Last week’s stellar viewership numbers of Anger Management were not going to last. The numbers were too high and it was obvious that the quality did not reek of must-see television. That said, the question on everyone’s mind going into yesterday’s second outing was ‘how much would it drop,’ and today we have our answer. Anger Management slid 35% in the 18-49 demo and 38% in total viewership with 1.71 million and 3.37 million respectively.
Ultimately, this is no cause for concern as there are a few reasons to suggest that the show will retain its stature as cable’s top scripted comedy. The primary one being the channel’s propensity for airing replays of the series. It is actually one of those shows that could be on constantly and the audience looks to be picking up on that. I would be more concerned if the drop-off would trigger without the saturation, but it is certainly happening regardless and we might need more data on full episode viewership across a given week to in order to announce ‘sink or swim.’
Another contributor to the drop-off might be that this is the Thursday following the Fourth of July holiday. While broadcast looks to be untouched, I would bet this had a much bigger impact on cable viewership, particularly newer shows. In other words, a lot of people just plain forgot there is a new show that they like and it is on a channel they seldom visit. Even though this looks a tad grim, let’s wait a few weeks before driving a nail in Charlie Sheen’s coffin. This program is not exactly terrible compared to its broadcast competition.