Jim Cryer

James "Jim" Cryer is a main character appearing in the OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) prime-time soap opera The Haves and the Have Nots.

A criminal court judge living in Savannah, Georgia, Jim is the husband of Katheryn Cryer, and the father of three children: Wyatt and Amanda with Katheryn, and Carlos and another unnamed boy with his maid Celine Gonzales (as revealed in "Norman Hewens").

He is played by John Schneider.

Seasons 1 & 2
The series begins with Jim, on his 50th birthday, engaging in an affair with Candy Cane, a call girl who's much younger than he is. Later, he returns to his family's estate, only to find his son, recently returned home from a yet another unproductive stint in rehab, walking around the house naked and to meet his daughter's new friend Candace Young, who happens to be Candy Cane and also the daughter of his newly-hired maid Hanna Young.

Candace soon proves to be a thorn in Jim's side as she blackmails Jim into giving her money by falsely claiming she's pregnant with his child and overall threatens to ruin his chances of running for Governor of Georgia alongside his friend and business partner David Harrington. He has Candace kidnapped and held captive by the Malones, his personal gang of thugs.

Jim later has to deal with Wyatt being involved in an automobile accident that claims the life of a young girl named Lizzie and leaves Benny Young, Hanna's son and Candace's half-brother, in a coma for a good portion of Season 2. Midway through the second season, he successfully covers up his son's role in Lizzie's death, which earns him further scorn from his wife, who warns him that his past and present actions will be harmful to both of his children in the long run.

In the Season 2 finale "Checkmate," at a party thrown by Katheryn at the Cryer mansion, Jim meets Quincy, Amanda's new "boyfriend" who, moments later, confronts him in his study as to Candace's whereabouts. When Jim lets slip that he slept with Candace, he is assaulted the thug, who is driven off by the timely intervention of David and Wyatt.

By the episode's end, Jim is lured outside of his house by a phone call from Candace; once he's outside on the front steps, he is kidnapped by Warlock and his crew, who are acting on Candace's orders.

Season 3
For the first few episodes of Season 3, Jim is held captive in a dingy basement, tied to a chair. He exchanges words with Warlock before being confronted by Candace, who demands he transfer an enormous sum of money to her bank account. When Jim refuses, he is subjected to electric torture and then forced him to pose for provocative photos with transvestites in bondage gear. Finally, he caves and agrees to give Candace what she wants.

In "A Tragic Day," Jim is finally freed from the basement. After cleaning up and getting dressed for his press conference, he is dismayed to be forced to take a bus to campaign headquarters. When he ends up on the wrong side of town, Jim gets into a heated row with the bus driver and later gets a ride with a kindly old woman who informs him of Amanda's death.

Jim finally returns home, where Katheryn, in a grief-filled rage, attempts to strangle him for not getting Amanda the help she needed earlier. Jim is comforted by David, whom he tells of what happened to him, and he later views Amanda's corpse before it's taken away by the coroner. The episode ends with Jim overhearing Wyatt tell Jeffrey that Amanda committed suicide because of her parents' actions.

"In Crisis" picks up where the previous episode left off, with Jim angrily asking Wyatt what he said. Jim advances on his son and violently accosts him, even pouring alcohol on Wyatt. Wyatt then punches his father, and the two men struggle until Jeffrey restrains Wyatt while David, Katheryn, and Veronica hold back Jim. Wyatt shows the others Jim's cell phone filled with text messages from his many mistresses over the years, then reveals that, while he was away at camp being molested by a priest, he tried calling his father, only for Jim to tell him he was busy when, in actuality, he was busy having an affair with Celine. Jim seems to regret his actions.

In "A Talk with Jim," Jim sits in the living room, drinking a glass of liquor, when Katheryn returns from visiting Hanna at her house. The two of them share the liquor, and Jim reminisces about the day Amanda was born, saying he thought he'd never put his newborn daughter down. Katheryn, however, informs Jim he wasn't there when she went into labor, proving his recollection of Amanda's birth as false. Jim then wonders why can't he stop acting the way he does, but Katheryn is unmoved by his expression of grief, saying he does the same thing—do something terrible, regret it, but then go and do it again.

In "Oscar," when Celine returns to the Cryers' home after having been fired, Jim comes downstairs and tells Celine she is indeed fired. Later, he is angered to find a cleaning crew clearing out Amanda's room under Hanna's supervision and orders the men to leave. He then harshly berates Hanna and warns her to stay away from him, all the while Hanna initially tries to get him to calm down before finally screaming "SHUT UP, DEMON!" and sternly rebuking Jim for his lack of respect towards her, threatening to leave the Cryer estate and never return. Jim, seemingly unfazed by Hanna's outburst, orders her to leave the room, which Hanna gladly does.

Once Hanna is gone, Jim looks and sees Amanda's blood on the walls; seeing this, he breaks down weeping and wondering over and over "Why did you do this?" Hanna, overhearing Jim, comes back in and comforts him, explaining she hired the cleaning crew because she wanted to spare him the sight of his daughter's blood. Jim then tearfully apologizes to Hanna for his earlier words and to Wyatt, who watches his father being comforted by Hanna but walks off.

In "Unglued," Jim enters Amanda's empty bedroom and finds Katheryn there. The two talk, and Katheryn bitterly reminds Jim of his inaction in getting their daughter help before telling him that staying married to him isn't worth it anymore. Katheryn then asks for a divorce, to which Jim agrees. Later, Jim and Katheryn ask Wyatt about his meeting with Sallison; when Wyatt informs his parents that he told the DA and the detective about how Jim and Veronica covered up his involvement in Lizzie's death, Jim and Katheryn accept their son's words without major incident.

In the season finale "Enough is Enough," Jim and Katheryn sit Wyatt down for a round of drinks, and the three of them admit their past wrongdoings; it's during this exchange that Jim finds out that his wife had her own affairs behind his back. Jim tells Wyatt of what will likely happen to him in prison before giving a bitter speech about how after he buries Amanda and sends Wyatt off to prison, he's just going to retire and maybe go traveling.

Season 4
In "Two Funerals," Jim angrily orders Maggie to keep the press at bay during Amanda's funeral. He and Katheryn then receive news of the Harrington mansion burning down, and they go to check on their friends. Jim comforts David and learns that Veronica started the fire in an attempt to kill David; he then vows to help his friend after he's finished laying Amanda to rest.

The next morning, Jim sits in the kitchen eating cereal when Hanna arrives; in a rare show of kindness and respect, he thanks Hanna for making the arrangements for Amanda's funeral. Moments later, Celine enters the house, demanding to speak to Jim, who refuses. Wyatt then comes into the kitchen, ignores Jim's orders to go back upstairs, and makes crude remarks towards Celine, who slaps him. When Wyatt cruelly comments that Jim didn't help Amanda, Jim flies into a rage and violently assaults his son until Hanna comes in and stops him.