Tyler Perry is coming to OWN with two brand new shows! And there’s no better way to kick it off than with a new Oprah’s Next Chapter featuring Tyler Perry on Sunday May 26th 9/8c.

Then on Tuesday May 28th 9/8c, it’s the premiere of Tyler Perry’s The Haves and the Have Nots on OWN.

From writer and director Tyler Perry, this new television series follows the complicated dynamic between the rich and powerful Cryer family and the hired help who work in their mansion set in Savannah, Georgia.

From the outside, the Cryer’s are the enviable face of success and wealth, but behind the veil, the family’s dysfunction threatens to destroy their world of privilege. Cryer family patriarch Jim Cryer (John Schneider) is a powerful judge whose double-life, including tawdry affairs with high-priced escorts, puts his family and political ambitions at risk. His wife, Katheryn Cryer (Renée Lawless), is the ultimate matriarch portraying a loving and dutiful wife, but she is willing to do anything to protect her family’s status.

Their son Wyatt (Aaron O’Connell) is a troubled angry jock who cares little for his own image and finds himself in and out of rehab. His sister Amanda (Jacyln Betham), a struggling law student, tries harder to live up to her parents’ expectations, but unknowingly has befriended a scurrilous young woman, Candace (Tika Sumpter), with the power to ruin the entire family. Hanna Young (Crystal Fox) is the Cryer’s maid and the matriarch of her family.

Tyler Perry’s The Haves and the Have Nots premieres Tuesday May 28th 9/8c on OWN! Hit the flip to find out more about the brand new comedy, Tyler Perry’s Love Thy Neighbor, next!

Another new face is gracing the cover of ESSENCE this month!

Though Tyler Perry typically gets a cover once every other year or so, Oprah is a new addition to the magazine’s arsenal of cover ladies and she’s looking pretty darn great.

Inside, the pair who is currently involved in a major partnership — TP’s developing two new series for Oprah’s OWN network — talk about leaning on each other and how unique their friendship is in the industry.

“We both know how rare this is,” Oprah told the mag. “Where else in the history of our African-American culture have two really, really successful people who can do whatever they want said, ‘Let’s come together and be even more powerful—let’s take it to the tenth power?’”

Some would say it’s risky business for Oprah and Tyler to work together, but the screenwriter and director said they’re not afraid to mix business and friendship.

“…The most important thing about coming together was making sure we would not lose our friendship because of the business. We had to establish ground rules. The main one: Both of us have to continue to live in our truth. If she doesn’t like something, say it. If I don’t like something, I’ll say it. And we’ll figure it out and keep moving on…”

It sounds like Oprah followed the rules, as Tyler told ESSENCE working with the media mogul on his new series, The Haves and the Have Nots and Love Thy Neighbor, “challenged me to push myself in terms of my writing and level of thinking. I’m hoping that the energy of our coming together will go out to other people.”

We’ll see if it does on May 28 and 29 when the series’ debut. What do you think of their cover?

Source: OWN

Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry have been hinting for for months that they’ve been working on something big. Now we finally we get to see two of the top secret projects that they’ve been working so hard on! So in case you haven’t heard it through the grapevine yet, Tyler has been in the process of producing two new scripted series for OWN.

The first series, which is titled The Haves and the Have Nots seems have a soap opera-ish type feel to it. It also appears to be loosely based on Tyler’s 2011 stage play that bore the same title, with a few elements from his 2008 film, The Family That Preys sprinkled in . Starring in the television drama is Tika Sumpter, Crystal Fox, Renée Lawless, John Schneider, and a host of other talented actors and actresses. A brief description of the tele-drama found on the network’s website reads:

“Set in Savannah, Georgia, Jim and Katheryn Cryer, a wealthy couple, become intimately involved with the families of their hired help, creating a web of controversy as the worlds of “The Haves” and “The Have Nots” collide.”

Perry switched gears a bit with the second series, taking a more comedic approach. Love Thy Neighbor seems to follow the formula that we are used to seeing when it comes Tyler’s scripted series. OWN describes the show as “a wonderfully fresh show about a middle class family, and their daily joys, struggles, triumphs and fumbles.”

