest-paid star on American television, earning $600,000–$700,000 per episode. In a