Melbourne, Sept 21 : Hollywood hunk Ashton Kutcher’s first episode of the ninth season of ‘Two and a Half Men’ has broken television ratings records.

The premiere with Kutcher was successful in pulling a massive 28 million viewers in the US and a record 2.29 million people for Channel 9 last night, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The first half-hour was watched by 1.438 million viewers, building for the second to 1.732 million viewers in which a replay of Sheen''s final episodes was aired.

The impressive figures also helped Channel 9’s new comedy series, ‘The Joy Of Sets’ pull 1.165 million.

As a result, Channel 7’s regular ratings winner ‘Packed To The Rafters’ was knocked off the top spot.

Sheen''s character Charlie Harper was killed off the series, which was forced on the producers after the actor''s well-documented drug and alcohol-fuelled meltdown in March. (ANI)