Thursday night's 9:30 airing of "Anger Management" grew in both total viewers and in the 18-49 demographic most desirable to advertisers.
In the key demo, "Anger Management" grew 13 percent among adults 18-49, attracting 1.42 million total viewers in that group as opposed to last week's 1.25 million. In total viewers, the episode -- the series' fifth, since FX ran two episodes on its June 28 premiere night -- inched up 9 percent, to 2.65 million from last week's 2.42 million.
Not staggering gains, but the numbers are encouraging for a series that slid considerably after a pretty lofty start.
"Anger Management" (an adaptation of the 2003 Jack Nicholson/Adam Sandler film) drew 2.65 million viewers in the demo and 5.47 million total viewers -- a record in the demo for scripted-comedy premieres on cable, and also a record in total viewers, excluding children's programming.
The following week wasn't quite as rosy, with the numbers dropping off 35 percent in the demo and 38 percent in total viewers. The show's third week saw further slips.
