Nellie Andreeva

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network is quickly becoming the Oprah Winfrey & Tyler Perry Network. OWN has picked up Perry’s sitcom For Better Or Worse, ordering a third season of originals and acquiring the show’s existing 45 episodes. For Better Or Worse, which previously aired on TBS, is OWN’s third scripted series from Perry who last October signed an exclusive deal with the network for scripted fare. The first two series under the pact, sitcom Love Thy Neighbor and drama The Haves And The Have Nots, premiere in May. Season 3 of For Better Or Worse will debut this fall with the original cast set to return, including Tasha Smith, Michael Jai White, Crystle Stewart, Kent Faulcon, Kiki Haynes and Jason Olive. Production will begin in Atlanta in April.

For Better Or Worse, based on Perry’s Why Did I Get Married movies, was the third sitcom Perry did with TBS and Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury under Debmar-Mercury’s 10-90 model. All three received back orders from TBS after the original 10-episode runs, but For Better Or Worse‘s was smaller than the others, 35 episodes picked up last February. I hear that, after a total of 45 episodes, TBS passed on ordering more, and Perry, whose company produces For Better Or Worse, made the move to OWN. The first two series, House Of Payne and Meet The Browns, produced 222 and 140 episodes, respectively. They sold in broadcast syndication and continue to air repeats on TBS.

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