Absolutely Fantastic

A different way of telling a story

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

I really enjoy this show. I don't know why I see all of these negative comments, but I think it is hilarious. I guess some people just don't get it. Perhaps it's because they can't relate to the show like I can. I watch this show all the time and I love it. The characters are realistic and relatable. I watch this show and see things happen that have happened in my family and I see characters that are very similar to members of my family. I believe this show is a funny and truthful representation of a modern family. I have the entire series on DVD and I watch them whenever I need something to pick me up, which is exactly what the show is intended to do. Some of the problems experienced by the Payne family can teach important lessons about love, family, and life that we all have to face at some point or another.

I have to change the channel on both The House of Payne AND Meet the Browns.(canned laughter) Not every line needs "canned laughter" to make me laugh. (canned laughter) In fact out of all the attempts to finish just one show (canned laughter)... I only laughed at one line.(canned laughter) I love Tyler Perry and his accomplishments and how he got to where he is but...seriously these two shows are not comedy and ruin TBS (canned laughter). I think these two shows have too much ridiculous overacting (canned laughter) and too much fake audience laughing EVERY time ANYONE says anything.(canned laughter) It is so bad that I can't even sleep when it is on because of the constant terrible fake laughter. (canned laughter) Canned laughter should be used used "gently" in many shows and I get it. But to make every line said with the same exact recorded laughter makes a funny line NOT funny. (canned laughter) The shows may be about real situations but the editing is as bad as it gets. Tyler Perry is one brilliant writer/actor/producer but he needs to "can" the crew that makes them television ready. (canned laughter) I only gave it a one because zero was not an option.(canned laughter)...annoying isn't it?(canned laughter)

I got the first season from amazon right after Christmas of 2010. I watched the first episode and didn't really like it. I was going to sell it. I decided to give it a second chance, and I am glad that I did. The show is based on the life of the Payne family. You get to see all the things that happen to them in their lives. It almost makes you feel like your watching a real family. Episodes make you laugh, cry and get angry. They deal with real issues. I was really surprised to see the review of this show. I think this show takes getting used to. It is almost like a play. It has a weird feel to it. I know there are some who will give up and not care. But if you stick with it, you may just find a great show that feels like a TV classic.

Alright, first off let me start off by saying I'm not going to bash this show, but just explain why I can't get into it. Second, I'm not gonna be strictly comparing this to Bill Cosby and Fresh Prince if I even make comparisons. I can't stand when people here do that, why are you only bringing up sitcoms with black actors? Comedy does not stem from your color but you talent, so making such strict comparisons is ridiculous to me.Anyway, here we go. The first thing that popped in my head when I watched a few episodes is this: Please I am not racist, but the one of the first complaints I had was that this show was strictly for black people. What I mean by that is that everything in this show: from the references, to the jokes, to the music (I'm talking about the television on the show), and everything else is strictly related to blacks or stereotypes as such. There was one part of an episode where Curtis states that his favorite team is the Steelers because their coach was the first black coach to win the Superbowl. Now who would laugh at that if anyone? My guess is not a lot of white people. It goes on and on with all these jokes and references.When I watch it, I feel as though I am not allowed to do so due to all these jokes. I understand some of the humor, but sometimes I feel like saying "Okay, I get it, the cast is black now can we get past that and get some good jokes. It's as if every five seconds the cast must remind the audience that they're black with very odd placed jokes. Also, another thing I get from this show is this: "We ain't gay, we are all very straight people." Seriously, this show tries so hard to show Curtis's nephew and son to be gnawing over women and it's so badly acted that it comes across as homosexuals afraid to come out of the closet. Not to mention you have many jokes where the cast cringes at the thought of someone being gay. So in the end the show screams to me: The cast is black and all straight because they are so attracted to the opposite sex. It comes across as lame, insecure, and frankly I thought one of the characters was meant to be gay trying to act straight with how badly the acting was with him flirting to some woman on the phone.Another thing that I caught in this show are the gestures. The nephew will make all these odd gestures along with his lines which sound very forced that you can see the acting. Curtis will always have his arm raised and his hand bent with the index finger pointing, I mean what the hell is that? It may not seem like much but the gestures add too much expression and just make the acting all the more apparent. Along with this some of the jokes are drawn out far to long. Long jokes are very risky in sitcoms because if the joke's not funny than you're gonna have entire minutes of zero comedy. In this show the jokes are lame and then the audience has to hear it again and again for almost five minutes. Annoying and sometimes enraging.In terms of actors, there are only three that I think are good and they are Curtis and CJ's kids. They are good at acting natural, granted there are some moments from time to time where they're acting sounds odd. I soon realized though that these odd moments are a result of the script rather than the acting itself. The aforementioned actors do good usually, but when the script gets too odd with poorly placed lines, it doesn't sound right. It's almost as if the actors themselves notice the odd lines themselves and don't know how to respond to it. Along with this, the script has a tendency to repeat the same lines over and over again just in a different context. An example is in an episode I really like where CJ is caught in a burning building. Curtis did a great job here, acting serious and even his fits of rage at his son were very well acted and you can tell that the actor really had his heart into it. The last moment when he tells his son how much he cared about him was also very well done. However, the lines soon get repeated over and over again with having to get CJ out of the building. I guess it would make sense to reemphasize that line, but for the sake of good writing it can seen as slightly lazy. Overall though I enjoyed that episode and is a testament to how this show has potential when it drops all the color jokes and deals with situations that everyone can relate to. More episodes like that and I would really enjoy this show. Now there is a very positive thing of this show and it's this: it has great concepts. The concepts are very engaging and deal with many realistic problems that happen all around the world, something we all can relate to. But the aforementioned issues cloud the concepts and make them almost irritating due to how they are directed by the cast. In the end the show has the potential to be great due to the concepts, but the humor, script, and much of the acting get in the way of that.