Charlie Sheen: ‘I’m not insane anymore’

Charlie Sheen: ‘I’m not insane anymore’, It's inevitable, considering events of the recent past, that when Charlie Sheen meets the press, questions come up about, well, how things are going.

Saturday morning, up early for the FX day of the 2012 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, Sheen was the focus of a panel for his comedy, "Anger Management."

Asked questions about, well, how things are going, Sheen, dressed in a relaxed outfit of white shirt and plaid shorts, said his life is better now. "I'm not insane anymore," he said. Other lessons learned from past missteps, Sheen said, included that it wasn't such a hot idea to take a one-man show out on the road, to 21 cities, "with no act."

Sheen seemed at times like his brain was going faster than his sentences, but he answered questions about the show, which FX has not yet officially renewed, though FX president and general manager John Landgraf indicated chances were good it would be picked up. It was also announced that Martin Sheen would be playing Charlie's father on "Anger Management," which seems like a possible dual-purpose move.

Other items from the day so far:

* Asked what elements the TV "Anger Management" retains from the Jack Nicholson-Adam Sandler movie of the same name, series creator Bruce Helford said, "The title."

* Regarding his very public flameout after being fired from "Two and a Half Men," Charlie Sheen said it felt like a a runaway train he couldn't get off, "and I was the conductor."

* FX president/general manager Landgraf says adding Martin Sheen to "Anger Management" cast -- Sheen is a recurring character and will join as a regular if the show is picked up -- will make it "a multi-generational family show," which he says "Two and a Half Men" was, kinda, when Sheen was still on there. Landgraf indicates that even though critics didn't like "Anger Management" (me included) the audience for it is different than the people who appreciate an FX comedy like "Louie." "Anger Management" will, it sounds, be going for broader humor, and a more mainstream, "Two and a Half Men"-style audience. Though the humor's pretty broad already.

* Asked if "Anger Management" is autobiographical, Sheen said, "We have incorporated things that are specific to me," and "the other show," meaning "Two and a Half Men."

* Landgraf addressed the status of "Powers," the potential FX series adapted from the comic series co-created by Portland-based comics star Brian Michael Bendis. A pilot was shot, but one of the leads, Lucy Punch, has since joined another show, the upcoming Fox comedy, "Ben and Kate." Landgraf said the pilot script has been reworked, and a total of four scripts have been ordered. If they elect to go forward to series, Landgraf said, it's likely the pilot will be reshot.

* Landgraf also gladdened the hearts of critics by announcing that "Louie" has been picked up for a fourth season.