Professional Motion Picture Production and Distribution NEWS

TBS Extends Run of "Tyler Perry's House of Payne"

By Staff
posted Aug 10, 2009, 17:18

TBS Orders 20 Additional Episodes, on Top of 26 Ordered Recently, To Take Series Well into the Future on the Network

(Santa Monica, CA and Vancouver, BC) Debmar-Mercury, the television syndication and distribution arm of Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a leading next generation studio, announces that TBS has ordered an additional 20 episodes of the powerhouse comedy �Tyler Perry's House of Payne.� The order will bring the number of episodes in the series to 172, a remarkable total for any sitcom. TBS has ordered a total of 46 new episodes of �House of Payne� in recent weeks. �House of Payne� and its spinoff, �Tyler Perry�s Meet the Browns�, continue to rank as the top sitcoms on cable.

�House of Payne� and �Meet the Browns� also rank as ad-supported cable�s top two original sitcoms of all time among adults 18-49, viewers and households. So far in 2009, the shows are television�s top two series in delivery of African-American adults 18-34. �Meet the Browns� also ranks as television�s #1 program among African-American viewers and adults 18-49. New episodes of �Meet the Browns� have averaged 3.2 million viewers this year, while new episodes of �House of Payne� have averaged 3 million viewers.

�Tyler Perry has created the first sitcom in history to reach this many episodes in just two years, an amazing achievement that only a handful of top comedies have been able to achieve after many, many years,� Debmar-Mercury Co-President Mort Marcus said.

�TBS�s extension of this great program affirms the value of this groundbreaking sitcom model, which Tyler quickly turned from a dream into a phenomenal success,� added Debmar-Mercury Co-President Ira Bernstein.

�House of Payne� � which is owned by Perry, distributed by Debmar-Mercury and licensed by TBS � debuted in 2006 with a test run of 10 episodes. After early results showed promise, TBS ordered a then-unprecedented 100 episodes. TBS later ordered an additional 26 episodes, followed by a deal for 26 more and then the 20-episode order.

Debmar-Mercury has utilized its groundbreaking approach to launching shows into distribution and syndication for four different series. Following in the footsteps of �Tyler Perry's House of Payne� and �Meet the Browns�, Debmar-Mercury announced last week that TBS has ordered 10 episodes of the new Ice Cube sitcom �Are We There Yet?�, slated to premiere in June 2010, with the option for an additional 90 episodes. Debmar-Mercury announced two weeks ago that it is using the same approach to launch the new Jon Heder sitcom from writer-producers Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy ordered by Comedy Central. Debmar-Mercury also launched �The Wendy Williams Show� into nationwide syndication to strong initial ratings last week.

Since making his film debut in 2005 with Lionsgate�s DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN, Tyler Perry has become a multimedia phenomenon with a roster of hugely successful film, stage, television and book projects. Five of Perry�s seven films have debuted at #1 at the North American box office, including his most recent movie, MADEA GOES TO JAIL, which was based on his most popular play. Perry is working on two new films, I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF and WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO, scheduled to be released by Lionsgate in September 2009 and April 2010, respectively. In 2008, Perry unveiled Tyler Perry Studios, a 200,000-square-foot studio situated on the former Delta Air Lines campus in Atlanta, where his films and television shows are filmed.

Debmar-Mercury, a worldwide media company specializing in syndication, network, cable and ancillary markets, produces and distributes �The Wendy Williams Show�; distributes �Tyler Perry�s House of Payne� and spinoff �Meet the Browns�; distributes a new, untitled comedy debuting in 2010 from Gary Sanchez Productions� Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy; distributes strips �Family Feud�, �South Park� and �True Hollywood Story�, as well as weeklies �American Chopper�, �Deadliest Catch� and �The Dead Zone�; and a movie library featuring titles from Revolution Studios and Lionsgate. In September 2007, Debmar-Mercury established a London-based international television distribution unit focused on acquiring international formats for U.S. and worldwide distribution, as well as licensing U.S. television formats to the global market. Debmar-Mercury is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), the leading next generation studio.

www.lionsgate.com