Do you watch or do you know anyone who watches Charlie Sheen’s series, Anger Management? Yeah, me neither. Which is why I was amazed to learn that the series finale is airing on FX tonight. Yes, series finale. I KNOW. Other than casting news here and there, really the last thing I remember hearing about the series was back in 2012 when FX decided to order 90 episodes after a successful 10 episode first season — so I only assumed that Anger Management would be on forever and ever.
Not so much. After the second season debuted on January 17, 2013 to less than stellar ratings, FX has been airing new episodes of Anger Management nearly every single week — taking a few weeks or month off here and there — over the past 23 months. Back in May of this year, FX apparently announced that it would be airing two new episodes a week starting in June, burning them off as quickly as possible. As of today, 98 episodes have aired so far (88 of the 90 total order) and tonight’s two-part series finale will ring in 99 and 100.
It’s amazing. Here we’ve all been, just going about our lives like normal, and meanwhile Anger Management has been quietly airing almost every single week. And not to lavish even more praise on Charlie Sheen, but it’s really quite an amazing testament to his narcotics-encrusted work ethic. 100 episodes in two years. I don’t think Jon Stewart could even pull that off.
If there’s a lesson to be learned here, its don’t order a massive amount of episodes based on the initial success of a series of questionable quality that’s primary draw is the potential train-wreckery of the series lead. I guess that’s a pretty specific lesson, but hey — what do you want from me? It’s not like I ordered 90 episodes of the Charlie Sheen thing or anything.
