| The Game | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy-drama |
| Created by | Mara Brock Akil |
| Starring | Tia Mowry Hardrict Brittany Daniel Wendy Raquel Robinson Pooch Hall Coby Bell Hosea Chanchez |
| Theme music composer | Kurt Farquhar Def Jef James D. Joiner III |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 77 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Mara Brock Akil Kelsey Grammer Kenny Smith, Jr. |
| Producer(s) | Dan Dugan |
| Editor(s) | Travis G. Rendich Timothy Mozer |
| Location(s) | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | CBS Television Studios (2011–present) CBS Paramount Network Television (CW's run) Grammnet Productions Happy Camper Productions (CW's run) Georgia Entertainment Industries Akil Productions BET Originals |
| Distributor | CBS Television Distribution |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | The CW (2006–2009) BET (2011–present) |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 |
| Original airing | October 1, 2006 – May 15, 2009; January 11, 2011 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Girlfriends |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The Game is an American comedy-drama television series created by Mara Brock Akil and produced by Kelsey Grammer. Premiering on October 1, 2006, the series debuted as the only new comedy series chosen for The CW's primetime schedule. Along with Runaway, it was one of only two series on the new network not to be inherited from either of its predecessor networks, The WB and UPN, during the network's first season. The series is a spinoff of the long-running UPN/CW sitcom, Girlfriends.
After three seasons, the series was canceled by the CW in May 2009. BET struck a deal with The Game's parent company CBS to develop new episodes of the series, relocating taping of the show from Los Angeles to Atlanta,[1] and announcing its renewal at the April 2010 upfronts.[2] The Game returned to the air for a fourth season on January 11, 2011,[3][4] with a record breaking 7.7 million viewers. The series was recently renewed for a fifth season (to consist of 22 episodes), and is slated to premiere on January 10, 2012.
Contents |
With the growing success of Girlfriends, the series' creator and producers decided to capitalize on their success and create a second series that would serve as a spinoff. On April 17, 2006, an episode called The Game focused on a young woman who decides to put her pending career plans on hold for the rising success of her star athlete boyfriend. The character, Melanie Barnett, was introduced in the episode as the first cousin of Joan Clayton, Girlfriends' principal
The episode performed well and gained enough interest for The CW network to pick up the backdoor pilot as a new series for its fall 2006-07 primetime line-up. Originally, actress Renee Bruce was cast for the role of Melanie but was later replaced with Tia Mowry (of CBS Television Distribution's own Sister, Sister fame). Before debuting on The CW, more cast changes occurred. Aldis Hodge and Jennifer Baxter, both of whom appeared in the pilot episode, were replaced by Pooch Hall and Brittany Daniel respectively. Coby Bell, Hosea Chanchez and Wendy Raquel Robinson were the remaining cast members.
| # | Airdate | Title | Overview |
|---|---|---|---|
| 133* | April 17, 2006 | The Game | Joan Clayton tries to persuade her cousin, Melanie Barnett, to pursue her career in medical school instead of putting her life on hold for her boyfriend, waiting for his career to kick off. Joan is the primary character of the now-canceled Girlfriends. Joan sometimes comes on the show to make an appearance. |
As the series premieres, Melanie Barnett (Tia Mowry) is a first-year medical school student who has given up an offer of admission to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore to follow her boyfriend Derwin Davis (Pooch Hall), a professional football player, to San Diego, against the advice of her parents. Derwin Davis is a first-year rookie with a fictional team called the "San Diego Sabers". As Melanie settles into her new life, she meets Tasha Mack (Wendy Raquel Robinson), the mother of Sabers' starting quarterback Malik Wright (Hosea Chanchez), and Kelly Pitts (Brittany Daniel), the then wife of Sabers' captain Jason Pitts (Coby Bell). As she learns to balance her new roles as both med student and the partner of a professional football player, Tasha and Kelly immediately warn her to keep a close eye on her boyfriend because of the numerous "gold diggers" who approach the professional football players.
