Tyler Perry's The Have and Have Nots: Season 1 Review

When I first heard about Tyler Perry's The Have and the Have Nots I wasn't too thrilled about it. I have a love hate relationship with Tyler Perry. Also the African-American masses were raving about it through social media so that also steered me away from it. Following in the same steps of Scandal, I simply feel that blacks don't give a lot of shows a chance unless it is involving a strong black lead or cast. About 3-4 episodes in however I found myself at home with nothing to watch and a DVR with the first several episodes recorded. I did what any primetime junkie would do. I watched.

Needless to say it had quickly become my guilty pleasure and the number one show I loved to hate. It is sooo deliciously Tyler Perry and my African-American roots couldn't seem to refrain from the unnecessary drama that he created. Watching the show is like looking at a terrible car wreck, you can't help but to look. It has been argued that rather or not this series is a soap. I honestly have never liked soap operas but I will say that it is a soap without being completely boring. The exaggerated drama is there but the characters are so much more interesting than those you would see on a common soap. The story line always puts me in a mind of Tyler Perry's movie entitled "A Family that Prays" which is unoriginal but also a good thing since I feel that it is Perry's best movie. The resemblance is so close he might as well had called the series the same thing.

The Have and the Have Nots is about three different families whose lives intertwine. On one hand you have the Cryers whom are a wealthy white family, then you have the Harringtons who are friends of the Cryer who are also wealthy but black, then you have the Youngs that are lower class and African-American. The story plays out by these three family's interacting with one another. It all starts off with Candace Young (Tika Sumpter) sleeping with Jim Cryer (John Schneider) and then spiraling out of control from there when her mother Hannah Young (Crystal R. Fox) gets a job as a maid for Katheryn Cryer (Renee Lawless). Tika Sumpter is primarily the reason that I was soo hooked. She plays her character Candace so well and commands attention whenever she is on the screen. It is definitely a breakout role for the young star. However as the series progressed it became more evident that a lot of the other characters have just as big of personalities. Primarily Katheryn Cryer who easily got Candace together when she revealed that Jim was having an affair with her. Katheryn promptly called her "Nine" and sent Candace packing. Also, Veronica Harrington played by Angela Robinson has proved to be a force to be reckoned with. She is that black lady that NO ONE likes in real life but is a thrill to watch on screen. Tyler Perry of course doesn't stray from using stereo types in this series but most of the time it is in a way that is tasteful.

There are also other characters such as Benny Young (Tyler Leply) who Tyler Perry just seems to use as a poor scapegoat to keep the plot going. I feel so bad for him because the guy just can't seem to get a break between being framed and more recently getting hit by a car. He does however provide some good eye candy whenever he is on screen. Tyler sure knows how to cast them.

The Cryer siblings consist of Amanda Cryer (Jacyln Betham) and Wyatt Cryer (Aaron O'connor). Rich white kids with issues. Nothing original there. Tyler really doesn't do a good job incorporating them into the storyline. There was even a point where Wyatt was complete absent for two episodes back to back. Amanda is a suicidal teenager with issues and tries to kill herself after getting raped by her teacher. Wyatt is a recovering drug addict that is constantly followed by Jeffery Harrington (Gavin Houston) who is secretly in love with him. The struggle of Jeffery's character may be what I hate most about the show but more on that later.

What I love about The Have and the Have Nots are the relationships between the characters. I especially love that of Hannah and Katheryn. It just seems so genuine and special. I like how Perry gave them the common ordeal of Cancer so that they could relate to each other initially. I like that Candace can legitimately care about Amanda as a friend but totally try to ruin her father Jim. It is also fun to see the dynamic characters such as Candace, Katheryn, and Veronica go at it. Katheryn is still at the top of my list at this point. I don't think anyone can get her together. I also love the battle of the genders seen on this show. In one corner you have Jim and his friends and in the other you have Candace, Veronica, and Katheryn putting a thorn in their side. It causes for a great portrayal of the type of power woman still have in one is widely considered to be a man's world.

What I hate about the show is that it is SO Tyler Perry. The drama is ridiculous and unnecessary at times. I feel as if Perry just thinks, "Okay how can I make this situation worse"? I understand that it is a soap opera but DAMN. The show could've ended exactly how it did without Amanda getting raped and trying to kill herself or Jim having slept with the Hispanic housemaid. Also I hate when things are too coincidental in any type of narrative. I understand you have a small cast to work with but there are ways to work around that and make the story still believable. But above all I absolutely HATE how Perry dealt with Jeffery's character. Tyler Perry has been accused of being gay since he was doing plays. So I would think that he would be able to write a homosexual experience in a way that is true and not stereotypical. I was wrong. Jefferey is documented as having a crush on Wyatt earlier on and also called out by Candace. The early scenes with Jefferey however promote the idea that gay males often have secret crushes on their heterosexual friends or peers which is almost NEVER the case. I couldn't believe that Perry would write something like that. Also Jefferey acts as if he is just learning he is straight. Jefferey is way to damn old to be discovering his sexuality and way too damn smart and educated to have acted the way he did over Wyatt as well as get tricked by him. The scene was just messy and shameful. The only admirable part about Jefferey's experience is him having to deal with Veronica's reaction to his coming out. That is something that many can relate to and actually makes you feel for Jefferey. Him falling in love with Wyatt was ridiculous and not helpful to the gay black community at all.

