Charlie Sheen returns to TV with new sitcom 'Anger Management'

Charlie Sheen will officially return to television in a sitcom based on the 2003 film "Anger Management" and joked that playing a character with anger issues will be "a stretch."

"I chose 'Anger Management' because, while it might be a big stretch for me to play a guy with serious anger management issues, I think it is a great concept," Sheen said in a statement obtained by OnTheRedCarpet.com. "It also provides me with real ownership in the series, a certain amount of creative control and the chance to be back in business with one of my favorite movie producers of all time, Joe Roth."

Roth, who has produced films like "Mona Lisa Smile" and "Alice in Wonderland," has been working on a television adaptation of the Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson film "Anger Management" and wanted to cast Sheen in the lead. Sheen and Roth have previously worked together in the films "Major League," "Young Guns" and "Three Musketeers."

"Who better than Charlie Sheen to tackle Anger Management," Roth said in a statement. "With Charlie's incredible talent and comedic gifts, he remains the leading man of TV sitcoms. I'm excited to collaborate with him once again."

Lionsgate Television announced on Monday that they will produce the half-hour comedy through their Debmar-Mercury subsidiary, headed by Co-Presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein, and that Sheen would have a "significant ownership stake" in the project.

"Our sitcom model is all about building well-known brands around extraordinary talents like Charlie that, thanks to their large profit participation, are highly motivated to succeed," Marcus and Bernstein said in a joint statement. "It's not every day you can roll out a sitcom featuring the star of the biggest TV comedy of the past decade."

Earlier in the month, it was reported that the project was looking for the right show runner and wanted to produce a pilot in time for consideration for the fall 2012 season.

In the series, Sheen would be playing a revamped version of Jack Nicholson's character, an ex-athlete who advises people on how to deal with anger issues.

Sheen was fired from "Two and a Half Men," one of CBS' most successful comedy shows, in March following months of personal turmoil and a slew of on-air rants against the program's co-creator.

The fate of his "Two and a Half Men" character, party-loving bachelor Charlie Harper, remains unclear. Recent reports said he may be killed off the series, which has since cast Ashton Kutcher but has not specified his role. A spokesperson for the network declined comment. Warner Bros. Television and Sheen have not responded.

The production company had said in its termination letter that Sheen had "been engaged in dangerously self-destructive conduct and appears to be very ill." Sheen called his firing "illegal" and later sued CBS and Warner Bros. Television for $100 million over his firing. The case will be sent to a private arbitrator, who will decide how the case will proceed, and will not go to trial, a Los Angeles judge ruled on June 15.

Lorre and the program's production company, Warner Bros., were ordered by the court to file a status report of the proceedings before the arbitrator on or before Nov. 30. and the case is set to be reviewed two days later, according to legal documents obtained by OnTheRedCarpet.com.