Love Thy Neighbor

***Love Thy Neighbor*** is an American television sitcom written, directed and executive produced by Tyler Perry and a spin-off of the *Madea* franchise. It aired for five seasons on the Oprah Winfrey Network from May 29, 2013 to August 19, 2017.

## Plot

The sitcom revolves around diner owner Hattie Mae Love and her middle-class family's daily triumphs and struggles while living in the simple home she and one of her husbands bought some time ago. Her daughter Linda splits her time between Hattie's home and the apartment she sometimes shares with her on-again off-again boyfriend The show's focal point is the Love Train Diner, an old locomotive car converted to a diner that serves up all of Hattie Mae's favorite recipes. It is the neighborhood hangout that, along with great food, serves up fun and offers advice to customers. It also deals with all the drama that Hattie Mae's daughter Linda faces in her life from bad husbands to bad boyfriends, to good ones, to having a baby girl.

## Cast and characters

* Patrice Lovely as Hattie Mae Love - Linda's cantankerous mother and owner of the Love Train Diner. Hattie is the most vivacious 75-year-old woman ever known and though she still cares deeply for her daughter and grandson, she is a strong believer in "tough love". As revealed in the film *Boo! A Madea Halloween*, she is in a relationship with Made's brother, Joe Simmons.
* Palmer Williams Sr. as Floyd Stanley Jackson - Linda's uncle and Danny's great-uncle through his late brother's marriage to Hattie. Floyd, often jovial and sarcastic, is the superintendent of the apartment building where Danny and his friends live, but he also works at the diner. Williams reprises his role from *House of Payne*.
* Kendra C. Johnson as Linda Mae Love-Harris - Hattie's daughter and Danny's mother. Linda is often optimistic and cheerful, despite going through a divorce with her ex-husband Lionel. She is not particularly skilled at anything but begins working at the diner in season 6. She becomes pregnant by Philip in the season 2 finale. In Season 4, she married Philip while in the hospital, and in Season 5 gives birth to a baby girl named Celina.
* Andre Hall as Danny Harris - Linda's 24-year-old and Hattie's grandson. Danny is an industrious, sensitive, strait-laced young man who could be considered a "mama's boy" since he is very protective of his mother. He begins work on the Internet-design firm *Beagal and Steve* after some persuasion from his best friends Sam and Drew. He is happy about the idea of his being getting remarried because of the person. He is also aware of Drew's crush on him, though he doesn't feel the same, and watches over her cousin Troy for a while she is out of town. They fall in love and get married in the season 3 finale and struggles to balance a bonded relationship between his mother and wife in Season 4.
* Zulay Henao as Marianna Perez (Season 1) - The manager of the Atlanta office of *Beagal and Steve* after moving to Atlanta from Chicago. The character was removed after the first season when Henao was unable to reprise the role due to scheduling conflicts.
* Jonathan Chase as Sam Parker - A self-proclaimed wild man, Danny's immature, irresponsible, selfish best friend, coworker, and roommate who sleeps with any girl he finds hot and parties every night until episode 12. He is very attracted to Marianna, though it isn't mutual.
* Darmirra Brunson as Drew Scott - Danny's friend and coworker who has a crush on him. She lived with Marianna in her freshman year at college and has hated her since, because she was the "coat rack" at all parties. She is also the cousin of Danny's wife, Troy.
* Tony Grant as Philip (seasons 3-5, recurring season 2) - A man with a crush on Linda who has two kids with his first wife. He kissed Linda many times while she was already in a relationship. She goes to have sex with Philip after getting hurt by her last boyfriend; she dumps him the next day, but finds she was pregnant from the encounter. He asks Linda to marry him in the season 3 finale, and they are married during Season 4.
* Leigh-Ann Rose as Troy (season 4-5, recurring season 3) - Drew's cousin who Danny quickly falls hard for towards the end of the third season. Troy marries Danny in Vegas with Hattie as a witness during the season 3 finale. A recurring character during the third season, she becomes a main character during the fourth season, which chronicles her struggles to build a relationship with her new mother-in-law Linda, which causes friction between Drew and Sam.

### Recurring

* Tyler Perry as Madea (season 3)
* Dawn Parker as Belinda (season 2)
* Thai Douglas as Will (season 2)

## Episodes

Main article: *List of Love Thy Neighbor episodes*

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5

## Reception

### Ratings

The series premiere of *Love Thy Neighbor* averaged 1.65 million viewers, making for OWN's second highest-rated series premiere after Tyler Perry's other program, *The Haves and the Have Nots*, which premiered the previous day.