Charlie Sheen’s ‘Anger Management’ loses 40 percent of viewers in second week

The record number of viewers who tuned in for the premiere of Charlie Sheen’s anger Management were clearly not impressed with the FX comedy. Nearly 40 percent of the audience left this Thursday, with 2 million less tuning in for the series’ third episode.

Last Thursday, Anger Management scored a record 5.47 million viewers, the most ever for an original cable comedy, with 2.65 million viewers in the key 18-49 demographic. The overall number actually climbed to 5.74 million viewers for the 9:30pm episode.

However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, this Thursday’s new episode, which aired at 9:30pm drew just 3.37 million viewers overall, a 41 percent fall from last week’s 9:30pm episode.

It also saw a steep fall in the 18-49 demo, earning just 1.71 million viewers in the key demo.

Entertainment Weekly notes that these numbers are still strong for FX, but the drop in overall numbers and in the key demo are steep. Typical shows usual drop 15 percent for their second week, or around 20-25 percent if it starts off with huge numbers like Anger Management did.

When FX picked up Anger Management, it agreed that if the first 10 episodes reach particular ratings thresholds, then another 90 would be produced. THR notes that FX will not decide what that threshold is until the 10 episodes air, at which point it will decide if it reached expectations.

The series is Sheen’s first since he was fired from Two and a Half Men. It is loosely based on the Adam Sandler/Jack Nicholson film of the same name.

image: Fox