All Rise...

Judge Patrick Naugle is Tyler Perry's former personal assistant. The confidentiality agreement transcends death.

Editor's Note

Our reviews of Meet the Browns (2004) (published September 13th, 2005), Meet The Browns: Season One (published September 22nd, 2011), Meet the Browns (2008) (Blu-ray) (published July 28th, 2008), and Meet the Browns (2008) (published July 21st, 2008) are also available.

The Charge

A sitcom for people who hate comedy.

The Case

The adventures of Mr. Brown (David Mann, reprising his role from the film), his daughter Cora (Tamela Mann, David's real life wife) and the elderly residents of Brown Meadows continues with the second season of Meet the Browns. Joining them is Mr. Brown's nephew Dr. William Brown (Lamann Rucker), Will's ever patient wife Sasha (Denise Boutte) and…other people who…well, actually…um. Oh, hell. I'm officially dispensing with the pleasantries. This show is filled to the brim with silly, stupid and mentally deficient secondary characters that help make this show nearly insufferable.

The 19 episodes included in this three disc set are:

• "Meet the Entrepreneur"
• "Meet the Ex"
• "Meet the E.R."
• "Meet the Secret"
• "Meet the Intervention"
• "Meet the New Job"
• "Meet the Gold Digger"
• "Meet the Willis"
• "Meet the Cougars"
• "Meet the Thief"
• "Meet the Sweet Tooth"
• "Meet the Matrimony"
• "Meet the Man and the Mouse"
• "Meet the Real Dad"
• "Meet the Hubby"
• "Meet the HBIC"
• "Meet the Naked Truth"
• "Meet the Two Left Feet"

Writer/director/actor/producer and possibly caterer Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns: Season 2 is an unfunny mess that proves you don't have to have an abundance of talent to get a deal made in Hollywood (or is it with the devil?). It's a show so corny it could be processed and squeezed into a bottle to be used to make any number of poorly tasting confectionaries. Meet the Browns is an artistically empty experience that makes you yearn for the sweet relief of a brain embolism.

I'm truly at a loss for what to tell you or where to start. Meet the Browns is just one unbearable story after another. Remember all those syrupy, terrible early 1990s "TGI Friday" shows: Family Matters, Full House, Step by Step? Sure you do. They were freakin' everywhere! You couldn't escape them if you were dropped on a desert island with your sense of sight or sound snatched away. They were made for viewers who either a) wanted their shows to be as bland as communion crackers, or b) enjoyed getting stoned and laughing at other's expense. Now take those poorly conceived shows, transport them to the late 2000s and you'll have a good idea of what the second season of Meet the Browns is like.

Everyone in the show overacts—both comedic and dramatic—to the point where it feels like the whole thing will collapse like a dying star. I noted this in a previous review, but David Mann as Mr. Brown is the real culprit; his overdressed and over-emotional monster of a character barrels through the sets as if this were the last time he'll ever be in front of an audience. There is no way around it—Mann is an attention whore of the highest order. Of course, you can't completely blame Mann; the writers have given the actor so little to work with (except wilted put-downs and blustering outbursts) that he didn't have a chance from the get go. Someone ought to sit down with Tyler Perry and calmly explain to him that you can put a man in a funny pair of pants, but that won't necessarily lead him to comedy gold.

Just because I don't want to be perceived as a cantankerous reviewer shaking his fist and yelling at those darn kids to get off his lawn, for this review I want to offer a small amount of praise which goes toward actors Denise Boutte and Lamann Rucker as Will and Sasha. There were brief moments when I enjoyed the byplay between these two actors and realized that if someone would sweep away all the horrendous clutter (mainly the rest of the show's characters and story arcs), there may actually be a descent show here with Boutte and Rucker. Sadly, I don't think that's going to happen which means you'll have slog your way through rough 440 minutes of dullness get to a few warm spots with Will and Sasha.

Tyler Perry has become a one man cottage industry in Hollywood. Clearly he has hit a nerve with viewers and they are turning out in droves to his movies (and considering he's had a bunch of his films turned into television shows, someone is watching these programs as well). Yet I can't shake the feeling that Perry could do better if he took the time to flesh out his characters and make them three dimensional. In Meet the Browns you get too many people acting like complete idiots and melodramatic ninnies. I'd be interested to see what Perry could do if he'd be willing to stretch himself and inject a project with originality.

For whom does this show exist? Comedy fans will be sorely disappointed by Meet the Browns' lackluster laugh track. Each joke is anemically executed to the point of falling so flat the walls end up being jealous. Viewers looking for moving drama will be turned off by the fact that when a poignant moment does arrive, it's squelched by someone else trying to get a laugh. Am I being harsh on this show? Yes. Does it deserve it? Absolutely. I don't ask for razor sharp comedy from every television show—God knows good broadcast TV is hard to come by and even harder to create. What I do ask that the writers, actors and directors at least try to put together a passable show. Everyone in Meet the Browns feels like they are giving the bare minimum and as a fan of comedy that makes me sad.

Each episode in Meet the Browns: Season 2 is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Because God knows that if there's any show on the planet that needs a lavish widescreen transfer, it's this one. Anyhow, the colors and black levels are all appropriately rendered. The good news the transfers are eons better than the content, although that just means you'll be seeing crappy television even clearer. The soundtracks are each presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround in English (along with a Dolby Digital 2.0 track to boot). This is a sitcom so don't expect much in the way of surround sounds or directional effects (save for the music cues and canned laughter). Also included on this set are Spanish and English subtitles.

Thankfully, no extra features have been included with this package.

The Verdict

Meet the Browns: Season 2 is just as painful as the show's first season. Skip this and enjoy other activities, such as eating tinfoil or sticking flaming bamboo under your toenails.

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