Essence Atkins returns to Television on “Are We There, Yet?”

The last time that Essence Atkins was seen as a regular on a television show was four years ago in 2006. At the time, she portrayed the smart-mouthed, witty, half-sister Dee Dee Thorne on the hit UPN series, “Half & Half.” While the show was a hit, UPN was overhauled during the summer of 2006 and most of their black sitcoms were lost in the crossfire.

Slowly, cable network, TBS, has been working to fill this void. During the same summer, they signed a multimillion dollar deal with Tyler Perry that landed them his two sitcoms. Along with his hits, “House of Payne” and “Meet the Browns,” TBS has the rights to any other sitcom that Tyler Perry may decide to create. Last summer, they landed a similar deal with Ice Cube.

Long before Tyler Perry built his film empire, Ice Cube had built his. However, because he has a rap career on the side, Cube never thought of creating a television program out of his movies. But, after watching Tyler Perry, Ice Cube turned his Are We There, Yet? film series into a sitcom. The show was announced last year, but will debut next month.

Essence Atkins has fallen off since “Half & Half.” In the time since the cancellation of the sitcom, she has made her living in low-budget films. Most people had forgotten about her, but needing a sassy star, Ice Cube reached out. Because the reruns of “Half & Half” have aired since 2008 and because the films she starred in are beginning to air, Atkins has been on a comeback.

The comeback will be complete on June 2, 2010, when “Are We There, Yet?” premieres.