Anger Management Ratings: How Did Charlie Sheen Do?

FX offering up a 90-episode order of the series if the numbers are high for the first 10 episodes

By Jenna Mullins Jun 29, 2012 7:49 PMTags
Charlie Sheen, Anger ManagementFrank Ockenfels / FX

Sixty-one percent of you voted to "save" Charlie Sheen's new FX series, Anger Management, after the premiere, and most critics gave negative reviews, mixed at best. But as we all know in the TV biz, it's all about the ratings. FX has a lot of faith in Sheen and the show, offering up an additional 90-episode(!) order if the first 10 episodes have good enough numbers.

So how did Anger Management do last night?

America, prepare for a lot more Sheen-nanigans.

Anger Management not only scored high ratings, but it set new records. It was the most-watched series premiere in FX history, and the most-watched scripted comedy primetime series premiere in cable history (if you leave out children's programming).

The series premiere of Anger Management delivered 5.47 million viewers, while the second episode gained more eyes at 9:30 p.m., with 5.74 million tuning in for Sheen's new series.

So far, the network only has a 10-episode order, but if these ratings hold, FX is prepared to put in a syndication-worthy order of 90 episodes. Will the people who watched last night only for curiosity's sake come back next week? Guess we'll find out. And since Sheen claims he's retiring after Anger Management, it's really up to viewers to determine just how early that retirement comes.

As for the other bad boy with a new show on FX, Russell Brand's new late-night show, BrandX, is off to a strong start: 1.1 million total viewers in the 11 p.m. time slot.

Did you watch Sheen and Brand's new shows last night? And if you did, will you continue to tune in every week?