FX Nears 90-Episode 'Anger Management' Pick-Up

Charlie Sheen's "24th chance" has been his charm.

FX's "Anger Management" has hit big. It's hit very big. Speaking in future-tense, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer told conference-call analysts recently that it's "a significantly larger amount of episodes" big, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The network has reportedly told Sheen and the makers of his hit comedy based on the 2003 Adam Sandler-Jack Nicholson comedy of the same name that if ratings keep performing to the current page, FX is ready to order up to an additional 90 episodes. If international sales reach the speculated $1-million-per-episode price, that could prove tremendously lucrative. International distributor Dembar-Mercury is rumored to already be discussing overseas deals.

The plan going forward is to provide 40 episodes per year that FX may then air as it sees fit, said Lionsgate Television Group President Kevin Beggs.

"Our writers are working in anticipation that it goes forward and starts shooting in September, and we should be able to furnish new episodes . . . in January 2013," Beggs said.

Neither FX nor Lionsgate disclosed the minimum first-season average audience the series must meet to get a renewal order. For what it's worth, though, the series' June debut was greeted by a 5.47-million viewer audience, elevated to 5.74 million with its replay. That made it the highest-rated series premiere in FX history and most-watched scripted comedy primetime premiere in cable history.

The series has marked Sheen's highest profile work since his Spring 2011 dismissal from Chuck Lorre's hit CBS comedy "Two and a Half Men" amid reports of erratic behavior and renewed substance abuse. Sheen has also claimed that it will mark his television swan-song before easing into a semi-retirement as a family man.