Perry expands Netflix deal to TV
Tyler Perry has made a deeper commitment with Netflix, adding TV series on top of movies.
The newly expanded deal with Netflix replaces his multiyear contract with Paramount Global’s BET, BET+ and Nickelodeon, which has been in place since 2017. He has created several series for BET and BET+, including “The Oval,” “Sistas,” “Ruthless” and “Zatima.” (He still owns a minority equity stake in BET+.)
Last October, he also signed an eight-film deal with Netflix spanning four years. The productive mogul has released three films for Netflix: 2020’s drama “A Fall From Grace,” 2021’s comedy “A Madea Homecoming” and 2022 historical drama “A Jazzman’s Blues.”
Perry has a legal drama for Netflix coming out Feb. 23 called “Mea Culpa” starring Kelly Rowland. World War II drama “Six Triple Eight” led by Kerry Washington has completed production but a release date has not been announced.
His first TV series for Netflix will be called “Beauty in Black,” which will have 16 hourlong episodes.
According to Netflix, “‘Beauty in Black’ follows two women leading very different lives. While Kimmie is struggling to make a living after her mother kicked her out and Mallory is running a successful business, they find themselves entangled in each other’s lives.”
Casting has not been announced.
Burruss leaving ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’:
After a long and fruitful run on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” musician, actor and entrepreneur Kandi Burruss has decided to step away from the Bravo reality show.
“I decided I’m not coming back this year,” Burruss told Variety magazine’s Marc Malkin.
A source told People magazine she was offered a contract for a 16th season, but she declined.
Burruss has been a key figure on the show since Season 2. Already a musician with Xscape and successful Grammywinning songwriter (“No Scrubs”), she was able to leverage her reality-show fame into a variety of ventures. She met her husband, Todd Tucker, courtesy of the show and landed plenty of acting gigs (“The Underdoggs,” “The Chi”) and other reality show appearances (“Celebrity Big Brother,” “The Masked Singer”). She had two children during the show’s run.
The show’s delay in putting together the new season following its lowest rated season contributed to her decision to leave.
“It’s been 14 seasons, and they allowed us to sit around for a little too long,” Burruss told Variety. “But during that time I had started working on a lot of other things, and I got some nice big projects coming soon, so I’m super excited about those things.”
We TV resurrects Braxton family reality show:
We TV is bringing back the Braxton family reality show after a three-year-plus break.
Now dubbed “The Braxtons,” the new show will feature much of the same cast as “Braxton Family Values,” which aired 148 episodes over seven seasons from 2011 to 2020. A debut date has not been announced.
According to We TV, the family “is picking up where they left off: sharing their roller-coaster journey as a family from the last few years to the family’s present triumphs. The series will feature never before seen private moments, from quarantine to the devastating loss of their sister Traci (in 2022) and taking viewers into their lives as they build this new chapter without her.”