The Haves and the Have Nots is scheduled to premiere May 28th at 9/8c and Love Thy Neighbor is set to premiere May 29th at 9/8c.

Check out a preview of The Haves and the Have Nots below. Turn the page to for a preview of Love Thy Neighbor. Will you be checking out either of these shows? 

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Loud sex, late nights and vile smells…sometimes it’s easier to hate the people who live next door to us than to like them. We’ve all had that neighbor and we’ve all been that neighbor, but what’s important is learning how to comfortably live next door to the people who live next door. This is especially true in a town like New York City, where apartments are usually small and walls are usually thin. We hear more unwarranted sounds and noises in a week than small town dwellers hear in a lifetime, but in spite of this we have to fight the urge to blast our sound systems or strike the ceiling with a broomstick out of revenge, because after all, we don’t know when we might need our neighbor to let us into the building or bring in our UPS packages. Here’s a short instructional guide to better knowing your neighbors, or dare I say, loving your neighbors.

Get to know names and faces: The nameless neighbor differs greatly from the neighbor who you can put a name and face to. So, go out of your way to introduce yourself to your neighbor, and tell them where you live. It’s a good bet that your upstairs neighbor will feel less inclined to do their dance aerobics at your bedtime if they remember that you’re the friendly neighbor that lives below them.

Make conversation: In addition to getting to know names and faces, get to know your neighbor. That doesn’t mean that you two need to watch episodes of Scandal together or that you need to hit the club. But, to know your neighbor is to better understand your neighbor, and if you understand them then it’s easier to forgive the fact they play loud jazz or that clouds of marijuana smoke drift from beneath their door each time they open it.

Invite them over for dinner: Notice that your neighbors don’t keep a tidy home or that they cook things that make the entire building smell like eggs and ashtrays? Try inviting your neighbor over to show them how it’s done. A polite invitation that’s laced with motive is a seemingly innocent way to subtly promote your own choices in decor and tastes. You can easily make recommendations, offer advice and even offer to be of assistance from time to time.

Do favors, return favors: Most people have redeeming qualities; this is even true of the worst neighbor. You can exhibit some of your good qualities by doing small acts of kindness in your building. If you do small favors for your neighbors, they will return the favor…and if your neighbor does something for you, be sure that you do the same.

Pass on the passive, aggressive or passive aggressive behavior: Your neighbor threw a loud party with no notice or their dog pissed on your doorstep, and you’re rightfully upset. Don’t take this as an invitation to curse them out, but at the same time don’t let it slide if it really bothered you. Take some time out to talk with your neighbor face-to-face about your concerns. If your schedules clash then make a phone call or leave a note. It’s important to share your frustrations, but make sure that you don’t come off too hostile.

Let bygones… Some noises are unavoidable on both sides of the wall, so don’t get fired up each time your neighbor moans like a ghost during sex. This is the time to pop in some headphones or turn up the radio. Chances are, if you can hear them, they can usually hear you–and if they aren’t making a big fuss about your bedframe striking the wall then you shouldn’t be complaining either. Just saying.

Source: WENN

In October, we found out that Tyler Perry and Oprah were partnering together on exclusive television series and projects for the daytime talk show mogul’s network, OWN, and The Hollywood Reporter has just released the concepts for their first two shows.

The first, The Haves and the Have Nots is “a drama about the dynamics of the affluent Cyrer family and the impoverished family of their housekeeper, Hanna, and the obstacles and secrets that exist within both.” The second, which is a multicamera comedy, is titled Love Thy Neighbor, and will be set at “Love’s Diner, where every day the menu serves up good food, great laughs, valuable life lessons and a lot of love for its zany neighbors.” Sounds very Lifetimey.

As expected, TP will write, direct and executive produce both the comedy and the drama, as he always does, but additional writers and producers are expected to be added to the mix. Production will begin early next year and the series are both expected to debut in mid-2013. OWN investors have a lot riding on these shows, as Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav, explained the potential for OWN’s growth at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in London, December 4 and said:

“The cherry on top is we got Tyler Perry.”

Hopefully these series will be all they want them to be.

How are you feeling about these concepts?