Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt

"Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt"
Two and a Half Men episode
Ashton Kutcher first appears alongside Jon Cryer
Episode no.	Season 9 Episode 1
Directed by	James Widdoes
Written by	Chuck Lorre, Lee Aronsohn, Eddie Gorodetsky & Jim Patterson
Original air date	September 19, 2011 (2011-09-19)
Guest stars
Jenna Elfman as Dharma Montgomery Thomas Gibson as Greg Montgomery John Stamos as himself Tricia Helfer as Gail Katherine LaNasa as Lydia Jenny McCarthy as Courtney Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as Isabella Missi Pyle as Miss Pasternak Jeri Ryan as Sherri Jennifer Bini Taylor as Chelsea Liz Vassey as Michelle Emmanuelle Vaugier as Mia Martin Mull as Russell Joel Murray as Delivery Man
Episode chronology
← Previous "That Darn Priest" Next → "People Who Love Peepholes"
Two and a Half Men (season 9) List of Two and a Half Men episodes

"Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt" is the ninth season premiere of the comedy series Two and a Half Men and the first appearance of Ashton Kutcher as Walden Schmidt, "an internet billionaire with a broken heart".^[1] It is the 178th episode of the show, and the first episode without former lead Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper. The episode was watched by 28.74 million people on its original air date.^[2][3]

This episode can be considered to be a spiritual sequel to the season six episode The Devil's Lube as the events that occur in that particular episode foreshadows this one. The exceptions are James Earl Jones speaking at the funeral and the casket is closed.

Plot

In a tragic turn of events, Charlie (originally Charlie Sheen) unexpectedly dies while on his weekend getaway to Paris with Rose.

The episode opens with Alan (Jon Cryer) delivering his eulogy at Charlie's funeral. Several of Charlie's ex-girlfriends are in attendance, heckling him while Alan attempts to speak, Courtney (Jenny McCarthy) expresses dismay about it not being an open-casket ceremony. Alan yields the pulpit to Rose (Melanie Lynskey), who reveals that Charlie proposed to her in Paris. A few days later, however, Rose caught him in the shower with another woman, something everyone murmurs Charlie would do while Berta announces the thought with a laugh. Rose then goes on to explain she forgave him and was greatly saddened when Charlie "accidentally" fell in front of a moving train the following day. Alan suspects that Rose might have had someting to do with Charlie's death, but keeps silent while Berta quietly states "Never cross a crazy woman".

Discovering that Charlie's house has three mortgages and that Alan is unable to afford the payments, Evelyn (Holland Taylor) puts the house up for sale. Several people consider buying the house, but eventually decide against it for one reason or another. First, John Stamos (appearing as himself), decides against it because he said that the place has bad memories. One bad memory includes John and Charlie having sex with a prostitute in the house one night; when the prostitute passed out, they kept going because Charlie said to. Second, the house is not purchased by Dharma & Greg Montgomery (Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson^[4]), who decide against it because Greg said it was not "practical" and that the commute downtown would "kill" him. Some time later, Alan receives Charlie's cremated remains, and shares a heartfelt goodbye with his late brother, telling him how much he loves him and will truly miss him. Given the impossibility of fulfilling Charlie's wish to have his ashes be swallowed by Pamela Anderson, Alan decides to sprinkle the remains on the beach. As he goes to do so, he is startled by a young man (Ashton Kutcher) standing on the deck, causing him to spill Charlie's ashes all over the living room, then Berta (Conchata Ferrell) says "I ain't cleanin' him up."

