'HOUSE' SUFFERS FROM PAINFULLY WEAK SCRIPTWRITING.

Byline: David Kronke

Television Critic

Mainstream America knew next to nothing about Atlanta-based playwright/actor/author/film-maker Tyler Perry until the weekend in 2005 that his film "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" debuted to boffo box office. But his faithful African-American audience already knew and loved the guy, and after that film opened, the whole country had to pay attention.

That white audiences failed to pay Perry heed probably contributed to his aura of authenticity embraced by his base: His material is self-empowering, sentimental -- and the jokes feel generic yet not universal, as evidenced in his new TBS sitcom, "House of Payne."

Perry's playing off the "All in the Family" template, minus the issue-oriented humor: Agreeably grumpy LaVan Davis stars as the misanthropic Curtis Payne, who loves his family only when they're at a safe remove. Alas, they (for reasons unexplained) prefer to hover around him in a close orbit, further ratcheting up his cranky demeanor.

Nephew C.J. (Allen Payne) moved his family under Curtis' roof after his own home burned down. Son Calvin (Lance Gross) prefers the comfort of home to his dorm at the university, where he only sporadically attends classes. Wife Ella (Cassi Davis) banters with him as Edith Bunker did with Archie, or as Louise Jefferson did with George. But the wan one-liners aren't nearly as barbed as the goatgrass that clings to dogs loping through open fields.

A sampling of ostensible punch lines (which drew guffaws from either studio audiences or canned-laughter machines) through the first few episodes: "Don't touch me; I don't know where your hands been." (A variation on a line that was hilarious enough when John Cleese's Basil Fawlty introduced it some 30 years ago.) "You worry about your figure, and I'll worry about mine." When a character is asked to name two great kings: "Smoking and drinking." "Me and the teachers have an understanding: Sometimes I don't show up -- and they understand."

It gets even worse when an anger-management counselor arrives on the scene, badly imitating Richard Simmons.

But what really makes "House of Payne" live up to its title is the way it violently deviates from its ubiquitous, good-natured promos with a story line involving a central character becoming a crack addict -- and a poorly staged scene in which Curtis, C.J. and Calvin enter a crack den -- and then take three minutes to notice that the addict has been napping on a cot in the very same room alongside them.

Perry appears in tonight's episode as Madea, the character he immortalized on stage and in film, and he brings some measure of comic urgency to the proceedings. Overall, though, "House of Payne" is too weakly scripted to provide Perry (or TBS) with a crossover audience.

David Kronke, [phone]

[e-mail]

www.insidesocal.com/tv

TYLER PERRY'S HOUSE OF PAYNE - Two stars

What: Dysfunctional family sitcom.

Where: TBS.

When: 9 tonight.

In a nutshell: Pretty foursquare.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

(color) Allen Payne plays nephew C.J., left, Lance Gross is son Calvin, and China Anne McClain is young Jazmine in "Tyler Perry's House of Payne" on TBS.