Comedy Central UK acquires Charlie Sheen's sitcom

MUMBAI: Comedy Central UK has acquired exclusive broadcast rights to the Charlie Sheen sitcom ?Anger Management? from Lionsgate?s international television division.

Charlie Sheen?s return to primetime television was picked up by Comedy Central UK at the LA screenings in May and joins top rating show Two and a Half Men exclusively on the channel.

Comedy Central director of programming Chris Collie said, "?Anger Management? was the funniest show from this year?s screenings ? Charlie is back and on incredible form. ?Anger Management? sits perfectly alongside our line-up of the biggest and most talked about U.S. shows ? ?30 Rock?, ?South Park?, ?The Office?, ?Two And A Half Men?, ?Friends? and ?The Daily Show with Jon Stewart?."

Lionsgate International television executive Peter Iacono said, "We believe that Comedy Central is the perfect home for Anger Management in the UK.and we?re delighted to continue building the show?s momentum through ground breaking sales in territories around the world. The show is off to a record-breaking start in the U.S., and we expect it to have similar resonance with audiences around the world."

?Anger Management? and series two of UK commission ?Threesome? are the first shows from the Comedy Central autumn line-up to be announced.

The new series marks Charlie Sheen?s first return to serialised television since his departure from the CBS series ?Two and a Half Men? a little over a year ago. The show is loosely based on Revolution Studios? 2003 feature film ?Anger Management?, which grossed $178 million in global box office.

In the series, Sheen stars as ex-baseball pro turned anger management therapist Charlie Goodson, who has to cope with some management issues of his own. His female costars are Shawnee Smith as his ex-wife and Selma Blair as his therapist. Bruce Helford heads up the writing team and serves as showrunner.

Lionsgate International has already sold ?Anger Management? in Canada, Latin America, Germany, Scandinavia, Benelux, Australia, New Zealand and Poland. Lionsgate?s Debmar-Mercury syndication company sold the show to FX Network in the US and will be selling its second syndication window in the U.S. as well.

?Anger Management? debuted on 28 June in the US on FX.