12644: Mad Men Movin’ On Up.

The website recap stated the fourth of the seven final episodes of AMC series Mad Men—Time & Life—brought Dawn Chambers back into the picture. Seems Dawn was still employed at the agency after all. However, she was almost fired by Roger Sterling for allegedly failing to pay the rent for the office. It turned out that Dawn was not to blame, but she and Shirley continued to fear for their jobs. If creator Matthew Weiner weren’t so culturally clueless, he’d show Dawn and Shirley leaving Sterling Cooper & Partners to launch their own Black advertising agency—and BET could pick up the spin-off series. Bring in Tyler Perry as producer and call it: “Diary of a Mad Men Black Woman.”

11193: OWN Versus BET.

From The New York Post…

BET gets OWNed — Tyler Perry series beef up flailing network

Tyler helps Oprah’s network beef up its ratings

By Claire Atkinson

Maybe Oprah’s OWN network should be renamed Tyler TV.

Thanks to two new series from prolific producer Tyler Perry, the 2-year-old network is not only finding its audience but is challenging Viacom’s BET, which has had a near-monopoly on African-American audiences for 30 years.

Perry’s first two shows for OWN under their exclusive partnership generated the network’s best ratings since it launched to much fanfare in January 2011.

Tuesday night’s “The Haves and the Have Nots,” a drama about a rich family from Savannah, Ga., drew 1.82 million viewers in its second outing, up from 1.77 million in its premiere.

Wednesday night comedy “Love Thy Neighbor” attracted 1.8 million, an increase from 1.65 million viewers for its debut.

Both shows have put OWN within striking distance of BET.

Last week, OWN was the No. 2 network among African-American women ages 25 to 54 years in primetime, — behind only TNT, which was airing the NBA playoffs, according to Nielsen data. BET came in third place.

Last year, Perry agreed to produce shows for Winfrey’s struggling network instead of launching his own cable venture, called Tyler TV, with Lionsgate. He got a small equity stake in OWN as part of the deal.

Best known for his role of tough grandmother Madea, Perry has a loyal African-American audience that follows him across film, movies and the stage.

While OWN wasn’t initially aimed at African-American viewers, it has found its footing among that audience with “Welcome to Sweetie Pies,” a reality show set in a soul food restaurant, and “Iyanla Fix My Life,” a self-help documentary series.

OWN is backed by Oprah’s Harpo and Discovery Communications, which promises OWN will hit profitability by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, OWN is giving BET a run for its money.

Over the past 12 months, BET has lost primetime viewers while OWN has gained, according to an analysis by Horizon Media research chief Brad Adgate.

BET averaged 714,000 viewers in primetime, down from 816,000 in the period spanning June 2011 to May 2012. Over the same time, Oprah’s average audience rose from 250,000 to 315,000.

BET didn’t return requests for comment.

And OWN isn’t far behind Viacom’s BET when it comes to affiliate fees, either.

BET is expected to bag $220.8 million in fees from cable and satellite-TV operators this year, versus OWN’s $197.6 million, according to SNL Kagan. Both collect around 20 cents a subscriber per month from distributors.

BET, acquired by Sumner Redstone’s Viacom for $2.3 billion in 2000, is still ahead in ad revenue, raking in $360.7 million compared with OWN’s projected $128.1 million.

Adgate said it remains to be seen if Perry’s shows continue their ratings momentum after their big premieres.

“But it’s very encouraging,” he said. “It’s very smart to bring in another strong, successful entrepreneur. That’s a great way to grow the network.”

10579: Tyler Perry Is A New OWNer.

From The New York Times…

Tyler Perry Signs Exclusive Deal with OWN

By Brian Stelter

Tyler Perry, the prolific television producer behind sitcoms like “House of Payne,” will soon start to produce shows exclusively for OWN, Oprah Winfrey’s cable network.

The partnership between Mr. Perry and Ms. Winfrey, announced Monday, amounts to the biggest programming bet made by OWN since its premiere in January 2011. The network has struggled to define itself and draw an audience since then, though it has started to show some progress in the ratings in recent months. Ms. Winfrey’s partner, Discovery Communications, expects the network to turn a profit in late 2013.

