The Family That Preys, the latest movie by Tyler Perry, the mega-millionaire who brought Madea into our lives, opened this weekend at #2 at the box office and an $18 million take. This is not the strongest showing for Perry but apparently this is a decent showing since this movie isn’t built upon one of his stage productions. I saw the movie over the weekend and think it isn’t as satisfying as Why Did I Get Married but also not as derivative as those Madea-centric flicks. (I guess you can tell that a man dressed as a loud, black woman is not my particular cup of tea but I do recognize that many people adore her/him). Read the full story

A few months ago, Entertainment Weekly’s story about the upcoming fall season revealed that the only new black character would be Cleveland Brown, the star of the new Family Guy spin-off called Cleveland (which actually won’t debut until next year). But Mike Henry, who originated the role and is not black would supply his voice. I don’t remember any big protests about this but rather there was more concern about the lack of real black characters in prime time television. But perhaps Fox thought it would be easier to address the ethnic diversity of this show rather than actually casting actors we could see on any of its new projects. That said, I am glad to hear that Sanaa Lathan will be the voice of Cleveland’s wife, Donna and Nia Long  will lend her pipes to the rebel in the family, stepdaughter Roberta. Read the full story