One thing I forgot to mention yestereday was that Tyler Perry didn’t make the obvious choice of casting  Robin Givens as the selfish, obnoxious character. How refreshing that this actress didn’t get typecast once again. Between A Rage in Harlem, Boomerang and even Head of State, she’s somehow been relegated to the role of femme fetale, golddigger or basically up to no good (after coming to our attention as such a good-goody on the sitcom Head of the Class.) And unfortunately, those monickers seemed to stick to her in real life too after that infamous Barbara Walters interview when she was still married to Mike Tyson. Read the full story

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

Come this fall there will be fewer of us on televison. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. I knew this was coming when I heard Khandi Alexander and Gary Dourdan where out of their respective CSI’s (with Dourdan’s departure both gruesome and definitive). But what does surprise me is that it looks like the NAACP feels the need to study such an obvious problem and issue another report (which will be coming soon). Perhaps they should have stopped those ridiculous awards (that recognize brown faces whether the project is good or bad) and they would have realized this situation has been painfully apparent forever. Read the full story