The stranger asks to use the phone, and reveals that he was attempting to drown himself in the ocean because his wife had left him. After phoning his wife and being rejected again, the stranger introduces himself to Alan as Walden Schmidt, a billionaire who made his money by selling out to Microsoft. After Walden asks for a wetsuit so that he can try to drown himself again, Alan offers to take him to a bar. The two pick up a pair of women who are sympathetic towards Walden. The four return to Charlie's house, which is now Alan's, where Alan offers to make drinks. While he is away, the two women lead Walden upstairs where they have sex with him in Charlie's room, leaving Alan downstairs and alone. Annoyed, Alan tells Charlie's ashes (which are in a dustbuster) to shut up because of the irony and puts them in the garbage. The next morning, a naked Walden goes into the kitchen, meets Berta, who is impressed by his look and tells Alan about what happened the night before. Walden also announces his intent to buy the house. As Judith (Marin Hinkle) comes by to drop Jake (Angus T. Jones) off for the weekend, they walk in on Walden hugging Alan out of gratitude for his friendship. Judith says "I like him." and then the episode ends with a "To be continued" message.

Production

This episode was written by series regulars Chuck Lorre, Lee Aronsohn, Eddie Gorodetsky, and Jim Patterson, was directed by series regular James Widdoes and taped August 5, 2011 to a full and enthusiastic audience.

Kutcher was announced as Charlie Sheen's replacement for the series on May 13, 2011, after Sheen was fired on March 7, 2011.^[5] This is the second sitcom Kutcher has starred in, after his career-debut role in That '70s Show, which was beginning its sixth season when Two And A Half Men premiered in 2003.

Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson reprised their roles as Dharma and Greg Montgomery for the first time in nearly a decade. Elfman previously played a different character on Two and a Half Men. However, Elfman and Gibson were only credited as an unnamed couple. The couple's chemistry is noticeably darker than in Dharma & Greg, with Gibson's character making sarcastic mentions of divorce and suicide.^[6][7]

This is the first episode on the show to feature full nudity (albeit censored by pixelation). The Chuck Lorre Productions vanity card is just a picture of 3 tin cans, but one of them is placed sideways.^[8]

Reception

With 28.74 million viewers in its original airing, the episode was the most watched in the history of the show. It scored a 10.7/25 rating/share in the 18-49 age group.^[9] At one point, the audience peaked at 31 million viewers with a 11.4/26 rating/share. In Canada, the show was watched by approximately 5 million viewers, with 6.7 million watching some of it.^[10] In Australia, the show was watched by an average of 2.3 million viewers in the five major capital cities, peaking at 2.6 million, which gave the show its highest ever ratings figure for an episode broadcast in Australia. It was also the most watched show on Australian television that night, beating third placed drama hit Packed to the Rafters by 655,000 viewers.^[11] In the United Kingdom, the episode aired on September 20 on digital channel Comedy Central and brought in a total of 803,000 viewers, the most watched programme in the channel's history.^[12]

The episode received mixed reviews from numerous critics. Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter couldn't quite figure out Kutcher's character, noting; "I couldn't quite figure out if Kutcher was going for vacant, naïve, nerdy or astonishingly dumb (for a character who is a billionaire), because I'll never watch this show by choice again." However, he believes Sheen would have the last laugh given "his new show – if it ever happens – will be exponentially funnier than the laugh-free 22 minutes from last night."^[13] Richard Lawson of Gawker Media was displeased with how the show dealt with both Charlie Harper's death/funeral and the introduction of Walden Schmidt in one episode. Lawson noted that Kutcher "ought to fit in just fine", but that viewers would still miss Sheen's "teetering-on-the-brink-of-oblivion verve" complementing the show's "tit jokes and dick jokes and fart jokes occasionally peppered by quips delivered by determinedly non-sexual women characters".^[14] Lori Rackl of Chicago Sun-Times gave the episode a positive review, stating, "Filling the void left by a well established character isn’t easy, but Kutcher mostly succeeded".^[15]

Sheen watched the episode and was extremely pleased.^[16] He reportedly felt Charlie Harper's funeral was "eerie but fun," and felt the reveal of Kutcher's character in a cloud of Harper's ashes was particularly enjoyable.^[17]

