Tyler Perry's 'Haves and Have Nots' on OWN

[P.J.]

last night's ratings

1.47 million, .5 (18-49)

[EricMontreal22]

That's a pretty good 2nd week, isn't it? I was looking at the imdb forum for this show, and while there's a ton of people who hate it, I had forgotten just how much of Tyler Perry's audience seems to automatically watch and love everything he does. He really does have a built in audience (and, my feelings on the show aside, I know a number of people on here who like it are not usual Perry fans, so was not trying to imply that.)

[EricMontreal22]

Found and watched episode 3. I still find it hypnotically compelling--and very much like watching Passions (with much darker lighting...) back when it started. But not very good. The dialogue really does have to go--so many WTF lines (the underwear on the ground line springs to mind--or simply all the times people will say something like, in reply, "Maybe". LONG beat then the other person says "What do you mean by 'maybe'?" LONG beat. "Well..." etc) The scene in the office between the men (including the ridiculous actor who played the detective) was like pulling teeth, and had me in stitches it was almost brilliant for how drawn out it was. Or the scene with Hannah and hot druggie guy, where he was trying to get her to buy drugs and kept changing his tone abruptly. I paraphrase "I like to be up early as it's the only time I can be alone" (said sweetly.) Suddenly angry: "I WANT BREAKFAST!" Sweetly: "My back is killing me..." Seriously, if I were Hannah I would think he was on drugs at the time.

And Amanda is just a trip, period. I'm surprised she managed even a year in law school. And Katherine! Bizarre lines and bizarre line readings. I looked up the actress and her most major pro experience was as an understudy for Mrs Potts in Beauty and the Beast on tour, and understudy Mrs Morrible in Wicked on tour--makes sense, she seems to play this role as a bizarre mix of the two. Lovely singing voice though--I wonder if we'll get a gospel number from her?

The whole show is like watching a bizarre bunch of aliens (which was true of Passions too but I quickly got bored of watching that show on a daily basis.) I also love how in every episode people complain about how Jeffrey isn't beside underwear model apparently on heroin though not remotely looking it--not even having melodramatic shakes or dark circles around his eyes--and then they quickly send one or the other away to talk to him by himself leaving the other alone.

I seriously don't think Tyler is in on the joke--but some of the better actors are. Schneider and especially Sumpter (who manages to give SOME energy to her scenes despite the direction) seem to be, anyway.

Is this set for 10 episodes? How far in story can they get? It really is paced like a *slow* daytime soap, not a weekly show. Anyone who feels that the pace is too slow on the online soaps now that they're just an hour a week, really needs to watch this. Brilliant.

The spoilers through episode 6 on the wiki page promise tons of excitement ahead.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haves_And_The_Have_Nots_(TV_series)#Cast_and_characters

Edited June 6, 2013 by EricMontreal22

[EricMontreal22]

BTW some lighting guy who works with Perry, apparently, wrote this open letter to him about the lighting--I did notice that even on my slightly too bright tv, the black actorsrs often faded into the shadows. I love moody dark soap lighting, but I agree this could be done better.

Dear Mr. Perry,

You may remember I have worked with you on "Why Did I Get Married", "Why Did I Get Married Too?", "For Colored Girls", "Good Deeds" and "House of Payne: Heartbeat".

For "Haves" may I suggest bringing up the lighting values? Overall, it is too dark. Many of the scenes had such bad shadows that we could not see the eyes of the talent. I was watching it at a friend's house on a Sony 50" LCD HDTV via AT&T Uverse so I know there were issues with the show's production values.

As you know, sometimes HD television is just too sharp. May I also suggest you take some of the edge off by using a bit of diffusion to give the show a touch of fantasy? (Just not as much as they use on NCIS! LOL)

Thank you.

Terry Thomas
Atlanta, Georgia USA
› Director of Photography
› Cinematographer
› Character Actor
› Stills / Specials Photographer

[frequentsoapfan]

So is this one of those so bad it's good shows? Because everyone seems to have something different to say about this show. I have yet to check it out yet

[Eric83]

I think so. Anything above 1 million for OWN should guarantee this show a 2nd season. Hope they don't drop too much more.

How many episodes are planned for Season 1?

