The Haves and the Have Nots season 9: Why isn’t it happening at OWN?

The Haves and the Have-Nots season 5

As we prepare for tonight’s finale, it seems like the right time to pose the question: Why isn’t The Haves and the Have Nots season 9 happening at OWN? Why did the episode tonight have to be the series finale?

The first thing to point out here is simply this: We’ve known that season 8 would be the final season for a while now. This is not some situation similar to what happened at Hallmark Channel, where Good Witch was canceled at roughly the last minute. We’ve had time to prepare; OWN is even giving us a reunion special next week to give us closure in the best way possible.

Of course, the fact that we are getting a reunion now suggests that the odds of a revival down the road are slim. When you look at the ratings alone, it may be fair to say that things are ending at the right time anyway. Season 8 of The Haves and the Have Nots averaged just under a million live viewers, and is down more than 20% from season 7 in both viewers and the 18-49 demographic. There’s no evidence at this point that the Tyler Perry production would suddenly get better numbers in a season 9.

Even if the series is ending tonight, there’s a lot to be grateful for here! There are very few series with the opportunity to run for so many years, and to give viewers a chance to fully immerse themselves in this world. We know these characters backwards and forwards and we’ve seen all of them grow and change. All things must end in the world of television; our major hope is that OWN does continue to develop great scripted drama, even if it is hard to generate big ratings in this hyper-competitive landscape. (Personally, we’re still waiting on that Greenleaf spin-off to surface at some point in the future.)

Do you want to see The Haves and the Have Nots season 9 happen at OWN?

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