Charlie Sheen Haunts Two and a Half Men, Literally

Comedy trumped in weekly ratings race for first time by Big Bang Theory—and some scary, scary masks featuring guess who's face?

If Charlie Sheen said "Boo," would Two and a Half Men jump?

Jump up, no.

Jump down, yes.

SPOILER CHAT: Scoop on Glee, Revenge, more

In the latest weekly Nielsen rankings, Two and a Half Men lost its claim as TV's most-watched comedy to The Big Bang Theory, and fell to third among all series in the 18-49 demo. Those are both firsts for the fall.

And all because Sheen said "Boo."

Or, rather, because Sheen masks said "Boo."

Trick-or-treaters and partyers dressed as skeletons, witches, and, no lie, the former Two and a Half Men star collectively put a hurt into all the Halloween-night shows—Two and a Half Men, included.

Last night, with the Sheen masks safely back in storage, Two and a Half Men rebounded, bulking up by about 1 million viewers.

Hopefully for Ashton Kutcher & Co., Sheen won't break out his own costume for at least another year.

Other key ratings results:

• Once Upon a Time (23rd place, per Nielsen broadcast rankings): Down five spots, but otherwise steady—and big.

• Bones (30th place): The show was back (finally)—and how. The seventh-season opener was up over last year's, and outdrew Grey's Anatomy (34th place), which itself edged Bones among 18-49-year-olds.

• Revenge (40th place): Dropped two places, but continued to beat CSI (27th place) and Law & Order: SVU (49th place) in the demo.

• Glee (46th place) and New Girl (47th place): The bad news is both shows had trouble getting back on track after their baseball-forced benchings. The good news is all is not lost—Terra Nova and House, which suffered from similar hiatuses, were significantly up last night.

• Grimm (56th place): A nice follow-up from its premiere meant bad worse news for Fringe (97th place), which tumbled further in the standings even as it held steady in viewers.

• Body of Proof (31st place): Hit a season high, with nearly 10 million viewers.

• Parenthood (62nd place): Withstood the Body of Proof competition to tick up in viewers from its last new episode.

Saturday Night Live: Who knew Charlie Day was bigger than Ben Stiller? Day's SNL posted the show's biggest overnight ratings in a month, beating episodes hosted by Anna Faris and, yes, Stiller.

• Hell on Wheels (4.4 million viewers, per Nielsen cable rankings): Who knew Westerns were bigger than mid-century modern furniture? This was AMC's second-biggest premiering series ever, behind only The Walking Dead. Sorry, Mad Men.

• Real Housewives of Atlanta (2.9 million viewers): Most-watched Housewives premiere ever.

Here's a complete look at the TV week's top 10 most-watched broadcast shows:

1. Sunday Night Football, 22.1 million viewers
2. ABC college football, 20 million viewers
3. NCIS, 19.7 million viewers
4. Sunday Night Football pregame, 17.6 million viewers
5. Dancing With the Stars (Monday), 16.3 million viewers
6. The Big Bang Theory, 16 million viewers
7. Fox NFL postgame, 15.7 million viewers
8. NCIS: Los Angeles, 15.5 million viewers
9. Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday), 15.4 million viewers
10. Two and a Half Men, 13.9 million viewers