Mr. Perry will take a small equity stake in OWN, though the amount and the other financial details of the deal were not disclosed on Monday. OWN called it a “multiyear deal.”

In the future, OWN will be Mr. Perry’s “singular destination for all new television series and projects,” the network said Monday in a news release. The network plans to premiere two new scripted series made by Mr. Perry sometime in mid-2013.

The deal with OWN signals that Mr. Perry has ruled out the creation of a cable channel of his own. Last year, The New York Times reported that Mr. Perry and the distributor of his films, Lions Gate Entertainment, were considering creating such a channel, tentatively called Tyler TV. One option for carriage at the time was a takeover of the TV Guide Network. Ms. Winfrey and Discovery Communications created OWN the same way, by taking over the Discovery Health Channel.

Instead, Mr. Perry is collaborating with a fellow media mogul and friend, Ms. Winfrey. The partnership is certain to consume a large portion of OWN’s annual programming budget, particularly because it involves scripted shows, which are more expensive to produce than unscripted shows. Until now, OWN has broadcast only unscripted series.

“You have one of the most talented producers in Hollywood who has walked away from other opportunities, and he is betting his television future on OWN,” said David Zaslav, the chief executive of Discovery, in an e-mail. “In a business where content is king, that is a huge endorsement — and no question that Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey make a pretty powerful consumer and brand proposition.”

OWN will most likely give Mr. Perry two nights of the network’s prime-time schedule; Ms. Winfrey’s shows also take up two nights of the schedule. The other nights will have other unscripted shows and various repeats from Discovery-owned networks.

Mr. Perry’s current home on cable, TBS, will continue to broadcast repeats of his shows “House of Payne,” “Meet the Browns” and “For Better or Worse.”

9352: Hooray For Hollywhite.

From The Root…

Survey Sheds Light on TV’s Diversity Problem

The results might help explain the lack of diversity this fall in scripted television.

By Frank McCoy

The near-whiteout at the 2011 Emmy Awards drew criticism from The Root and other sources. But the problem for this show, or for its sibling, the Oscars, is about who the directors are. Producers hire directors, and the directors decide who and what goes on the screen. But Hollywood’s overwhelmingly white male producers rarely hire blacks, Latinos, Asians or women of any background as directors.

A new Directors Guild of America report shows how woeful the record is, but it’s the same news—just a different day. The report analyzed more than 2,600 episodes produced in the 2010-2011 television season for more than 170 scripted television series shown on broadcast TV, basic cable and premium cable. The shows were produced by production companies including ABC, CBS, Fox, HBO, NBC, Sony and Warner Bros.

White males directed 77 percent of the shows, and white females directed 11 percent of the episodes. Minority males directed 11 percent, and minority females directed 1 percent. The racial and gender near-shutout was more striking for one-hour series, in which white males directed 80 percent of episodes.

White males lost some of their mojo with half-hour series, since they only directed 74 percent. Did Tyler Perry’s many comedies cause that white male directorial drop-off? Tyler is doing something right, whether you like him or not: He made $130 million between May 2010 and May 2011, and Hollywood counts winners by their revenue.

The Directors Guild analysis also lists the worst and the best of the shows when it comes to hiring women or minority directors, and compares current numbers with those from 2009-2010. There is little difference. The DGA’s conclusion: “The statistics seem to demonstrate that as a whole, most production companies have demonstrated little or no interest or effort in increasing diversity in their hiring practices from year to year.”

This conclusion comes despite many meetings between the Directors Guild’s minority and women’s committees and producers, networks and studio representatives to increase the numbers of women and minority directors. Paris Barclay—an Emmy Award-winning director who happens to be black, is the executive producer of Sons of Anarchy and was the executive producer of In Treatment—is tired of these dismissals.

As the DGA’s co-chair of its diversity task force, he said in the report’s press release, “It’s not enough to just give lip service to the idea of increasing diversity behind the camera. These programs are so far failing to live up to their promise. So we’re going to take the discussion straight to the people on each show who make the hiring decisions.”

