Tyler Perry may launch Cable TV Network

By TV Insider
JR Staff Writer

In 2004, Tyler Perry made a deal with Lionsgate to turn a number of his plays into films. Each film Perry developed with Lionsgate became a box office hit. Following his 2006 films, Tyler Perry decided to create a sitcom. Perry established a deal with a syndication company and pitched to TBS.

Following the success of "House of Payne" in syndication, TBS picked up 100 episodes of the series. Quickly, Tyler Perry became one of TBS' biggest producers. On the heels of his first sitcom, came his second, "Meet the Browns." Both sitcoms were tremendous successes for Perry and TBS.

Before the premiere of "Meet the Browns," Tyler Perry announced he may launch his own television network. In 2009, there were rumors he would be partnering with Turner, the parent company of TBS, to launch this network. Having a net worth well over $300 million, Tyler Perry could easily launch his own network without the help of anyone.

Earlier this year, Tyler Perry decided to end "House of Payne," however he will soon be bringing more sitcoms to TBS. Still, there are rumors of a Tyler Perry network. Tentatively titled Tyler TV, the network will show reruns of old Perry sitcoms, along with a number of his films. There is no set launch date for this television network.

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Tyler Perry prepares New Sitcom, "For Better or Worse"

By TV Insider
JR Staff Writer

Among the many successful Tyler Perry films, one of his more popular ones have been the Why Did I Get Married? series. The way the movies portray the committed relationship had a deep connection with the fans. Tyler Perry capitalized off the success of the 2007 film with a 2010 sequel.

Tyler Perry built his empire off his successful stage plays. The plays landed him a film deal with Lionsgate. Following a string of successful films, Tyler Perry took his profits and he invested in sitcoms. These sitcoms have found a stable home with TBS and has allowed Tyler Perry to expand.

Despite all of his success, Tyler Perry has had to deal with a major backlash. While many adore his films and television projects, many dislike his work. Many members of the black community say Perry's work is very demeaning. Fellow black filmmaker, Spike Lee, often refers to Perry's work as "coonery."

Recently, Perry called Lee out on this and now he has moved on. Once again capitalizing off the success of his film series, Why Did I Get Married?, Tyler Perry is adapting the film for a sitcom, "For Better or Worse." The show will follow the same formula as "Living Single," as it will revolve around four college buddies as they deal with life issues.

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Bow Wow and Ice Cube team up for New Sitcom

By TV Insider
JR Staff Writer

Years ago, Bow Wow announced he was going to be starring in a television sitcom. During this time, The WB was still trying to attract a larger audience. Initially, the sitcom was intended to begin airing in 2003. Bow Wow rapped of the television program on "Fresh Az Imiz."

Before the sitcom, which was tentatively titled "Bow" could broadcast, The WB merged with UPN to become The CW. The merger left many black sitcoms out in the cold. Tyler Perry soon came to the rescue with his partnership with TBS. He provided the hit sitcom, "House of Payne" and later "Meet the Browns."

Ice Cube has also been a major success in the film industry and he partnered with Perry's partners. The result of these deals was his own sitcom deal with TBS. Currently, "Are We There, Yet?" is sandwiched between Tyler Perry's sitcoms and is a ratings hit, itself. Ice Cube has built a solid relationship with Bow Wow, as he has had roles in two major films produced by Cube.

After hitting it off, Ice Cube and Bow Wow have decided to take things to a higher level. The two rappers intend to launch a new sitcom, likely to air on TBS. As is currently stands, the show has no title, but the contracts have been signed. Writers are currently being selected for the new series. Jermaine Dupri has been selected to provide music for the show. While no theme has been announced, Bow Wow did hint towards his mentor, Dupri, providing music the way Quincy Jones did for "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."

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Tyler Perry wins big at NAACP Image Awards

By The Film Critic
JR Staff Writer

The winning streak for Tyler Perry now extends to six years of dominance. In 2005, he put together his first feature-length film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Six years later, Perry is still creating award-winning films. He has also been hired to put together films for other writers.

Towards the end of 2009, Tyler Perry's profile boosted even though it was already legendary. He was selected to produce the film, Precious. Under Perry's guidance, the film was met with critical acclaim. Last year, the film won six awards during the NAACP Image Awards.

In 2010, Tyler Perry got off to a great start and he continued to make moves. He produced another season of his TBS sitcoms and produced more films. Also in 2009, Perry was hired to produce the For Colored Girls... film. The film went into production last year and it has been met with positive reviews, too.

