BET IS NEW TO THE GAME

The television series that has a great deal of comic relief, drama, and a touch of reality according to football lifestyle; The Game, hit the CW network in October of 2006.

This drama-comedy, as it is proclaimed, came just in time when we received news that the most sought after series during prime time for African Americans Girlfriends would no longer be on air.

Fortunately we came across a sense of relief when The Game, which aired on the CW as well, held the common bond of the same producer Mara Brock Akil, who seemed to know what we wanted and needed at the right time.

The Game is a television series focusing on the lives of NFL football players living in California. During the show we follow six main characters Tia Mowry (Melanie), Wendy-Raquel Robinson (Tasha Mack), Pooch Hall (Derwin Davis) Brittany Daniels (Kelly Pitts), Hosea Chanchez (Malik Wright), and Coby Bell (Jason Pitts).

Based on my expectations and hopes for this black sitcom that brought a comic relief to what goes on inside the football world with just the right amount of drama I felt this show was just perfect every time I watched.

As I watched the lives of these characters evolve into everything they had not hoped for, this for me was the perfect dose of entertainment on television that I needed. Unfortunately, after three seasons of the show the network claimed it to be losing its ratings and could not afford to keep it on the air. To my knowledge and further research I have summoned that some people at the CW network felt as if the show was too urban and that it needed to be in a different time slot from the “other” shows, the new time they chose was Friday nights at 9pm. Of course this new decision caused a failure of commitment to previous faithful viewers because Friday at 9 for our generation meant going out and having fun instead of watching television.

This show made an impact on its audiences that BET, with the help of demanding fans who believed in this show, picked it up for a continuation of the series and to deliver what the fans want. Thankfully BET kept the same producer, creative director, and writers for this season of The Game and as I anticipated the arrival of this show on television, I continuously watched the marathons and reruns of the episodes while looking at sneak peeks of what was to come this season of The Game.

The first hour long episode which aired on January 11 was bittersweet; after the premiere I guess I had expectations that were set to what I wanted the show to be more relatable to the personalities I had gotten used to on the previous network it was on.

Needless to say, the characters have all changed for the worse it seems although we have a whole season ahead of us; speaking for the first two episodes I can tell the series is headed for a lot of drama than the comic and somewhat positive relief it gave before.

Melanie not being happy with her reality then to be submissive to her husband; Malik completely acting upon his cocky, insecure issues by messing with a married woman who is played by (Meagan Good) who is also his coaches wife; Tasha Mack after two years is not showing the power of a black woman she once held by being scared of Kelly’s actions and smoking a black and mild is still to my suspense. Kelly playing this reality tv star and becomes more edgier now that she is not with Jason who has transformed into this player and even more cockier TV host.

Besides the fact that, I am a fan of The Game although, I’m not quite sure where this season is headed. I understand the writers (which were downsized by the way) decided to spice the show up a bit but maybe this is too much too soon. Understanding that this is two years later and the rate that the relationships and personalities have changed already leads me to believe that after this season, a lot of viewers which are on blog sites refer to it as a ghetto drama and others are just happy to have a good Black show on BET, but I am not ignoring the fact that it is a possibility the fans may not be hungry or anticipating more from the series because things may get to predictable.

I encourage everyone to support the show on BET network.