The first episode of the new Charlie Sheen TV series Anger Management, an adaptation of the 2003 film of the same name, starts off with a self-referential joke regarding Sheen’s ousting from his previous show Two and a Half Men. They spell the joke out, literally shy of the actor blurting out “winning!”
In terms of content, nothing stands out in the two episodes that FX premiered last Thursday.
If one goes in expecting a slightly more edgy comedy than Two and a Half Men, and a perverted cross pollination of the TV shows 2 Broke Girls, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Married with Children, then they’ll be let down.
The new series features a concept fit for Sheen’s bad-boy image and tailor-made for FX’s lineup of alternative comedies, yet ‘Anger Management’ doesn’t take advantage of a single ingredient.
Instead, the concept that made it to camera doesn’t stray from the “filmed before a live studio audience” variety. It’s about as sanitary as you can get, even with forays into raunchy humor.
One can’t get excited even over the more risqué material since 2 Broke Girls exhibits superior results on a weekly basis.
Both installments score no laugh out loud moments, but a fair amount of amusing chuckles.
In the show, Sheen plays a former Major League Baseball player, named Charlie Goodson turned anger management therapist after a “hilarious” lapse of self-control.
The first episode, ‘Charlie Goes to Therapy,’ follows Charlie as he reenters anger management therapy, following a violent outburst with his ex-wife’s current boyfriend, while always maintaining a sexual relationship with his therapist (Selma Blair).
Sheen walks through his role on mostly autopilot, with the littlest amount of effort put forth to seem vaguely engaged in the motions of the pilot. Disappointingly this isn’t a show that catered to his strengths as an actor.
At it’s most perfunctory, ‘Management’ functions best when the focus shifts to his group. The characters, who themselves are basic sitcom cut-outs, at least know that they’re in a sitcom who are there mainly to deliver set-up and punchlines, even if many of the gags don’t land.
The most standout performance of the group emerges from veteran actor Barry Corbin, who pulls laughs, as well as affection, as a homophobic Vietnam vet. This is a sitcom, after all.
The second episode, ‘Charlie and the Slumpbuster,’ further embraces the sitcom format, yet is the more watchable of the two, if only because it’s more competently written and overall made, and Sheen seems more engaged with the story and cast.
It walks a tightrope on how the joke of MLB players having one-night stands with obese and other peculiar looking women to break their losing streaks will fly over with the audiences, and in that regard it works.
This happens to be the situation that Charlie stumbles into when one of his past ‘Slumpbusters” from his League days, crashes a session, which gradually shames him into several dates with her. The woman, Mel (Kerri Kenney), generates much of the amusement from the situations, for her unbalanced, cat-lady personality, which Kenney perfected over six seasons on ‘Reno 911!’
Getting back to the show’s construction, this disappoints mainly on the principle that it, while not a great piece of television, could have produced a generally entertaining half hour of comedy, which could have further riffed on Sheen’s comedic persona he developed in the ‘Hot Shots!’ movies.
No matter how much the show wants to convince you otherwise, this is basically ‘Two and a Half Men 2.0,’ and the audience deserved more from a show called Anger Management.
Reach the reporter at tccoste1@asu.edu
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