BET has acquired all 254 episodes of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and the Viacom-owned network will start airing the show Nov. 1, Debmar-Mercury said Wednesday.
“We identified House of Payne as a highly compatible series for our daytime sitcom staples,” said Maureen Guthman, BET senior VP, programming and acquisitions, in a statement.
BET will launch House of Payne with a 24-hour marathon beginning Sunday, Nov. 1, at noon ET/PT and ending Monday, Nov. 2, at noon ET/PT. BET and the Viacom Program Acquisitions Group, led by Barbara Zaneri, executive VP, program acquisitions, secured the series.
Tyler Perry's House of Payne aired for five years on TBS after first airing as a ten-episode test run on Fox-owned TV stations in 2006. It was the first show to establish Debmar-Mercury's 90/10 cost-saving production model, in which a prospective buyer would test ten episodes of a show and then if certain ratings thresholds were met, agree to buy 90 more episodes. By the end of its run, there were more episodes of House of Payne than any other African-American sitcom in TV history, including The Jeffersons at 253, Family Matters at 215, The Cosby Show at 202 and Diff'rent Strokes at 189.
“BET will provide a strong platform for House of Payne, which holds a special place in our hearts for laying the foundation of our company’s growth,” said Debmar-Mercury Co-Presidents Ira Bernstein and Mort Marcus in a statement.
