You knew someone was going to take a chance on Charlie Sheen. After months of rumors and negotiations, the cable network FX, corporate cousin of Fox, have signed on to air Charlie Sheen’s new sitcom Anger Management.
According to the Washington Post, every network except Charlie Sheen’s former network home, CBS, took a meeting on the project as did several syndication outfits and cable networks. In the end, Debmar-Mercury, the company producing Anger Management, settled with FX, the home of edgy comedies like The League, Wilfred and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
The deal between Debmar-Mercury and FX calls for a commitment to air 10 episodes of Anger Management beginning next summer with the network on the hook for a total of 90 episodes if the series is a ratings success. The 10-90 model is the same deal that Debmar-Mercury got for Tyler Perry’s multiple sitcoms airing currently on TBS.
Anger Management is based loosely on the 2003 comedy of the same name starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson. Charlie Sheen is set to play the role played by Jack Nicholson, a therapist who uses unique methods to draw out the rage of his patients.
Veteran television producer Bruce Helford has signed on as producer and showrunner for Anger Management. Helford’s previous series include The Drew Carey Show, George Lopez, and as a writer for Family Ties.
The show will go into production in early 2012 before going on the air in the summer of 2012. No word yet on casting the Adam Sandler role, or that of any other of Sheen’s potential patients on the series.
Charlie Sheen was famously fired from his hit series Two and a Half Men earlier this year and was subsequently replaced by Ashton Kutcher. The producers of Two and a Half Men finalized Charlie’s firing by killing his character Charlie Harper in the season premiere.
Anger Management debuts on FX in the summer of 2012.