Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network is putting the sitcom “For Better or Worse” back into production, deepening the network’s relationship with the creator, writer and director of the series, Tyler Perry.
OWN is also buying the library of 45 old episodes from TBS, which televised the episodes in 2011 and 2012. “For Better or Worse” will resume production in April with the original cast members, including Michael Jai White and Tasha Smith, who play the husband and wife at the center of the show.
The deal, announced Wednesday, came four months after Mr. Perry took a small equity stake in OWN and agreed to shift all his future TV production to OWN from TBS. At the time, TBS said it would keep televising repeats of “For Better or Worse” and two other Perry productions, “House of Payne” and “Meet the Browns.”
By snapping up the repeats and the future rights to “For Better or Worse,” OWN will further be able to promote itself as a destination for Mr. Perry’s fans. The channel pointed out in a news release on Wednesday that “For Better or Worse” was the highest-rated sitcom on cable when it started two years ago.
OWN could use the help. While Ms. Winfrey’s interview with Lance Armstrong last month shined a bright light on the channel, and its ratings are on an upward trajectory, it is perceived to need more nights of must-see programming.
OWN is planning to turn Tuesdays and Wednesdays into its “Tyler nights” beginning in May, when his first two series for the channel, “Love Thy Neighbor” and “The Haves and the Have Nots,” are scheduled to have their premieres.
After the first season of “Love Thy Neighbor,” a sitcom, ends in the fall, OWN will be able to fill the time slot with the new seasons of “For Better or Worse.”
The other new series, “The Haves and the Have Nots,” is a drama that has been compared to “Downton Abbey.”
Ms. Winfrey and Mr. Perry’s decision to lock arms came only after he decided against creating a cable channel of his own. For OWN, which has only had talk shows, interviews and other unscripted fare since its inception two years ago, the arrangement with Mr. Perry was a way into the scripted TV business.
Now Ms. Winfrey’s production company, Harpo Studios, is setting up its own scripted television division, suggesting more sitcoms and dramas are in OWN’s future.
A version of this article appeared in print on 02/22/2013, on page C2 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Tyler Perry Sitcom Plans New Episodes for OWN.
Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/new-episodes-of-for-better-or-worse-planned-for-own/?partner=rss&emc=rss
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