Charlie Sheen Working for Anger Management

Anger Management continues to set the world on fire as Comedy Central UK announced today that it has acquired exclusive UK broadcast rights to the Charlie Sheen sitcom from Lionsgate’s (NYSE: LGF) international television division.

Lionsgate International has already sold Anger Management in Canada, Latin America, Germany, Scandinavia, Benelux, Australia, New Zealand and Poland. Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury syndication company sold the show to FX Network in the U.S. and will be selling its second syndication window in the U.S. as well.

Earlier, Spike TV chronicled the Charlie Sheen saga with an animated half-hour special, “Charlie Sheen’s Winningest Moments.” Using the latest animation from the Taiwanese production company, Next Media Animation, the special showed Sheen’s most outlandish moments. It was hosted by two Taiwanese female characters, “The Goddesses.” (Read: Charlie Sheen’s Winningest Moments Get Animated)

Anger Management debuted on Thursday 28th June in the US on FX, breaking cable TV records as it became the most-watched series premiere of all time, according to Lionsgate.

Charlie Sheen’s return to primetime television was picked up by Comedy Central UK at the LA screenings in May and joins top rating show Two and a Half Men exclusively on the channel.

“Anger Management was the funniest show from this year’s screenings – Charlie is back and on incredible form,” said Chris Collie, director of Programming for Comedy Central.  “Anger Management sits perfectly alongside our line-up of the biggest and most talked about U.S. shows – 30 Rock, South Park, The Office, Two And A Half Men, Friends and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

Anger Management and Series 2 of UK commission Threesome are the first shows from the Comedy Central autumn line-up to be announced.

The new series marks Charlie Sheen’s first return to serialized television since his departure from the CBS hit series Two and a Half Men a little over a year ago. The show is loosely based on Revolution Studios’ 2003 feature film Anger Management, which grossed $178 million in global box office, said Lionsgate.

In this new series, Sheen stars as ex-baseball pro turned anger management therapist Charlie Goodson, who has to cope with some anger management issues of his own.  His female costars are Shawnee Smith (SAW franchise, Becker) as his ex-wife and Selma Blair (Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde) as his therapist. Bruce Helford ( George Lopez, The Drew Carey Show) heads up the writing team and serves as showrunner. Joe Roth, Vince Totino, Dave Caplan and Mark Burg are executive producing along with Helford.

Anger Management is produced by Lionsgate Television in conjunction with Roth and Totino’s Revolution Studios, Burg’s Evolution Entertainment, Helford’s Mohawk Productions, Inc. and Estevez Sheen Productions.

Photo courtesy: Spike