‘Anger Management’ loses some of its Sheen in its second week

Suppressing the tiger blood has its drawbacks: Charlie Sheen’s “Anger Management” saw its viewership shed 2 million viewers as it settled into its 9:30 p.m. slot on Thursday night.

The FX comedy had seemed to be #winning, in Sheen’s terms. Its double episode premiere set records for a cable comedy premiere and for a launch on the network, with its 9:30 airing drawing more than the first with 5.74 million viewers. But with curiosity subsiding, things took a dip. In the same half-hour this week, its third episode pulled 3.37 million -- a dip of more than 41%.

The dropoff, unsurprisingly, was also felt in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic. Thursday’s episode drew 1.71 million viewers in the demo, down compared with last week’s telecasts of 2.89 million at 9:30 p.m. and 2.65 million at 9 p.m.

At stake for Sheen’s follow-up to “Two and a Half Men”-- after his much-publicized chaotic lifestyle led to his firing from the CBS sitcom -- is a 90-episode renewal should “Anger Management” meet an undisclosed ratings minimum, as part of FX’s arrangement with distributor Debmar-Mercury. A decision won’t be finalized until after a 10-episode run (its impressive and heavily-promoted debut, though, won’t count toward the show’s average).

Should things not go as planned, there will still be plenty of the rock star from Mars on the network. FX also airs repeats of Sheen’s former sitcom, “Two and a Half Men.”

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Follow Yvonne Villarreal on Twitter: @villarrealy