I was really excited to see Brown and Cora received their own TV show! After their success in theatre and their movie, it was about time to see them on TV. We got an idea of what their show was going to be about from the few episodes they starred in on "House of Payne." So after seeing a lot of their episodes, what did I think? Uh...it was...kind of a letdown.
Not only was I disappointed that Tyler Perry, freakin' Tyler Perry!, let this show be so low in quality, but it's really upsetting thinking a show like this couldn't work! When you go back and watch the Madea plays, look at Brown and Cora - they are funny! Imagine THAT on television; would you have imagined what we were actually given, or would you have expected something much funnier? Now, this isn't to say that there aren't some good elements about this show. They do address some serious topics in a good, tasteful way. Not all of the jokes work, but when they do, they are really funny! I actually like some of the earlier episodes. Do you remember the episode where Ms. Edna wanted to die, and it ended with the characters showing her her own life? That was very nice, very tasteful, and very well done. It wasn't trying to force a joke at us; it wasn't shoving a dramatic situation on us. We were just able to look at a character with a minor problem and see how it gets resolved. It's dramatic, but it's not too deep or too heavy. If the show had gone in this direction, it would have been much better.
As the series continued, however, we were forced with unlikeable characters, shoved with dramatic situations, and rather than being entertained with the Tyler Perry form of comedy, we were "entertained" with the sitcom form of entertainment. We're not laughing to get away from the emotions brought about by the heavy, dramatic moments; instead they're forcing a laugh for the sake of forcing a laugh. That is never funny. I hate sitcoms that tell jokes that aren't needed for any other reason than the fact that the producers and writers wanted to tell a joke. Rather than go for the honesty of the situation at hand, they go for the humorous. When they reach for the funny, it's no longer funny.
With the sitcom-style, I don't like the kids. You'd think that their background story with their real mother would give the writers something realistic to work with. But instead we have the typical daughter who can't stand her family. She can't tell you a thing about what she's learning in school, but she knows everything in pop culture. The son is so much smarter than his sister, and his over confidence in how smart he is often becomes his downfall. Also, I don't like the actor who plays the son, Gunnar Washington. I don't know, his acting isn't that spectacular.
My conspiracy is that Tyler Perry was busy writing plays, making movies, and running two shows on the air simultaneously. Because of that, he often looked over some of the things that didn't work about this show. Again, there are a lot of good moments in the show, but when the show chooses to be a modern sitcom instead of a good television show, it sucks pretty bad. If you want to see it to find those good moments or just to say you've seen all of Tyler Perry's productions, you could watch this, I suppose. But if you're sick of the typical modern sitcoms like I am, you'd probably want to stay away. BOOYIKA!
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