Seasonal ratings based on average total viewers per episode of The Game on The CW and BET:
| Season | Network | Timeslot (ET) | Season Premiere | Season Finale | TV Season | Rank | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CW | Sunday 8:30 P.M. (2006) Monday 9:30 P.M. (2006–2007) |
October 1, 2006 | May 14, 2007 | 2006–2007 | #141[5] | 4.35 [5] |
| 2 | Monday 9:30 P.M. (2007–2008) Sunday 9:00 P.M. (2008) |
October 1, 2007 | May 18, 2008 | 2007–2008 | #196[6] | 2.35[6] | |
| 3 | Friday 8:30 P.M. (2008–2009) | October 3, 2008 | May 15, 2009 | 2008–2009 | #174[7] | 1.75[7] | |
| 4 | BET | Tuesday 10:00 P.M. (2011) | January 11, 2011 | March 29, 2011 | 2011 | #1 | 7.7 |
| 5 | Tuesday 10:00 P.M. (2012) | January 10, 2012 | TBA | 2012 |
When the show transferred from The CW to BET it scored a record breaking rating of 7.7 million viewers in its 4th season premiere making it the #1 Ad-Supported Sitcom Telecast In Television Cable History Ever and as of currently the highest rated ad-supported sitcom in Television Cable History.[8]
In September 2006, writer Staci Robinson filed a $40 million lawsuit against the CW, CBS, Warner Brothers, and Grammnet Productions for copyright infringement. Robinson alleged that after she applied for a job as writer's assistant to series creator and executive producer, Mara Brock Akil in 2001, she sent her novel, Interceptions, to Akil. After receiving the novel, Robinson was interviewed for the job but later declined the position. Robinson further alleged that Akil and a CW screenwriter stole the idea from her novel to create the series. The suit was settled out of court under a non-disclosure agreement in September 2007.[9]
As The CW moved to make its schedule free of half-hour comedies, series creator Mara Brock Akil attempted to convince the network to air the series as an hour-long, single-camera series like the other shows on CW.[10] The principal cast on the show launched a big viral campaign called "Change the Game Campaign" on YouTube,[11] asking all fans to sign the CW message board. Despite the campaign, on May 20, 2009, Entertainment Weekly announced that the series was officially cancelled, due to budget cut issues.[12]
On April 4, 2010, The Hollywood Reporter reported that BET, which airs the series in syndication, was close to finalizing a deal to produce new episodes of the series. BET announced the deal during its upfronts in April 2010. Series creator and executive producer Mara Brock Akil is expected to return,[13] along with all of the principal cast members.[14] New episodes began airing on BET on January 11, 2011.[3][4] The premiere drew 7.7 million viewers, making it the biggest ad-supported sitcom telecast in the history of cable.[15] Stacey Mattocks is credited with creating the Facebook fan page for The Game. Upon finding her, BET hired Stacey to run the fan page which at last count was 5.4 million fans.[16] [17] [18]
Hosea Chanchez officially announced at the 2011 BET Awards that the show will begin its fifth season in 2012.
Syndicated reruns of The Game began airing on BET on February 16, 2009.
| Year | Award | Result | Category | Recipient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | NAACP Image Awards | Nominated | Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series | Kenny Smith, Jr. (For "The Trey Wiggs Episode") |
| 2008 | Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series | Sara V. Finney (For "The Big Chill" episode) | ||
| Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Wendy Raquel Robinson | |||
| Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series | Tia Mowry | |||
| 2009 | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Wendy Raquel Robinson | ||
| Outstanding Comedy Series |
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| Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series | Tia Mowry | |||
| Won | Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series | Erica Montolfo (For episode "White Coats and White Lies") | ||
| 2009 | NAMIC Vision Awards | Nominated | Comedy |
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| 2007 | Teen Choice Awards | Nominated | Choice TV Actress: Comedy | Tia Mowry |
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| Set details | Special features | |||
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| Release date | ||||
| United States (Region 1) | ||||
| September 1, 2009 | ||||
Seasons 2, 3, and 4 are also available in the United States and Canada.