timing and the way it was presented is everything. it's no coincidence that sheen won a golden globe (that whole thing is a classic circle jerk, tit for tat) when the show had barely been on the air, it's not due to his horrible plastic performance where he barely conceals himself looking at the cue cards.
it also employs the tried and true laugh track, which despite many producers and shows attempts to dead it, is still used and in the case of that crap overused and needed. many people need it when it comes to sitcoms.
but one thing to keep in mind, this is still based on an old system but with a lack of truly being to gauge what shows people are watching while tivo/pvr'ing another, dl'ing, number of tv/comps streaming in a household, and the lack of neilson families, etc, tv number people are stuck using the same flawed methods of their ratings systems.