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 in tow." Sheen's response to the season-nine premiere was very positive. He reportedly felt Charlie Harper's funeral was "eerie but fun". Sheen also felt that the introduction of Kutcher's character in a cloud of his own character's ashes was particularly enjoyable. The attention "Two and a Half Men" received due to the change in characters gave the series a boost. Average total viewers during the 2011–2012 season rose 13% to 15 million, and the 5.2 rating in the 18–49 demographic rose by 27%. Kutcher's debut as the character Walden Schmidt, in the episode entitled "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt",