Kushton kept the show going. Face it, Sheen looked like deep fried shit in the last season and caused the show to end. That they revived it two years later is another story. The show was already dead because of Sheen. Kushton's show was a revival really.
2.5 Men did it right by first selecting a fairly charismatic actor to replace Sheen and then making sure his new character wasn't a carbon copy of the departing one (M.A.S.H did it the same way and it worked).
I didn't think it would work, but the show kept excellent ratings after Sheen's departure.
I think the biggest problem wasn't Sheen's departure in later years, it was turning Alan from a normal if downtrodden guy into a real weirdo who lost his moral compass. I guess they figured if Waldon was the normal moral one, they needed to take Alan in Charlie's old direction.
I think instead they could have used another character, maybe Charlie's long lost son (as opposed to daughter) to carry on the debauchery.
In any case, 2.5 Men ran 4 more years at good ratings and was ended when the ratings were still good, so Kutcher didn't kill the show.
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