House of Payne - New First-Run Syndicated Sitcom Coming Week of May 8

[Pavan]

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/blog/20...first-run.html

[Pavan]

TYLER PERRY'S HOUSE OF PAYNE OFF TO STRONG START



WWOR-My9Sets the Pace for Debmar-Mercury's 10 Market Test Run





Los Angeles, May 23, 2006-Tyler Perry's original comedy series, House of Payne, is scoring with late night audiences as its two week test run on WWOR-My9 finished up last week. In its two week test at 11 pm, House of Payne has delivered big female demographics for WWOR-My9, MyNetworkTV's flagship station. In all three key demos; W18-34 (2.3/7), W18-49 (2.1/6) and W25-54 (2.2/5) House of Payne has dramatically increased the time period average of Bernie Mac with gains of 75%, 100% and 67% respectively vs. February 2006. Competitively House of Payne scored big for WWOR-My9, beating sitcom giant Seinfeld in all three female demos, outscoring Sex and The City in W25-54, and tying Sex in W18-49. House of Payne's female demos were the top-rated amongst all strip shows on WWOR-My9 all day long.



KTXH, Ch 20 Houston (The FOX Television Stations owned and operated MyNetworkTV station) which is completing its first week has also seen the show deliver a spike in audience, averaging a 3.1/6 rating and share which is 100% improvement over the February '06 time period average and a 50% increase over the Steve Harvey lead-in. This comes on the heels of its fantastic primetime one-hour premiere last week at 7:00 pm, where House of Payne delivered a 6.7/10 tying it for first place in the time period with CBS' comedy block and NBC's Deal or No Deal.



Inspired by the independent film platform release model, Debmar-Mercury is distributing ten episodes of the series, which was created specifically for syndication, in a limited run this Spring/Summer with additional episodes to be available for national distribution in Fall 2007. The stations participating in the limited run represent all of the major independent station groups, including FOX, Tribune, CBS and Sinclair. Two stations from each station group, in addition to two independents, were selected to give a balanced sample for these first airings.



"With all of the stations watching this test run very carefully, we're thrilled that our confidence in audience response to the concept of a first-run syndicated comedy with Tyler Perry as the creative driving force is paying off, said Mort Marcus, co-president Debmar-Mercury. "We're particularly pleased that the series is performing in markets as disparate as New York and Houston and in different time periods."



Added co-president Ira Bernstein, "In a year with so few comedies, especially those serving the African-American audience, making the broadcast network prime-time line-ups, we believe there will be even greater market potential for House of Payne. As audience response to the initial test runs demonstrates, the market for comedy has not diminished."



House of Payne, about the comical situations that ensue when a multi-generational family lives under one roof, reflects Perry's gift for delivering inspirational and uplifting stories with identifiable characters. Perry serves as creator, executive producer, writer and director of the series.



This is the first television production outing for Perry, who is best known for his hits film Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Madea's Family Reunion. Perry is also one America's most successful young playwrights. His plays including I Know I've Been Changed and I Can Do Bad All By Myself among others, have earned over $100M in ticket sales and $30M in home video sales. Approximately 300 of Perry's live shows a year are seen by over 2,000,000 theatergoers. Perry recently released his first book, titled Don't Make A Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Life and Love.