"Everybody expected the ratings for Charlie Sheen’s ‘Anger Management’ to go down in week 2," writes our good friend James Hibberd at EW’s Inside TV. "The question was: By how much?"
The answer, Hibberd writes, is a 35% drop in the adults 18-49 demo and a 38% drop in total viewers.
The new show — on cabler FX — drew "5.5 million and 5.7 million viewers, respectively, for its back-to-back debut episodes," HIbberd notes. The next episode, on Thursday, July 5, 2012, delivered 3.4 million total viewers and 1.7 million adults 18-49.
As previously reported, the sitcom’s premiere was the most-watched prime-time scripted comedy series debut in cable history — excluding children’s programming — in adults 18-49 and in total viewers.
Hibberd adds: "[I]f ‘Anger Management‘s’ 10-episode season hits a certain ratings threshold, FX will automatically order a whopping 90 more episodes. [Last Thursday night’s show] is the first episode that will count toward that average. Critics were mixed to negative about ‘Anger Management,’ which follows Sheen playing a therapist struggling to overcome his own issues."
i think the shows needs to narrow its focus a little… its trying to hard to establish relationships… with his therapist, his ex wife and daughter, his group and the prison group and the bar with Butler… cant fit all that in in a half hour… the group at his house is not that enduring… his neighbor stuff is good and i think he needs a male buddy to bounce things for of… like the show. hope they give it a chance to find its balance