FX President Defends Decision to Hire Charlie Sheen: "I Believe in Redemption"

John Landgraf, whose network picked up actor's series without having seen a script, says, "I'm all for giving him the opportunity for turning things around,"

So what if there wasn't even a script? It's Charlie Sheen.

FX President John Landgraf met with reporters today at the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Pasadena, and defended his decision to give a series order to Sheen's new comedy Anger Management without having seen a single page.

So why'd he do it?

"I walked into the pitch as skeptical as you might imagine I would be," Landgraf told reporters. "It was just a really excellent pitch...I saw a really good pitch for a comedy series. Funny and complicated and I think the character he ought to be playing at this point—somebody with a checkered past but pretty self aware."

One reporter questioned whether Sheen's history of domestic abuse makes him an appropriate star to have on the network.

"Charlie wants to get his house in order," replied Landgraf, "and deal with the issues of substance abuse and relationships within his own family, and have greater consciousness, and do a show where he has more complicatedly positive relationships with women. My opinion is that could be a good thing, not just for Charlie, but for society. I believe in redemption…I'm all for giving him the opportunity for turning things around."

Anger Management is set to premiere in June.

Landgraf also talked about the crazy cult hit American Horror Story, saying that Ryan Murphy "is already looking for [a new] cast, already in active conversations with new people and also two or possibly three of the existing castmembers—some series regulars as well as guest casts continuing next year, although they would be playing entirely new roles."

Jessica Lange, anyone?