Meet the Browns is an American sitcom created and produced by Tyler Perry. The initial story revolves around Mr. Brown running a nursing home in Decatur, Georgia with his daughter Cora Simmons. However, as the show progresses, this idea is gradually phased out and it becomes a typical family sitcom about a multigenerational clan living under one roof. The show premiered on Wednesday, January 7, 2009, and finished its run on November 18, 2011 on TBS.
It is an adaptation of Perry’s play and film of the same name. The show stars David Mann and Tamela Mann, who starred in the stage play and motion picture. It is also a spin-off of Tyler Perry's House of Payne.
Contents
Production history
As season 2 began, Brianne Gould, who played Brianna, was removed from the series for undisclosed reasons. She was replaced by Logan Browning.
In the series, Eddie Walker, one of Will's former friends, who was close to molesting Joaquin, became the first on-screen character to die. He suffered stab wounds, and the surgery done to try to save his life was performed by Will himself. After Eddie's death, Mr. Brown would make jokes to his nephew Will about killing him. Also, in season 4, Brianna's friend Antonio is killed in a car crash involving texting while driving, making him the second on-screen character to die.
David Mann is the only cast member who appears in every episode.
Mabel "Madea" Simmons, a recurring character in many of Tyler Perry's works, is mentioned many times by Mr. Brown, including when he says Madea needs her throat checked for an Adam's apple, looking like a dude/man, and being to big with sausage fingers. Throughout the show's five seasons, she never makes an on-camera appearance.
Other unseen characters include Brown's brother and sister-in-law, L.B. and Sarah. Both appeared in the stage play and film adaptation of Meet the Browns, but they've never graced the series, although L.B. was mentioned once in the backdoor pilot episode which aired as an episode of House of Payne. Joe, Madea's brother is mentioned in the camping episode when Will ask Mr.Brown what's he going to burn, some grass. Mr.Brown mockingly says to Will the only people that burns grass is your mama and Uncle Joe.
In November 2011, TBS suddenly announced that the series finale would be airing since the show had been canceled. Following its announcement, the last two episodes aired, ending the series after 140 episodes.
In February 2020, it was announced that David Mann and Tamela Mann would be reprising their roles in a sequel series titled Tyler Perry's Assisted Living which premiered on September 2, 2020, on BET. Assisted Living takes place years after the events of Meet the Browns. Brown and Cora act as investors for another retirement home, owned by a family that belongs to Brown’s church. It's unknown about what happened to, Will, Sasha, Brianna, Joaquin, the Colonel, Edna, Renee, and Derek.
Cast and characters
Main characters
The show revolves around the misadventures of the multi-generational Brown family of suburban Atlanta, Georgia. All main cast members are credited only for the episodes in which they appear.
David Mann as Leroy S. Brown. The show's main protagonist, Mr. Brown is a church deacon who's very proud of being saved. He has one brother, Larry "L.B." Brown, who is never mentioned in the series but appears in the film, and one sister, Vera. He was married years ago, but his wife died; in the original Tyler Perry plays, they had a daughter, but the character was never mentioned in the films and only shown in the play "Madea's Family Reunion". In "Madea's Class Reunion" he learns that he has a daughter, Cora Simmons, the result of a prom-night escapade with Mabel "Madea" Simmons. Over-bright in his funky dress sense, Brown isn't mentally brilliant and has the wise-guy role, making fun of characters like Edna and Reggie, but he is a nice, caring, giving man. He works part-time as a hospital janitor and also as a school enforcement officer who once beat up a teacher whom he thought had done something wrong. He is adequate at karate and enjoys busting out his "Kangaroo" move, His catchphrases include "Stop being nasty!", "What the what?" and "The Devil is a lie!" Running gags involve Brown calling Edna different kinds of animals like a horse, dog, bats, reptiles. He also calls her a zombie and a vampire or other monsters, and/or calling her a dude or a man and mentioning her by having a mustache or beard. He also makes fun of Cora's fiancé Reggie's weight and personality, and otherwise being open about his dislike for this future son-in-law. In one episode Brown begins to deal with his diabetes. Although he has used many variations of what the middle initial "S" of his name stands for like style, sweet, etc, one episode reveals that his middle name is Sacajawea (which he pronounces sah-kuh-JAW-wee-uh). In the Madea's Big Happy Family movie, Brown discovers that he is not Cora's father through a paternity test on Maury. The reveal is not brought up in the last season of the show following the movie, but it is brought up again years later in Tyler Perry's Assisted Living, in which Mr. Brown mentions the "Maury" show events and assumes that the Grandpa Vinny character is the father when he claims that he had an affair with Madea during the time of Cora's conception.
