Charlie Sheen's new sitcom, 'Anger Management,' delivers with funny stories ... - New York Daily News

Of all the reasons to check out Charlie Sheen’s new FX sitcom, “Anger Management,” the best one is the simplest.

It’s funny.

Despite the smoke that has billowed around Sheen over the last 18 months, mostly concerning excesses in his off-camera lifestyle, there has never been any doubt that once he’s reasonably sober and in front of a camera, he can create a good character.

It’s not a complex character, just a simple one that’s well executed. He’s the classic likable rogue, the obnoxious guy we tolerate because we suspect, in the immortal phrase of the Shangri-Las, “He’s good-bad, but he’s not evil.”

In “Anger Management,” Sheen plays a psychologist named Charlie. In case you hadn’t noticed, all his characters are named Charlie.

Being a psychologist puts him in the beneficial position of being able to talk about the screwed-up things the character has done. This list apparently is long, and if the first few items are any indication, it’s a good one.

Episode two, which explores the concept of a “slumpbuster” for pro baseball players (which Charlie used to be), makes that point in a most amusing way.

Like Charlie in “Two and a Half Men,” this guy has been a heel. But a funny heel.

And yes, a few of his transgressions mirror things of which Sheen himself has been accused, or to which he has admitted.

Those jokes are treated as incidental extras, though, not central plot points. You can enjoy “Anger Management” without knowing anything about Charlie Sheen â€" although if you don’t know anything about Charlie Sheen at this point, you probably don’t own a TV set.

Charlie’s profession also sets him up to create one of the bizarre, off-center TV families doing odd things that are at the core of every successful sitcom.

In fact, he creates two of them.

One includes his 15-year-old daughter Sam, who is brilliant and also copes with OCD, and his ex-wife Jennifer (Shawnee Smith), with whom he is on surprisingly good terms.

The second family, a cross between the cast of “Community” and “In Treatment,” comprises his therapy group.

That includes Lacey (Noreen De Wulf), who shot her boyfriend in a sensitive area when he cheated on her; Patrick (Michael Arden), a gay passive-aggressive with relationship issues; Nolan (Derek Richardson), who is angry that he can’t get angry; and Ed (Barry Corbin), who’s angry at the world because now that he’s retired he feels useless.

Charlie also has a nonfamily with Kate (Selma Blair), who serves as his detached and completely nonromantic sex partner. Then she becomes his therapist.

You see the possibilities here, and so does the show. It’s a big cast where every piece fits, and at least upfront, the writing and jokes are good enough that “Anger Management” only uses sex gags where they work, not to cover up any lack of other ideas.

Viva Charlie.