Madea is getting her own TV show.
Tyler Perry is developing a Madea prequel drama series for Showtime.
Titled Mabel, the show’s logline says “long before she was the force of nature known as Madea she was a smart, fierce, irresistible, dangerous, crazy 20-something black woman named Mabel Simmons. When she moved to Atlanta in 1972 she set the city – and the world – on fire.”
Perry created the series and is executive producing the show with Tim Palen. JaNeika James and JaSheika James are writing the series and executive producing alongside Perry and Palen.
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Tyler Perry created and portrayed the character Mabel “Madea” Earlene Simmons first through his stage plays. Madea is based on Perry’s mother and his aunt. In Perry’s own words Madea is “exactly the PG version of my mother and my aunt, and I loved having an opportunity to pay homage to them. She would beat the hell out of you but make sure the ambulance got there in time to make sure they could set your arm back”
After his success on stage, he moved Madea to the big screen and small screen.
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Perry created 11 stage plays that included this well-known character. The first few were I Can Do Bad All By Myself, and Diary of a Mad Black Woman. He followed up with Madea’s Family Reunion, Madea’s Class Reunion, and Madea Goes to Jail. The last of his stage plays were Madea’s Big Happy Family, A Madea Christmas, Madea Gets a Job, Madea’s Neighbors from Hell, Madea on the Run, and Madea’s Farewell.
He turned many of the stage plays into movies and created new films centered around the famed character: Madea’s Witness Protection, Boo! A Madea Halloween, Boo 2! A Madea Halloween, and A Madea Family Funeral.
BET+ also streamed a performance of Madea’s Farewell Play in August 2020, which marked Perry’s final time playing the character