References

1. ^ "Listings - TWO AND A HALF MEN on CBS". TheFutonCritic.com. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20110818cbs18. Retrieved September 22, 2011. 
2. ^ "TTV Ratings Opening Monday: 'Two and a Half Men' Soars, CBS Wins; 'Playboy Club Gloomy + 'Castle,' 'Hawaii Five-0' and More". Zap2It. September 20, 2011. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/09/20/tv-ratings-opening-monday-two-and-a-half-men-soars-cbs-wins-playboy-club-gloomy-castle-hawaii-five-0-and-more/104221/. Retrieved September 20, 2011. 
3. ^ "Ashton Kutcher's 'Two and a Half Men' debut scores record ratings". Washington Post. 20 September 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/ashton-kutchers-two-and-a-half-men-debut-scores-record-ratings/2011/09/20/gIQAXM2viK_story.html. Retrieved 21 September 2011. 
4. ^ Barrett, Annie. "Ashton Kutcher joined Two and a Half Men, and Charlie Sheen was roasted | Ken Tucker's TV | EW.com". Watching-tv.ew.com. http://watching-tv.ew.com/2011/09/19/two-and-a-half-men-ashton-kutcher-charlie-sheen/. Retrieved September 22, 2011. 
5. ^ "Ashton Kutcher: 'Two And A Half Men' Replacement For Charlie Sheen". Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/12/ashton-kutcher-joins-two-and-a-half-men_n_861389.html. Retrieved May 12, 2011. 
6. ^ http://www.aoltv.com/2011/09/21/thomas-gibson-explains-the-dharma-and-greg-reunion/
7. ^ http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2011/09/dharma-greg-reunite-for-two-and-a-half-men-season-9-premiere.html
8. ^ http://chucklorre.com/index-2hm.php?p=348
9. ^ Daily Preliminary Broadcast Cable Finals Broadcast Finals. "Monday Broadcast Final Ratings: 'Two and a Half Men,' '2 Broke Girls,' DWTS Adjusted Up; 'Castle' Adjusted Down - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/09/20/monday-broadcast-final-ratings-two-and-a-half-men-2-broke-girls-dwts-adjusted-up-castle-adjusted-down/104333/. Retrieved September 22, 2011. 
10. ^ "Ash-tronomical Return: 'Two and a Half Men' Draws Largest Audience Ever in Canada Too with 5 Million Viewers - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. September 20, 2011. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/09/20/ash-tronomical-return-two-and-a-half-men-draws-largest-audience-ever-in-canada-too-with-5-million-viewers/104380/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Tvbythenumbers+%28TVbytheNumbers%29. Retrieved September 22, 2011. 
11. ^ 2.3m for Two and a Half Men: TV Tonight
12. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/sep/21/two-and-a-half-men
13. ^ Goodman, Tim (September 20, 2011). "A Dozen Things I Learned From Watching Two And A Half Men". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bastard-machine/a-dozen-things-i-learned-237715. 
14. ^ Lawson, Richard (September 20, 2011). "Ashton Kutcher's Penis and Other Two and a Half Men Miseries". Gawker. http://gawker.com/5842110/ashton-kutchers-penis-and-other-two-and-a-half-men-miseries. 
15. ^ Rackl, Lori (September 19, 2011). "Ashton Kutcher shows flair, flesh in ‘Two and a Half Men’ debut". Chicago Sun-Times. http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/television/7754816-421/ashton-kutcher-shows-flair-flesh-in-two-and-a-half-men-debut.html. 
16. ^ "Charlie Sheen Roast-Mortem: Jeffrey Ross Live From the Actor's House (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/charlie-sheen-roast-mortem-jeff-237756. Retrieved September 20, 2011. 
17. ^ "Charlie Sheen I Watched, I Loved". TMZ.com. http://www.tmz.com/2011/09/20/charlie-sheen-funeral-kutcher-review-two-and-half-men-settlement-waner-bros-wb/#.Tnt7o-xENYA. Retrieved September 20, 2011. 

External links

• Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt at IMDb
• Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt at TV.Com