Again, Tyler Perry won big at the NAACP Image Awards. The awards came for For Colored Girls, beating out his other successful film, Why Did I Get Married, Too? In addition to winning an award for his films, Tyler Perry also won an award for his "House of Payne" sitcom.

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"Are We There Yet?" battled bullies in Last Night's Episodes

By TV Insider
JR Staff Writer

Ice Cube's career has taken a turn he did not envision during his NWA days. He has shown that some gangsters can grow up. Now, Cube is viewed as a positive role model for the young men in the black community. His positive movies are one of the main reasons for this.

Another reason Ice Cube's image has been viewed as positive is because of his partnership with TBS. It was nearly two years ago, when Cube premiered his sitcom, "Are We There Yet?," on the network and it has become a tremendous success. Ice Cube wanted to use the family sitcom to touch on some of the issues that effect families of all races and he touched on a major topic last night.

Bullying is a problem, regardless of where people live of what they look like. In the first of two new episodes of "Are We There Yet?" on TBS, the episode dealt with bullying. Troy, the youngest child, has a friend who provoked the neighborhood bully. Most of the episode is spent with Troy building up the courage to help out a friend in need. Initially, Troy appeared as if he was going to leave his friend hanging, but he decided he would help him out in the end. Troy ends up standing up to the bully and helping out his friend, all at the same time, before the end of the episode.

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Toccara Jones to star in Donald Trump's dating show

By TV Maverick
JR Staff Writer

Last year, Donald Trump partnered with TV One for the hit reality television series, "The Ultimate Merger." The show was a ratings success with appearances from Al B. Sure. Omarosa, a former contestant on Trump's "The Apprentice," found love off camera and is unwilling to do a second season.

Toccara Jones rose to fame after her participation on "America's Next Top Model." Despite not winning the contest, Jones built a strong male following. She carried this following with her to the VH1 series, "Celebrity Fit Club." After her appearance on "Fit Club," her career began to really take off.

Since her time on TV, Toccara has landed modeling gigs and a job with BET. In many ways, her loss on "America's Next Top Model" was actually an even bigger win. Toccara Jones recently guest-starred on Ice Cube's hit TBS series, "Are We There Yet?" Following her appearance in Vogue, in 2008, things have been rather quiet from Toccara Jones.

Now, Toccara Jones' career has received the ultimate boost since Donald Trump has asked her to star in another season of his "The Ultimate Merger." Despite her time with BET, Jones will be working for rival network, TV One.

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"The Game" to overtake Tyler Perry's Sitcom Empire

By TV Maverick
JR Staff Writer

After building a successful film franchise, Tyler Perry branched out into sitcoms in 2006. He financed the first series, "House of Payne," himself and some local television stations picked up the show. The series was popular and TBS decided to work long-term with Tyler Perry.

In 2007, Tyler Perry premiered "House of Payne" on TBS and it became cable's highest-rated original sitcom. Two years later, he premiered another hit with "Meet the Browns." Currently, those shows are the most popular on cable television.

But, now that "The Game" is with BET, the series has surpassed the numbers it made on The CW, a channel with only a small reach. When "The Game" ran syndicated episodes on BET, it was many viewers' first time ever watching the show. Many people had planned to watch the fourth season when it returned on The CW, but that never happened. When it became clear that "The Game" was not coming back, fans pleaded with BET to save the series.

When "The Game" premiered on Tuesday, the viewing audience at 7.7 million set a cable record. With a good plot behind the series and a cliffhanger, ratings are only going to get higher for the show. Tyler Perry has built a cable empire with his TBS sitcoms, but it is only a matter of time before BET and "The Game" begin to bring in regular ratings much higher than that of Tyler Perry and his sitcoms.

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BET finally gets into "The Game" of Original Sitcoms

By TV Maverick
JR Staff Writer

The black community has been outraged with BET since its inception. When the idea of a television network owned and operated by black people was presented, it was presented in a professional manner. Bob Johnson promised he would fill the network with original sitcoms and dramas.

But, Johnson realized BET was a business, so he aired free music videos throughout the day. Some other black businessmen tried to create other networks, but they did not last. Johnson had the right formula and Viacom bought into it. They would take over BET for $3 billion.

Still, the network continued to broadcast cheap reality shows and music videos. Meanwhile, other networks, such as FOX, The WB, and UPN aired original black sitcoms. Each network eventually dumped these programs when their audience was built. Often times, the black community looked towards BET to save these cancelled shows. BET would pick the cancelled shows up, but only to broadcast the reruns of them to the large audience. In 2009, BET began rebroadcasting episodes of "The Game," which became the highest-rated show in network history.

