He’s Back! Charlie Sheen looked washed-up after he publicly imploded and got himself sacked from Two and a Half Men. John Byrne wonders if Anger Management can get him back to the top of the TV comic pile.
The constantly-running Comedy Central promo for Anger Management says it all: ‘The Fall and Rise of Charlie Sheen’.
Less than a year after his career (and private life) seemed in tatters, the former Two and a Half Men star - the highest-paid actor on US TV - is back, playing the lead role in Anger Management, a new sitcom from FX about a retired baseball player with unresolved anger issues who decides to become a therapist, specialising in anger management.
The irony of casting Sheen - whose own anger and other issues got him into hot water with Two and a Half Men boss Chuck Lorre - is clearly intended. And an obvious viewer-catcher.
The show’s pilot drew a lot of interest, of course, when it was broadcast Stateside and landed a record cable viewing figure of 5.74 million. But whether Sheen’s back for good is another matter altogether.
Anger Management – which is based on the film of the same name, starring Jack Nicholson – is not exactly the most original of shows, the characters are screamingly one-dimensional and the writing’s pretty bland, which means he could have another massive hit on his hands.
The basic plot revolves around Sheen’s character Charlie Goodson, an anger management therapist and former baseball pro who almost beats his ex-wife's boyfriend (Brian Austin Green) with a lamp after an anger relapse. After that incident he decides he needs to go back to therapy.
Unfortunately, he is currently having a relationship with the only therapist he trusts: his best friend Kate. Since the number-one rule of therapy is not to have sexual relations with patients, Charlie must choose between sex and therapy.
Like its distant cousin Hot in Cincinnati, from fellow cable channel TV Land, this FX comedy is very old-fashioned and more like a network show (eg: Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother, Mike & Molly) than the more edgier stuff (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Wilfred, Eastbound and Down) you would tend to associate with American cable companies.
There’s even a relentless canned laughter track that seems to have come direct from Camp Idiot via the 1970s.
But while the critics tended to pan the show, Charlie Sheen’s enjoying plenty of success where it matters: amongst the watching public.
Perhaps he is all the terrible things he’s been painted as in the US media. It doesn’t seem to matter to his fans. And – in the end – they pay his bills, and then some.
Charlie Sheen on Anger Management:
"I knew that Anger Management wasn't all hype; that it was very smart and a well crafted show. It's one thing to get a bunch of eyes on the show, it's another thing to keep them there and I think we were able to do that. Wait a minute… [Laughs] What do you mean about bad reviews? Listen, certain reviewers and critics have an axe to grind with me personally. In their eyes, every show I'm in is going to suck."
On the show being picked up for 90 episodes:
"It's pretty daunting, but it's also exciting. We wouldn't have signed up for this if we didn't think we could do it in theory. We are shooting two shows every week, which is pretty difficult – but it's not impossible. It generates a sense of not having to overthink anything, and I think that's why the characters seem very fresh in the show.
"There is an energy that you can't quite put your finger on and I think that's because we don't have time to overthink it, we don't really have time to plan it. I am amazed the damn thing is in focus! But again, that makes it more exciting. You either show up and bring your A game, or go home crying."
On Anger Management being his last act:
"That's pretty much it. If someone isn't done after 90 shows, then they've got to be a freaking robot. There is a lot of stuff I want to do and things I want to explore - but it doesn't involve show business . . .
"I want to learn how to dance. I want to paint and write more poetry. I want to raise my kids and travel by choice. I want to go exploring . . .
“I want to experience life where I'm not waking up hoping for a number, whether it's a box office number or ratings number or whatever. I am truly grateful for the numbers I've had so far, but it would be nice to worship a different god one day."
On his post-acting career:
"I am going to become a television critic. Can you imagine? 'This guy sucks and I will tell you why . . . ' No, but I would consider becoming a baseball scout. Travelling around the heartland looking for the next world-beating phenom sounds like fun. Things like that are fantasies to me, but they could become realities.
"I don't know. There is a lot of life to live out there and I am not saying I am not grateful. I have a freaking dream life as a direct result of television and film, but there are things I want to do that don't involve doing it publicly, or trying to prove something publicly."