Good luck with that. In a related vein, last May the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism published a report about the movie industry that stated, “Hollywood movies directed by African Americans are significantly more likely to include African-American characters with speaking roles than movies not directed by African Americans.” Really?

Does that also mean that if there is more diversity behind the camera, there will be more in front of it and greater likelihood that more minority, and female, actors will be nominated for Emmy or Oscar awards? What a concept.

9157: Perry TV—The New BET?

From Adweek…

Report: Tyler Perry in Talks With Lionsgate for ‘Perry TV’

He could succeed where Oprah has failed

By Emma Bazilian

It didn’t come as much of a surprise when Oprah partnered with Discovery to launch her very own cable network, OWN. But is fellow superstar Tyler Perry a big enough name to carry a network, too? Lionsgate seems to think so.

The movie studio is said to be in talks with Perry to launch a new venture tentatively called Perry TV, reports The New York Times. The channel will initially show reruns of Perry’s sitcoms and movies (including the Madea series), and would later branch out to buy third-party content that fits in with Perry’s brand.

A source told the Times that Perry and Lionsgate are considering three different distribution routes. They could rebrand the TV Guide channel (in which Lionsgate has a 50 percent stake), take over an existing small cable channel that works with Perry’s brand (for instance, the Gospel Broadcasting Network), or sign a deal with Comcast, which has committed to providing more minority-run programming.

One possible roadblock: Lionsgate already licenses Perry’s films to pay-TV network EPIX, which means that the movies would likely be delayed before airing on Perry TV.

Considering OWN's difficulties so far, launching another celebrity-branded network might not seem like a wise move for anyone. But according to the Times, Perry TV has a high possibility for success. While OWN seeks to appeal to a wide range of viewers, Perry has always focused on a much narrower audience: African-American women.

His fans, at any rate, have proven themselves more than willing to follow him across platforms, from stage performances to TV shows to movies—which have brought in more than $522 million at the box office.

8135: Colored Chick Flick.

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

‘Colored Girls’ bringing black women together
Movie’s message of perseverance through adversity a winner

By Maudlyne Ihejirika, Staff Reporter

For many African-American women across the country, the new movie, “For Colored Girls [Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf],” based on Ntozake Shange’s soul-searing 1975 play, has become a cultural phenomenon even before its official release.

Women in Chicago and other cities have gone as far as to rent out theaters to watch the movie together—and to celebrate its timeless message of perseverance over struggle.

“There’s just a lot of interest by women’s groups surrounding this movie, as there should be,” said Gene Hobbs, manager of the ShowPlace ICON theaters, 150 W. Roosevelt. A theater within ICON was bought out by a group Friday, and another group showing is scheduled for Sunday. “It’s a very powerful and intriguing film.”

Director/Writer Tyler Perry has brought to the screen the acclaimed black poet/playwright’s 20-part “choreopoem” expounding on the struggles and strengths of women of color, captured by Shange’s line that “Bein’ alive and bein’ a woman and bein’ colored is a metaphysical dilemma I haven’t conquered yet.”

First produced in 1975, the Broadway play tackled rape, abortion, domestic abuse, promiscuity, closeted gay men married to women and self-love. When published as a book in 1977, reading it became a rite of passage for black girls everywhere.

“I read it in high school, and again in college, and appreciate it even more now than then, because I’ve gone through some of those experiences,” said Alicia Wright, 30, of A’Vents by August, which rented one screen at ICE Theaters Chatham 14 for the film’s Thursday midnight opening.

Wright’s event drew some 300 professional women to hear presentations from suicide and domestic violence groups and to watch and discuss the movie.

The movie’s human rights themes—conveyed by an all-star cast including Loretta Devine, Kimberly Elise, Whoopi Goldberg, Janet Jackson, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad and Kerry Washington—are as relevant today as they were in the past, the women’s groups say.

Many groups, including Panache3 Productions, which hosted a sold-out event for 400 people at ShowPlace ICON Friday night, use the movie to raise funds for groups dealing with its social issues.

“Part of the proceeds are going to Family Rescue, an organization that combats domestic violence, and we’ve gotten people to sponsor some of the women at their shelter to come see the movie,” said Traci Stanford, a Panache3 partner.