Tamela Mann as Cora Jean Simmons-Brown, Brown's daughter with Madea. She is a teacher and a praying woman who is very active in her church, but when angered, she shows aspects of her mother, Madea. A childless widow, she later becomes engaged to Reggie Brooks, the football coach at her school who lives with his mother, Thelma (In the play and movie, Cora had two adult daughters). "Meet the Candlelight Dinner" reveals that she is allergic to laxatives; the episode "Meet the Attraction" reveals that she's afraid of mannequins and test dummies. In Seasons 3 and 4, she dates Reggie and Gordon and eventually chooses Reggie over Gordon. Her age is never flat-out revealed in the series; she comes closest to blurting it out in "Meet the Big Wedding" ("Mr. Brown, I am" [covers mouth] "years old!"). But she's probably around in her 40s. In the TV series' continuity, Cora has known for many years that Mr. Brown is her father, and he often references raising and being there for her; in the Madea's Big Happy Family movie, Madea claims that Mr. Brown has given her $18 in child support: $1-per-year from her birth to age 18. In the episode "Meet the Baby Daddy", a man claimed to be Cora's father, but it was revealed that Mr. Brown was Cora's father after all. But then it was discovered that Cora was not Brown's daughter after appearing on Maury in Madea's Big Happy Family.
Recurring characters
Robert Ri'chard as Derek Porter (seasons 3–5), an African-Dominican American frat student who lives next door to Brown Meadows and often helps out there, in between masterminding or participating in Brown's antics. First appears in season 3 till season 5.
Jenifer Lewis as Vera Brown, Mr. Brown's younger sister, Will's mother, and Sasha's mother in law. She appears to be an alcoholic through her life since she had Will. She doesn't really know who Will's father is and had a love interest with Sasha's father in one episode.
Tasha Smith as Tanya Ortiz, Joaquin and Brianna's biological mother. She is the recurring antagonist. She got out of jail and tried to get Brianna and Joaquin back just to get checks.
Lisa Arrindell Anderson as Karen Jackson, The Colonel's daughter, estranged from her father after putting him in a nursing home after her mother's death. They still get along afterwards. She also appears in the Colonel's and Edna's wedding episode.
Ciara Wilson as Simone Taylor, Brianna's best friend. She appears to be dimwitted and dizzy as well. She got pregnant around season 4 after Will and Sasha found out that the pregnancy test was hers, not Brianna.
Courtney Gray as Jamal, Brianna's male best friend. In one episode, he innocently touches Brianna's hand which makes her overreact and kicks him out of the house. Another episode is that we find out he and his mom are homeless and living in a van which he breaks into people's homes including the Brown resident only to steal food.
Bernard Jones as Milo, a student at Cora's school. He later appeared in Tyler Perry's House of Payne as a college student and friend of Malik.
Leland L. Jones as Gordon Bob, Cora's ex-love-interest from college and the principal at her school. One episode in season 4, he sets up by sending Cora to Dallas for the teaching job.
Home releases
Lionsgate Home Entertainment has released all five seasons on DVD in Region 1. But these are arranged differently than the TV broadcast in which the DVD releases make up seven seasons with twenty episodes each.
Ratings
When the series premiered on January 7, 2009, it received a viewership of 4,027,000 based on Nielsen ratings. Meet the Browns was TBS's #1 sitcom in March 2010, with 2.3 million viewers and 1.2 million adults 18-49. In October 2010, the show continued to be TBS's #1 and #2 sitcom telecasts, with an audience of 1.2 to 1.4 million adults 18–49.
Syndication
Meet the Browns began airing in off-network syndication in September 2010 on stations covering more than 70% of the U.S., with major station groups carrying the program including Fox Television Stations, Tribune Broadcasting, Weigel Broadcasting, CBS Television Stations, Capitol Broadcasting Company, Cox Media Group, Meredith Corporation, Granite Broadcasting, Belo Broadcasting. and CW Plus, Reruns are primarily aired on affiliates of MyNetworkTV and The CW (the latter network's CW Plus service also carries the program as part of its national schedule). BET began airing reruns of the series in October 2016.