After a premiering the latest Madea film to audiences last weekend, Tyler Perry is still set on expanding his brand on television by developing a new sitcom based on one of his films, while ending his initial sitcom House of Payne in the process.
Deadline reports that House of Payne will end its run on TBS after close to 200 episodes of the series. No airdate has been set for the last episode of the exploits of the Payne family at this time, but it might be close to the end of this year or the beginning of next year before fans will get a chance to say goodbye to the Payne family. Meanwhile, Perry has another sitcom waiting to take up residence in House of Payne's old spot.
Perry, along with distributor Debmar-Mercury, are set to produce For Better or Worse, a sitcom that is a spinoff of Perry's "Why Did I Get Married?" films. The movies featured three couples, who are all old college friends, with marital problems and the drama that ensues from them. The films have been compared to the baby boomer 80s classic "The Big Chill" only with African-American characters as the lead.
The show will follow one of those couples, Marcus and Angela Williams, and will be geared toward a more young adult model than Perry's more family oriented shows Payne and Meet the Browns. The Williams' continued to argue throughout both movies, so it will be pretty interesting to figure out how these two will remain together on a weekly basis. Michael Jai White ("Black Dynamite") and Tasha Smith ("Jumping The Broom") will reprise their roles of Marcus and Angela, respectively. For White, he will be doing double duty with this role and voicing the lead character of Black Dynamite, in the cartoon series of the same name for Adult Swim. White also portrayed the character in the film, which he also co-wrote.
For Better or Worse is scheduled to start production this summer at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. No premiere date has been announced as well. Plus, there has been no announcement if fellow "WDIGM?" cast members (Jill Scott, Janet Jackson, Sharon Leal, or Perry himself) will reprise their roles for the show in some capacity.
So what do you guys think? Are you sad to the Paynes go, but happy to see an extension of "Why Did I Get Married?"
Source: Deadline