For many of the women attending Friday, the movie, like the book, struck a chord.

“I both saw the play in the ‘70s and read the book, and it is ground-breaking in its depiction of the struggles of not only black women but women in general,” said Esther Johnson, 61, of Chatham, who came with three generations of family members. … “The movie, too, was intense and succeeded in carrying the original message that you can overcome any obstacle and love yourself.”

7287: Thank God It’s Black Friday.

Ripping off the news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Tyler Perry is being sued for allegedly ripping off gospel tune lyrics for his film, Madea Goes To Jail. It will be ironic if Madea does indeed go to jail.

• Ford Motor Company must pay $55 million to an Illinois inventor for ripping off his concept for a sideview mirror light. The legal battle has been going on for 11 years. Maybe now Ford will reconsider its decision to decline bailout loot.

6518: Mad About Madea.

From AdAge.com…

Tyler Perry’s ‘Madea’ Offers Lessons for Media, Marketers
How Normal Life Comes Through in the Successful Movie Franchise

By Lenore Skenazy

I just got back from a wildly popular place I’ve never been to before. If you’re white, chances are you haven’t either: Madea Land.

I rented “Madea’s Family Reunion,” (a No. 1 movie when it opened in 2006) then caught “Madea Goes to Jail”—the No. 1 movie in America two weekends in a row, as of this writing. How were they?

Funny. Melodramatic. And mind-blowing in every aspect—including the racial divide. Tyler Perry’s audience is only 5% white. But let’s start with funny.

There is something utterly loveable about a giant grandma with an attitude as big as her bosom. In “Family Reunion,” a two-hour stage play filmed on a single set, Madea presides over a busy backyard, mumbling insults with the kindliest of smiles. “You look like a moldy Fruit Roll-Up,” she tells a white-haired neighbor wearing a purple suit. As others coo at a baby, she coos sweetly too: “You just as ugly as you can be. Yes you is!” When asked by the reverend when she’s going to start attending church, she replies, “As soon as your church opens a smoking section.” But best of all is when this grandma starts emptying her beat-up pocketbook.

There’s a handgun. And a slightly smaller handgun. And another handgun. All of which she treats like a bunch of hard candy, just something an old lady carries. Whenever she has a point to make—such as, “A man should never hit a woman”—she gently tells a cousin to duck, or move a little to the left, then whips out her .45 and aims it point-blank at the irritant. She is angry but happy, too, because she’s got a pistol to help make her point.

Making points is what these movies are all about, and the melodrama makes them easy to understand. In “Family Reunion,” one of Madea’s granddaughters is about to marry a man for money, but he’s abusive. Not good. Another granddaughter is about to leave her man because he doesn’t have a job. But they truly love each other so that, too, is not good. Meanwhile, a middle-age single mom rebuffs a suitor because she has become hardened by life. Good? No. In “Jail” the point is equally clear: Don’t judge people by the mistakes they’ve made (drugs, prostitution). Judge them by their character and help them to change.

What’s mind-blowing about these hit-you-over-the-head movies is how fun and fresh they are, thanks to Perry’s presence, yes, but also his casting. It’s just amazing to walk through the looking glass into a movie where almost everyone, including the extras, is African-American—and it’s not “The Great Debaters.” It’s the Everyday Real Lifers, without a single white protagonist. It must feel like a real relief if you are black and usually stuck going through the Hollywood looking glass the other way.

Equally mind-blowing is the age range of the characters. In “Reunion,” particularly, the beautiful young things are no more important than the older characters. Older, fatter characters, at that. And the fat isn’t even an issue! Perry’s people just come in different ages and sizes—another bit of normal life that somehow seems completely shocking in the movies.

More than $60 million worth of ticket buyers didn’t mind the fact that “Family Reunion” had pretty awful production values. And “Jail” is not going to win any awards for cinematic genius. So what?

The genius here is in combining straightforward, even hokey, storytelling with a cast that looks more like real life than any so-called reality shows. Race, age, size, lifestyle, income, wig choice—the ones you usually see least in the movies are the ones you see most here.

Throw in a cross-dressing, pistol-packing grandma, and you just can’t lose.