Benjamin Black
I saw the pilot series of this show, and was excited when it was finally coming to syndicated television in 2007! How did I enjoy it? I really loved it! I still do! I think this show is great! Again, the strength just comes from the characters and the stories - they're all real and relatable. I have so many Ellas in my life, my siblings remind me of Malik and Jazmine, a lot of people know someone, or someones, like Claretha, and I'm apparently the Curtis Payne for a lot of people (which is OK because I aspire to be like him when I'm old).The show has definitely taken a journey over the years. We got to know the challenges and struggles with C.J. and Janine, then we got to Calvin and Miranda. We got to meet the workers in the fire house, the barbershop, and the Hernandez family. Kodos! They don't have to stick with the same situation or always focus on the same character or characters. This would be troublesome if it were a play or a movie, but it works perfectly in a TV series, especially a successful TV series! As time passes, we do want the stories to continue and the characters to grow. C.J. and his family leave Curtis' house! This isn't "Gilligan's Island" where the series rest solely on the characters never leaving the island; here, people grow and situations change...just like life! It's great!Two things I need to mention are the production history and the criticisms of the show. First of all, you have to give Tyler Perry and the cast and crew of this show credit for being able to pull this off! For a group of people who were putting something completely different on television (much of the crew, Tyler Perry included, had never worked in television before), this was a very brave and courageous thing to do! This show surpassed "The Cosby Show," "Family Matters," and "The Jeffersons" in being the Black TV show in any genres to have the most number of episodes. The production style is very different; they would spend one day on one episode where other studios would take an entire week! These guys have guts!The criticisms really surprise me. People say that the characters reflect negative stereotypes, or that they're coonish and buffoonish. That insults me because, as I said, I know people like these characters. These folks are very real to life, not just to me, but for a lot of us! They can be funny, goofy, silly, and over the top, yes...but how many people do you know like that? I know several, including myself! I love these guys!Now, is there anything I don't like about the show? Unfortunately, yes. While the stories are real and relatable, they can drag sometimes. Take Season 5, the conflict between Calvin and Miranda. This lasted the entire season and the first part of Season 6. In the middle of their issue, Curtis and Ella have problems too. After Calvin and Miranda's problems are resolved, C.J. and Janine have issues to work out! Then we go back to Calvin and Miranda's problems! By the end of this, I'm thinking, "Dude! We get it! Marriage is hard!" What made the situation with Janine's crack addiction work was that, not only was it new to television, but we also didn't focus on it every episode. We still saw C.J.'s character, Curtis, Ella, Calvin, the kids, the guys at the fire house, and we saw all of them deal with life problems. When we weren't focusing on Janine on crack, Malik learned not to chat with strangers online (remember that great episode?). After the fifth season, we had to deal with constant marriage problem after constant marriage problem. There are a lot of moments during and after the fifth I really love, but when we have to constantly worry about tuning in next week to see if problems are resolved, it becomes annoying.I know some of us fans of the show were very shocked by the ending. I won't say what it is, so as not to spoil too much, but let's just say it's not your classic sitcom ending. But, to be honest, that's why I love it. Sitcoms that are fortunate enough to have an ending, like "The Cosby Show," "The Office," "Everybody Loves Raymond," or "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" often have an ending you'd expect and/or you'd want for a sitcom. Here, this sitcom will leave you feeling...what's a word that won't spoil anything?...It'll leave you feeling...sdugpapfjaoa-dgf (look it up!). To be honest, I love it! It's not your traditional ending; you'll never see this anywhere! Now Tyler Perry did say he's not ready to say good-bye to these characters, so we'll see what happens.In closing, I love this show. I think it's very smart and knows what to do with its characters and stories. When we're not focusing on reoccurring marriage problems, we can take time to enjoy the characters and their situations. It's a classic in the making, and should not be ignored! Check it out, give it a chance, expel anything you've heard before, and remember the people in your life as you watch; they'll look similar to those on the screen! BOOYIKA!
jejohnson2244
Whenever I watch this show, I'm in my house in actual Pain. Heck when any TV in my house is tuned on this show, the foundation is in severe pain moaning from the jokes and the humor carried through the power surges. Anyway we get this show where we have this family who lives in a suburban neighborhood in Atlanta,Ga. Where in Atalnta? they don't say, any who they are existent of three generations, The fist generation consists of Curtis Payne, "the man of the house" a morbidly obese black man who runs a fire station though he looks like he ate most of it. Then we have Ella Payne, the female of the household who waddles like the penguins black sister from Batman Returns and speaks with a very bad lisp. Then we have Gen.2 Which starts with C.J. Pain ( originally the son in the first test of this show, but since it was dark, they gave us this lighter version which is still bad) where he is the nephew who gets angry. Then we have the wife Genine who looks old enough to be his daughter. Then Calvin, the son of the first Gen. Then you have gen 3 Who consists of Malik, a fat bastard, Jasmine the little girl and two babies no one cares about. Anyway this show is horrible, the jokes are awful, the dialog is mind numbingly painful and the stories are so far fetched that they just give black buffoonery a whole new name and as a 20 year old black man, it pisses me off. The jokes are horrible, for example one joke goes " You so poor you thought a quarterback was a refund" wow that's original you gotta be kidding me I heard this joke when I was three, so whenever he wants to do a comedy sketch, give him the cane. Thinking of such, the plots are predictable and so melodramatic it takes sit to a whole other level called the sit yo butt down and rewrite this mess com. As usual the show starts with some character development (though that does nothing since the character suck butt) Then out of the bloom the buffoonery starts. Someone's either pregnant, on drugs, fighting their parents or someone is cheating with some ugly baby mama, daddy or assumes this.It just gets worse & worse. Next we either have some over the top drama where Malik will fight C.J ( his father) then get scared if he hits him, what a douche. Then Jasmine is nosy and man they need to lay her out with a belt because she is so annoying. Then Genine... in the first version, she was a witch you wanted to slap to the ground cause she stepped on all the wrong toes being a smart ass who picked fights, and in this version she does nothing, absolutely nothing what a shame. Then there's Calvin the womanizer who get with women for booty, then he marries Rudy the hooker and we are tormented by his bad acting, my god the horror. Then comes Ella and her prune looking best friend Urethra, yes she is named Pee as they talk about things we don't care about watching Ella wattle to the door saying Shabbily is very disturbing. Then finally the buffoon of the clan Curtis is a loud mouth whinnying buffoon who yells at thing, slap kids and runs around the house like Forrest Gump with a stick in his butt and this is why people think black people act like this and trust me,this is far from the truth. Do yourself a favor don't watch and if you watch, write Perry a letter telling him to give up or shut up.
babytpjs
We have an educated (although ineffective), articulate President in the White House who has an equally intelligent wife, but a moronic and degrading sitcom like "House of Payne" to entertain the masses. This sitcom is full of embarrassing caricatures I'd expect to see in racist, exploitation films from the 1940's. The actors are horrendous (Have any of them ever taken lessons?). I have more respect for Jessica Simpson as "Daisy Duke". I was disappointed to see Keisha Knight-Pulliam as a member of this talentless cast. Although the "Cosby Show" could be goofy, for the most part it left its viewers with a good feeling. I don't like to acknowledge that I've seen "House of Payne". The only good that has come out of my experience with this show is a newfound apppreciation for sitcoms like the "Cosby Show" and "A Different World". How tyler perry managed to keep this half-hour torture device on the air for so long is a real mystery. These days, I'm often disappointed by black celebrities, but there's no one I'm more disappointed in than tyler perry.