Following the third season, The CW cancelled "The Game" and the pressure was on BET to deliver new episodes of the series in the future. Surprisingly, BET came through and landed "The Game." But, in an effort to cut costs, production of the show was moved to Atlanta. Along with "The Game," BET also decided to add another original sitcom to their lineup. "Let's Stay Together" stars the former "Soulfood: The Series" star, Malinda Williams as she plays the role of Stacy Lawrence.

Now, all of a sudden, the black pack is back and it is finally on BET, where most people feel it shoul have been the entire time. TBS also has a lineup of black sitcoms on its schedule, powered by the Tyler Perry sitcoms. With BET in the mix, there is a chance of the new lineup of black sitcoms staying on television for longer than five years. Even with the new, heavily promoted, lineup of new original sitcoms for BET, this is not their first time broadcasting original scripted programs. During the fall of 2008, BET aired "Somebodies," starring Hadjii Hand.

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Ice Cube's "Are We There Yet?" sitcom flops

Watching the success Tyler Perry has had using his film following to create hit sitcoms, Ice Cube decided to use the same playbook. Long before Perry became the movie giant he is, Ice Cube was the film creator the black community turned to. Ever since the first Friday film, Ice Cube has been hailed as a comedic genius.

Initially known to the world as a "gangsta rapper," Ice Cube crossed over into the mainstream. First, he would play roles in many gangster films. Usually, Cube was the character considered rough around the edges. But, slowly Hollywood realized how marketable Ice Cube was.

Not much time passed before Ice Cube was the one creating the films. Over the years, he has written many films which are family friendly. His most-notable child-friendly film was 2005's Are We There Yet? Playing opposite of Nia Long, Ice Cube vys for her attention.

After the two begin dating, Long's character reveals to Ice Cube's character that she is the mother of two children. Upon revealing her children to him, Ice Cube is forced to take them on a road trip. Fearing he is trying to take their mother, the children rebel against Cube. But, during the trip, they discover he is actually a good guy. The film would be a success and Ice Cube soon made plans of doing a sequel. He began writing the sequel, Are We Done Yet?.

In the second film, Ice Cube has stepped into the role of father and the children love him. Now as the father of two children, he decides to take the family out on a roadtrip. Much like the last time, the mother cannot come and Ice Cube has to handle the children alone. The sequel would also be very successful and the idea to continue the film came. Feeling as if there would only be a matter of time before people got tired of the films, Ice Cube decided to adapt the films into a sitcom.

Last summer, Ice Cube pitched his idea to TBS and they set him up with a deal similar to the one offered to filmmaker, Tyler Perry three years earlier. Currently, Ice Cube's sitcom airs on Wednesdays, right between the Perry sitcoms. Being placed in between the highest-rated programs in cable history brought a rather large audience to the series premiere of "Are We There Yet?" With the audience there, it was up to the sitcom to perform properly. Despite starring fan favorites, Terry Crews and Essence Atkins, the show failed.

Most of the jokes were considered to be corny and the laugh track was said to be a little over the top. The same criticisms were intially made about Tyler Perry's TBS sitcoms and it has become one of the highest-rated sitcoms in the history of cable television.

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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.

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Jill Marie Jones lands TBS microseries

Jill Marie Jones made a surprising move in 2006 when she decided to leave the hit sitcom, "Girlfriends." The show had made her into a star and she was a fan-favorite. For as long as the show ran without her, they left the door open for a return for Jones' Toni Childs. That return never happened and the show was cancelled.

In the time since the questionable cancellation of the series, Jones has fallen completely off of the map. She has been long gone from the spotlight. Some were beginning to assume that she had given up the limelight. It has been some time since Jill Marie Jones has been exposed to the public. However, she, like many others, is preparing a comeback.

Because it has been four years since she was among the top black entertainers, she will not be thrust right back into a marquee role. Instead, she will be starring in a microseries on TBS, similar to the one Elise Neal stars in. Ever since UPN merged and folded, there has been a void in the black community and TBS has been there trying to fill it. They have taken another step in that direction by linking with Jones.

Jill Marie Jones will star in the new series, "Gillian in Georgia," which follows Gillian (Jones), as she visits her family in Georgia. She is a hip New Yorker that is not used to visiting in the country. The microseries will also star Darrin Henson, as her love interest, Shondrella Avery, as her sister, and James Mathis III.

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