OWN’s ‘The Haves and the Have Nots’ returns to big ratings
OWN has found ratings riches with “The Haves and the Have Nots.”
The network scored the highest premiere ratings in its history Tuesday night with the Season 2 launch of the soap opera.
Created by Tyler Perry and loosely based on his play of the same name, “The Haves and the Have Nots” snagged 3.2 million total viewers Tuesday, marking an increase of 16% over its series premiere last year.
The drama follows the intersecting paths of three families -- two wealthy, one poor -- in Savannah, Ga. Though it has been panned by critics (The Times’ Mary McNamara deemed it “so awful that the awfulness appears intentional” and suggested staging an intervention with the network’s founder, Oprah Winfrey), “The Haves and the Have Nots” has been part of a ratings turnaround at the once-struggling OWN.
OWN’s partnership with Perry, a prolific writer-producer-director often accused of trafficking in negative stereotypes, also includes the soap “If Loving You Is Wrong” and the sitcom “Love Thy Neighbor.”
Follow @MeredithBlake on Twitter.
The complete guide to home viewing
Get Screen Gab for everything about the TV shows and streaming movies everyone’s talking about.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
