Ashton Kutcher “needs to work on being funny”, said critics after his TAHM debut.

Ashton Kutcher Two and a Half Men début had been the subject of a slew of Hollywood hype after it was announced he would be replacing the fired Charlie Sheen.

It seems the critics are a little mixed on Ashton Kutcher‘s performance after he made his first appearance on the hit comedy show last night.

According to the New York Daily News, Ashton Kutcher, who spent much of the time on last night’s show naked while playing Walden Schmidt billionaire, “just needs to work on being funny.”

“By the last third of the show, the writers had clearly decided that walking around naked was Walden’s best shot at a laugh.”

The Wall Street Journal reviewer wrote:

“Kutcher is intense and doesn’t do dead pan well at all. But he’s way hotter naked, and he’s naked a lot,” they said, adding that “Kutcher seems sort of frozen in place, humourless.”

Other commentators seemed to enjoy what Ashton Kutcher brought to the show, although some had reservations about his comic timing.

“The fact is that Kutcher, despite having spent so much time over the past few years branding and Tweeting himself, is a good comic actor,” wrote People in its review. “Not great.”

Entertainment Weekly wrote:

“Kutcher’s performance was good, nearly as poker-faced fine as Sheen’s was.”

 “It’s easy to see how Kutcher is going to fit into the ensemble.

“He’s part-contrast-to-Charlie (he ordered ginger ale, not liquor, while out at a bar with Alan), and part-Charlie-2.0 (he beds women with ease, but in a nice, horny-puppy-dog kind of way).”

However, other reviewers were kinder about Ashton Kutcher debut, who made his entrance as dumped husband Walden Schmidt soaking wet on the deck of Alan Harper’s Malibu beach house after trying to commit suicide in the ocean.

“With Kutcher loosely playing himself as a savant ladies’ man, it’s likely that Charlie Harper – or Sheen – won’t be missed,” said Fox News.

Charlie Sheen was famously fired from the smash hit TV comedy after falling out with its creator Chuck Lorre.

“Filling the void left by a well established character isn’t easy, but Kutcher mostly succeeded,” wrote The Chicago Sun Times.

“At times his character seemed a bit like Lennie petting the rabbits in Of Mice and Men, but give him a few episodes, and he should settle in nicely.”

The Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, said the show, which opened with Sheen’s character Charlie Harper’s funeral, was a ‘promising beginning.’

“Kutcher brings a softness as well as a sense of rude health – he was naked for much of the show – to a series that could often be brittle and sour, misanthropic and misogynistic, and temperamentally middle-aged.

“His presence might allow Cryer to play some sweeter, less strident notes, though it is up to Lorre, of course, to make that, or let that, happen.”

However, the viewing public were clearly less fussy than the critics on Ashton Kutcher, with a whopping 28 million tuning in – the largest ever audience for the show, which is in its ninth season.

Ashton Kutcher tweeted his gratitude to his fans today, posting:

“I owe you guys big time for showing up for us last night. Hope you were entertained. We’ll be there every Monday for you.”

And even Charlie Sheen found the episode funny, writing on his Twitter account:

“Surrounded by friends and watching the premier of Two and a Half Men,’ he tweeted. ‘Odd… But cool..! So far a lot of laughs!! Nice…”