Filmmaker Tyler Perry Friday confirmed that his movie Meet the Browns is coming to TBS as a TV show.
During an interview with Entertainment Tonight Friday night, Perry said he had an announcement to make, and then unveiled the news about his next TV venture. In a brief remark, Perry said that Meet the Browns in January would come to TBS’s lineup, where his No. 1 cable sitcom Tyler Perry’s House of Payne already resides, as a series. He didn’t offer any other details.
House of Payne is distributed by Debmar-Mercury, which is owned by the movie studio Lionsgate. During Lionsgate's fiscal first-quarter conference earlier this month, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said, “We have important Tyler news coming on the television side that we expect Tyler and Debmar-Mercury will be announcing in the next few weeks.”
Officials at TBS and syndicator Debmar-Mercury had declined to comment, but the speculation was that Perry was planning a TV spin-off of the film, which did about $42 million at the box office.
TBS's deal in 2006 for House of Payne was for an unprecedented initial order of 100 episodes; the network later ordered another 26 installments. The series goes into broadcast syndication in September.
