Round Two: Anger Management

Anger Management: Season 1, Episode 3 “Charlie and the Sleep Deprivation” (B)

This show is hardly fantastic, but it’s still decently entertaining. It’s a classic sitcom in many ways, with simple jokes and relatively one-dimensional characters. Charlie continues to be likeable, and a bit of Sheen’s bad acting shows through when he tries to demonstrate his unsubstantiated euphoria. Fortunately, sleep deprivation is an easily amusing topic, and there’s plenty to be milked from it. Charlie using his wife’s exhaustion as an interrogation scenario is fun, and it’s good to see the relatively steely Jennifer with her guard down for once. That was true of everyone in this hour, especially Lacey, whose inhibitions weren’t exactly high to start. Sadly, that means a serious reality check for Nolan, whose sense that he had a chance with her was utterly shattered by her blatant flirtation with Charlie. Hearing Charlie call Ed “Dad” was the turning point of the episode, and led to what made for a well-circulated clip that surfaced on IMDB, among other places, of Kate trying to help Charlie achieve his breakthrough by slapping him to keep him awake when he started falling asleep in the middle of telling her what he had realized. It’s hardly revolutionary therapy or revolutionary television, but every sitcom is bound to have an episode where all of its characters stay up for an extended period of time. This may have been unexpectedly early in the show’s run, but traditional sitcoms are a new thing for FX, so I hardly think that it should be cause for concern.