[ChitHappens]

Not in my opinion. The problem is that the show has Tyler Perry written all over it. It's an ok show with a great idea. But Perry's execution is all wrong. Tika is salvaging most of it. The Cryers have no rooting value as a family or as individuals. None of these people like each other. In family such as this, you usually have sets of closeness. The brother and sister or the father and daughter (Dynasty) or the mother and son. That does not exist. I have difficulty believing that the mother ever gave birth to any of the two children or that the husband ever found this woman attractive. I guess money does that to you. There is nothing likable about this woman at all. Nothing!

Then you Hannah, who unknowingly is about to go on a drug run for the son. Never mind the 6' black guy attached to his hip 24/7. Did it not occur to her once why this guy needs a handler?

Wyatt and Benny - let's just say it's a good thing they are fine as hell!

Tyler refused to give up creative control, and that is going to hinder this project.

[All My Shadows]

Can I just say...Wyatt is such a sexy freaking name. I've known guys named Wyatt, but it never occurred to me how much that name gets me hot, and I don't know why.

[frequentsoapfan]

So decent idea bad execution? Not sure if I wanna check this show out or not then.

A friend told me it reminded her of Generations.

[Vanguardian]

IMO, this is probably more of what Generations should have been. That was a soap that I thought had potential, but was hindered due to terrible writing and storylines from beginning to end. So far, I'm keeping up with this show through recaps and video clips, and I get a pretty good idea from that, of what's going on. I also don't get how Hannah didn't know about Wyatt's substance abuse issues with Jeffrey being stuck to him like glue no less. Luckily for her, Katheryn interceded just in time. I want to know what has Wyatt and Amanda so screwed up in the first place, though I have SOME idea of what Wyatt's problem could be, but I'm not completely sure. The cause of Amanda's behavior is a bit harder to discern.

Edited June 6, 2013 by Vanguardian

[EricMontreal22]

Vanguardian, have you been watching or just reading recaps? Because I have only seen one episode of Generations--years ago--but the dialogue must be ATROCIOUS if this has better writing.

I do have to wonder about Perry--so he really honestly does write and direct everything he claims to? Talk about being overworked. I have no idea why he wouldn't just take the money and credit and hire decent staff writers--though his dialogue is so over the top bizarre and random I expect he does think it's clever.

Frequentsoap--people seem to feel differently about this show, some genuinely seem to love it, some think it's unwatchable. For me it is--so far anyway--a show that's so completely awful it's good. It's genuine camp (genuine because I really believe Perry feels he's telling some deep human truths here.) I admit, while it feels more like a daily soap, if it was a daily soap I'd probably get bored with it quickly or only watch every so often--but as a weekly show it's fun enough to tune in for. I suspect that soon (Wiki has 6 episode details up) it will have some really over the top Perry moment to liven things up.

[Soaplovers]

I do think that TP should employ some soap writers and/or primetime soap writers to help give his ideas some structure and meat.

In episode 3, there was a long scene between Jim & Katheryn that was interesting, due to the acting between the two. It reminded me of an Ingmar Bergman movie (Scenes from a Marriage.. which was the inspiration for Knots Landing).. but it could have been even better with decent lighting and slightly better lines.

I see potential there, but TP might need to give up a little control so that the potential is realized.

[EricMontreal22]

That scene was interesting and Schneider tried his hardest to make it work--it had potential--but it had a number of WTF lines (mainly from Kathryn.) I mean even the whole lipstick on the underwear thing would make sense, except the sorta "clever" bitchy lines Perry wrote for it were WTF crazy (at least for me.) And the direction with a prolonged beat between every "quick" comeback didn't help. Wonder if he will feel guilty when inevitably it turns out Kathryn has whatever illness Hannah had and recognized in Kathryn.

[Vanguardian]

For me, it's been recaps and every single video clip I can get my hands on. Just from those, I can easily tell that this carries a more campy quality. Camp often, but not always, entertains people. Generations wasn't very campy at all, and again, it suffered from poor writing and bad storytelling during its entire run.

[Cheap21]

I cant with Wyatt, a grown ass man crying at his daddy yelling at him as he is scolded like a child

They need to recast Sally Spectra. She just isn't working for me

"Katherine, my back hurts"

"That's what you get for trying to keep up with young whores" I loved that exchange but I find it hard t feel sorry for her. She should have divorced him ages ago. Wow, are the kids really that clueless about their relationship?