Tyler Perry's House of Payne, also known as simply House of Payne, is an American sitcom television series created and produced by Tyler Perry that premiered in syndication on June 21, 2006. The series revolves around a multi-generational family living under one roof in Atlanta led by patriarch Curtis Payne and his wife Ella. While primarily a comedy, with elements of slapstick, House of Payne was known for featuring dark themes and subject matter, such as substance abuse and addiction. The show is also heavily serialized, with many references to past episodes, creating a continuing story arc. Reaching 254 episodes upon the conclusion of its sixth season, House of Payne has aired more episodes than any other television series with a predominantly African American cast, surpassing The Jeffersons with 253 episodes, Family Matters with 215 episodes, and The Cosby Show with 202 episodes. The show currently has over 362 episodes.

Production history

The sitcom ran in first-run syndication for 10 episodes during mid-2006 on the Atlanta-area broadcast of WTBS (now WPCH-TV), along with nine other broadcast outlets across the country, as a limited run, with additional episodes to be available for national distribution on TBS in June 2007. An order of 100 episodes was later requested by TBS. A cable record for sitcom airings was broken with 5.2 and 5.8 million for the two premiere episodes on TBS on June 6, 2007. However, the audience declined to 4.3 million as of the week ending September 30, 2007 and 2.260 and 2.099 as of May 19, 2010. The principal cast remained the same (with the exception of Lance Gross being added), led by LaVan Davis. The original format of the series centred around C.J. (Allen Payne) and his family moving in with his Aunt Ella (Cassi Davis) and Uncle Curtis (LaVan Davis). Robinne Lee had a recurring guest stint in Season 1–2 as Malik and Jazmine's principal Nicole Jamieson, whom C.J. began dating. Rochelle Aytes originally portrayed Nicole Jamieson in the test pilot episodes as Malik's math teacher. In the test run, Ella and Curtis were originally C.J.'s parents and his name was Curtis Jr., but in its televised format, Calvin is their son and C.J. their nephew and his name was changed to Clarence. Despite his top billing, Allen Payne is not considered the main actor of the series, especially since his long absence in the fifth season. The show was recorded in front of a live studio audience but sometimes used a laugh track. At the beginning of the fifth season, China Anne McClain (Jazmine) and Denise Burse (Claretha) were removed from the series. The characters were written out, with Jazmine going away to a school for gifted children in North Carolina and Claretha marrying a prince and moving away. In real life, McClain had gotten her own show on Disney Channel (A.N.T. Farm) and Burse left the series for undisclosed reasons. In the beginning of Season 6, both McClain and Burse returned (albeit in a recurring role). Some of the cast members of Tyler Perry's House of Payne were on The Mo'Nique Show in October 2009. Beginning with the seventh season, China Anne McClain appeared infrequently due to her work schedule for A.N.T. Farm. Denise Burse was no longer credited as a regular cast member; she appeared in a recurring role. Larramie "Doc" Shaw, who portrayed Malik, appeared infrequently after the sixth season. This was due to Shaw's work schedules for The Suite Life on Deck and Pair of Kings. He remained a cast member throughout the series. Tyler Perry directed every episode of the first 3 seasons. Throughout Season 4, each episode was directed by actress Kim Fields or her mother Chip Hurd. Tyler Perry directed some of the episodes in seasons 5 and 6 while other episodes were directed by Kim Fields, Chip Hurd, and producer Roger M. Bobb. On September 28, 2011, TBS ordered 42 episodes. The second half of Season 5 began airing October 21, 2011, and concluded the series with a total of 254 episodes. The show aired its final two episodes on August 10, 2012. On January 30, 2017, a spin-off follow-up series titled The Paynes was ordered by Oprah Winfrey Network. It follows Ella and Curtis Payne as they enjoy retirement in Florida only to get caught in a real-estate deal that turns their lives upside down. The series was greenlighted for 38 episodes and premiered on January 16, 2018. After a possible revival was teased on Twitter, it was officially announced on February 4, 2020, that House of Payne would return with a seventh season to premiere on BET in the fall. The seventh season premiered on September 2, 2020. On May 3, 2021, it was announced that the eighth season would premiere on May 25, 2021. On the same day, it was renewed for a ninth season ahead of the eighth season premiere. The ninth season premiered on March 23, 2022. The tenth season premiered on March 22, 2023. On April 16, 2024, the series was renewed for an eleventh season.

Setting

Locations in Atlanta, Georgia, include the Payne's home, a firehouse located across the street from the Paynes' house, a barbershop, the help center, and the schools Malik and Jazmine attend. The Payne home is a one-story building, and 5 rooms are featured throughout the series: Curtis and Ella's bedroom, Malik and Jazmine's shared bedroom, the spare bedroom (which was Calvin's until he moved out), the kitchen, and the living room, and the outside patio. Calvin, C.J. and Janine's rooms were never seen. The only part of the firehouse seen on camera was its day room. The firehouse and its characters were phased out around Seasons 3 and 4. The barbershop is a setting often used from Seasons 2–5, and it is similar to that of Ice Cube's Barbershop movies. Miranda and Calvin's condo was added. The living room was the only room that was shown. C.J. and Janine's house is another setting added on to the series. The kitchen and the living were always seen on camera. None of the bedrooms were ever shown. The university Malik attended was a more recent setting and various areas were shown. And C.J.'s office where he and Janine work was another setting that was added to the series. Also, the Help Center where Ella works was shown in various forms.

Episodes

Cast

House of Payne revolves around the Payne family who resides in the suburban Atlanta. It is noted that all main cast members are credited only for the episodes in which they appear.

Main

Others

Special appearances

Syndicated reruns

Madea connections

Tyler Perry's claim to fame is with the popularity of character Madea, who has appeared in numerous Tyler Perry plays and their film adaptations. When the series debuted on TBS in June 2007, Perry made a guest appearance as Madea. Actor David Mann reprised his Mr. Brown role, and Keke Palmer returned as Nikki, a bully who stole $20 worth of Malik's lunch money over a period of time, money which Madea, Nikki's foster mother, used at a casino. Perry returned as Madea for a Christmas episode of the show on December 5, 2007. Perry again returned as Madea to act as Curtis's wife on March 5, 2008. She has appeared in one episode every season, save seasons 4 and 5. She is one of Curtis' arch-enemies. In the series, Janine's drug problem and going to rehab are possible references to Diary of a Mad Black Woman. The events of the episodes "Sad, Sad, Leroy Brown" parts 1 and 2 came directly before the movie Meet the Browns, when Brown learns his father has died. The events of the episode "Weeping May Endure for a Night" happened somewhere in the middle, directly after the funeral and the reading of the will, where Brown found out that his father left him a broken-down house which Brown turned into a retirement home. Even though in the episode "Weeping May Endure for a Night", the Paynes claim to have attended the funeral of Brown's father, in Meet the Browns, they are nowhere to be seen. This may be because Lance Gross, who plays Calvin Payne in the series, plays a character named Michael in the film and LaVan Davis, who plays Curtis Payne, plays a bus driver. Curtis claimed Brown made them wait in the cemetery for two hours while he gave his father a tour of Atlanta (his last request), but in the movie, Brown stayed the entire time. The episodes serve as a backdoor pilot to Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, a spin-off of the film and play as well as House of Payne.

Meet the Browns crossovers

There have been crossovers on House of Payne from Meet the Browns:

Releases

Lionsgate Home Entertainment has released the first 10 volumes on DVD in Region 1. It is unknown about the release of the two remaining volumes. According to listings of the previous volumes through Amazon.com, the series DVD releases has been put out of print.