All in all, The Have and the Have Nots is a wonderful addition to the Oprah Winfrey Network and should run for several more seasons. I will be watching with caution of course. In the next season I do hope to see more depth from the characters though. I don't feel as if the main characters have been flushed out enough to make them completely human. I mean I can totally believe I could me a person just like Candace Young but I also feel that person would have more of a story to tell than, "me and my mother just never got along." So I do feel like Tyler has great characters it is just that we are 10 episodes in/done with the first season and the characters are still not nearly developed enough. If he does that and makes the drama more believable I think we will see Perry's best work outside of his plays since A Family that Prays.

My Thoughts: Multimedia Personality B. Scott's Unfortunate Ecounter with BET

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B. Scott is the model of androgyny done right.

First and foremost, I have been a fan of B. Scott ever since he used to post videos to Youtube from his L.A. home. He’d sing classic Mariah Carey with nothing on but a towel wrapped snugly around his head and chest. I have always admired him for his bravery and confidence especially when considering the society that we currently live in today. It is amazing to me how he was able to build his brand into the success that he is today.

On Sunday evening I tuned into the BET awards with my family. BET is a station that I am not very fond of. I feel as though they have had a history of taking ideas from successful shows on rival stations, destroyed my beloved sitcom ‘The Game”, and never have had any really good original programming. Quite honestly the awards only held my attention due to the Twitter community’s commentary of the event. When I saw B. Scott during the pre-show I was immediately excited. It felt good to have someone from my community representing a station that was founded by and ran by members of my race. However, that excitement quickly turned into disappointment once I realized that the B. Scott I was viewing wasn’t in the image that I had known and grew to love. My followers and myself noticed that his appearance was extremely toned down from his usual standards. His hair was pulled back, makeup was barely on, there was no heel, and he was wearing a blazer. Now the typical viewer probably didn’t pay much attention to this but as a dedicated Love Muffin… I was upset!

It was clear that there was something bothering the multimedia personality. While interviewing K. Michelle he asked her to sing some words of inspiration because he had gone through a lot that day. Twitter was already in an uproar by that time. Many still attacking B. Scott for his appearance. Others attacking BET for hiring someone with an image as profound as B. Scott’s then asking him to change it at the last minute. I felt as though BET took a step forward with hiring B. Scott to represent them and then two steps back by asking him to appear as something he was not. I was still satisfied that B. stayed true to his personality and character even if his appearance didn’t necessarily match. When he came on for a segment and let out the classic, “It’sssss Beeeeeeee Scoootttttt!” I knew that he was making the best out of an unfortunate situation and not letting down all of his fans and supporters.

B. Scott's appearance before and after.

After all was said and done, Scott posted to his blog and shared what really happened to him first hand. Apparently the blogger had gone through several precautions to ensure that BET was okay with how he was to appear on the show. This made sense to me because when you have an image as distinct and unique as B. Scott’s that issue probably has arisen several times. Once everything was seemingly approved he had begun the show. However, after some internal phone calls BET had made a last minute decision that the multimedia personality’s wardrobe and makeup choice “wasn’t acceptable”. They immediately had him pulled off set after the first segment to be replaced by Adrienne Ballon. I didn’t view the very beginning of the show so when I saw B. Scott in his alternate clothing I didn’t even realize he had already been on. In the post he also expressed his feelings about the situation stating, “I was hurt, I am hurt.” I am personally hurt for him. As a gay black male I have also been through similar situations with family, friends, and society. It is definitely not okay.

BET has since then made a response to the entire situation stating the incident “was a singular one with a series of unfortunate miscommunications from both parties. We regret any unintentional offense to B. Scott and anyone within the LGBT community and we seek to continue embracing all gender expressions.”

B. Scott wasn’t having it. He communicated, "I want a real apology from BET. This was a not a mutual misunderstanding or miscommunication. I pride myself on being very professional".

I agree. B. Scott has always been about his business and it is no surprise that BET has tried to blame everything on a miscommunication between “both” parties. They never issued an apology they simply said, “they regret”. As in, “too bad for you if you got offended". Also, what has BET ever done or aired that embraces all expressions of gender?

The main thing I wanted to talk about in the light of all of this is what does this say about society today? More specifically, what does this say about the African-American community? While BET isn’t a representation of Black America as a whole, I feel as though this entire situation can be used to reinforce the backlash that homosexuals experience within the black community. I feel as though they could have used this situation as a way to stand firm and fight against the homophobia found amongst racial minorities today. Even when B. Scott hit the stage in what was considered to be toned down clothing and makeup, African-Americans all over Twitter and Facebook were still posting negative thoughts about him and his appearance. We have come too far as a society for something as simple as this to be an issue. The Supreme Court just deemed DOMA unconstitutional as well as turned over Proposition 8 in California. Yet a gay male cannot commentate an awards pre-show in an ensemble that adequately expresses himself?

I for one will not be watching another BET Awards show or any of their lackluster programming for now on. They have truly disappointed me. My heart goes out to B. Scott but I know from history that he will rise above this and continue to stride forward. I can only pray that someday situations such as this will cease to be an issue.