I read your review of Tyler ...
Question: I read your review of
Tyler Perry's House of Payne in the June 4 issue. I had not seen the show but had heard about it from family members who think it is awful. I watched it in July when TBS had a marathon showing. I must say that show is terrible, and I hope it is short-lived. There are
so many things wrong with the show. Unbelievable, unrealistic and senseless plots disgusted me! I am African American, and to me, much of it is insulting. The actors are terrible, the plots are stereotypical and stupid. The laughter at an adult married mother of two children who suddenly becomes a strung-out drug addict (with the slapstick dancing) is deplorable, a college student who never studies, talks about class or campus life, hangs out at the fire station as a volunteer... Matt, I won't even get started on specifics. Is
Tyler Perry really writing this [expletive deleted]?... so sad if he is. This show should be stopped now! What do you know about its status? Please tell me it's near its death!!!!!! This is an awful depiction of an African-American family. Yes we all know these situations exist, but they are not subjects to be addressed as comical situations.
Tyler: Write something funny, or something dramatic. You can't do both and pass it off as if you think an audience is not intelligent enough to see through it, and to see that at best, this is a quick attempt to put out a product trying to capitalize on some past successful shows, rather than taking the time to develop a worthwhile and meaningful story line. I for one hope those still-to-be-shot episodes are never made.
House of Payne does not "speak to me”!
Answer: Let's put it this way. No one's forcing you to watch, so while I agree with you wholeheartedly, I fear we're just going to have to face the fact this crummy little show is going to be on TBS for a long while. As we noted in our feature in that same issue, Tyler Perry struck a lucrative deal to make a
lot of episodes of this show, and the early ratings were historically strong. (I don't know if they've held up. I hope not.) Unfortunately, none of that money appears to be on the screen. I've rarely seen a more amateurishly written and crudely performed show, even in the earliest days of made-for-cable sitcoms. It's a shame, because this could be a terrific platform from which to do good work.
