Giving thanks to the hands that employ you and some good television.

Last Thursday (Jan. 8), popular TV shows “The Haves and the Have Nots” and “Love Thy Neighbor” held a press day during a meet and greet luncheon in Atlanta.

Both shows were created by actor and director Tyler Perry; their home network is on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network.

Cast members from Perry’s shows (Tyler Lepley and Kendra C. Johnson) were on hand and gave an exclusive to urban gossip site Bossip.

Lepley plays Benny Young on “The Haves and the Have Nots” while Johnson takes on the cheerful Linda Mae Love-Harriss on “Love Thy Neighbor.”

During a Q&A, Lepley was asked about Perry’s scripted show and what he brings to television with his vision:

 “I think it’s great what he’s doing, if you watch these shows there’s always cliffhangers,” said Lepley. “I think what happened with this whole movement with reality TV is we lost the suspense, we lost the anticipation, it goes hand in hand with all these phones. I think what he did is he brought real TV back.

He added:

 Back in the day you used to have to wait for that. Back in the day with “Dallas” you had to wait till the end of the season to see if J.R. died. I think he brought the suspense back to television.”

Meanwhile, Johnson echoed Lepley’s statement by highlighting Perry’s development of characters that are real and identifiable with viewers.

 “There are so many times when I read the script and I’m like ‘oooh Mr. Perry get out my life’, the things that Linda is experiencing are very universal. We go through [it] with these men. That’s what makes the characters so relatable. When I go out people immediately go to their own story and say how their experience relates to Linda’s. You’ll see more of that this season.”

The shows are now in their third season on OWN. “The Haves and the Have Nots” takes on Tuesday nights at 9/8c while “Love Thy Neighbor” airs on Wednesdays also at 9/8c.