History Series / TheGame2006

* GenreShift: The show started out as a sitcom, but eventually became a full-blown drama.

The series is a spinoff from ''Series/{{Girlfriends}}'', and shares the same universe as ''Series/{{Moesha}}'' and ''Series/TheParkers''. In 2021, the series was revived on Creator/ParamountPlus with Wendy Raquel Robinson and Hosea Chanchez returning and a new cast of characters and a new setting in Las Vegas.

The series is a spinoff from ''Series/{{Girlfriends}}'', and shares the same universe as ''Series/{{Moesha}}'' and ''Series/TheParkers''. In 2021, the series was rebooted on Creator/ParamountPlus with Wendy Raquel Robinson and Hosea Chanchez returning and a new cast of characters and a new setting in Las Vegas.

The women are various modes of supportive, even when going through their own personal crises. Melanie Barnett (Creator/TiaMowryHardict), like fiance Derwin, is practically wide-eyed when adapting to the world of professional sports, along with the additional pressure of finishing medical school and eventually practice medicine. Former teen mom Tasha Mack (Creator/WendyRaquelRobinson) doubles as Malik's manager, and often puts herself in compromising situations to support her troubled dating life, her career, and her son. Ex-cheerleader Kelly Pitts (Creator/BrittanyDaniel) is often forced to balance her family life with her husband Jason and their daughter Brittany while navigating her way back into the working world and becoming more independent. However, obligations to her family and the Sabers organization often impede her in the worst ways.

The women are various modes of supportive, even when going through their own personal crises. Melanie Barnett (Creator/TiaMowry), like fiance Derwin, is practically wide-eyed when adapting to the world of professional sports, along with the additional pressure of finishing medical school and eventually practice medicine. Former teen mom Tasha Mack (Creator/WendyRaquelRobinson) doubles as Malik's manager, and often puts herself in compromising situations to support her troubled dating life, her career, and her son. Ex-cheerleader Kelly Pitts (Creator/BrittanyDaniel) is often forced to balance her family life with her husband Jason and their daughter Brittany while navigating her way back into the working world and becoming more independent. However, obligations to her family and the Sabers organization often impede her in the worst ways.

The women are various modes of supportive, even when going through their own personal crises. Melanie Barnett (Creator/TiaMowry), like fiance Derwin, is practically wide-eyed when adapting to the world of professional sports, along with the additional pressure of finishing medical school and eventually practice medicine. Former teen mom Tasha Mack (Creator/WendyRaquelRobinson) doubles as Malik's manager, and often puts herself in compromising situations to support her troubled dating life, her career, and her son. Ex-cheerleader Kelly Pitts (Creator/BrittanyDaniel) is often forced to balance her family life with husband Jason and their daughter Brittany, while navigating her way back into the working world and becoming more independent. However, obligations to her family and the Sabers organization often impede her in the worst ways.

* BreakTheCutie: Poor Kelly. Jason's authoritative attitude and insecurities keep rubbing off on her throughout the first two seasons. During one season one episode, she was so exhausted from Jason's repeated demands, she had an anxiety attack.

** Jason is often the one football player to try not to get into any kind of violence, on and off the field. However, in his most serious and personal moments, he had resorted to said violence. Either Kelly's ex-BastardBoyfriend calling Brittany a "bitch" or and [[spoiler:ex-teammate letting it slip he was going to reveal the steroid scandal that he and Jason were in]].

** Jason beats up Kelly's BastardBoyfriend not only for scaring Brittany but for also calling her a "bitch".

* WithFriendsLikeThese: Seriously. How are Melanie, Tasha and Kelly still on speaking terms after all their arguments and underhanded actions? Kelly even got so pissed at Tasha once, she knocked her out cold.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px-Thegame-titlecard_5290.png]]

* MixedAncestry: Brittany is half-black on Jason's side and half-white on Kelly's.

The series is a spinoff from ''Series/{{Girlfriends}}'', and shares the same universe as ''Series/{{Moesha}}'' and ''Series/TheParkers''.

* YourCheatingHeart: Too many to count.
** Derwin cheats on Melanie with Drew Sidora. Then, he tried to lie about it to spare her feelings. It didn't work out.
** Malik sleeps with T.T.'s girlfriend in season four out of [[KickTheDog spite]].
** [[spoiler:Tasha begins a secret affair with Rick Fox while in a committed relationship with Pookie. Which then leads to a surprise pregnancy]].

The series ran for three seasons on The CW, before being canceled. Creator/{{BET}} then picked up the show and when ''The Game'' returned on Jan 11th, 2011, nineteen months since the CW’s cancellation, the ratings hit an unprecedented ''7.7 million'' viewers during the premiere, the largest viewing audience for a sitcom premiere in cable history. The numbers dwindled to a steadier 4.4 million, come the season four finale, but it’s still much higher than the CW broadcasts. In fact, [[LaserGuidedKarma The Game’s ratings on BET often matched, or even ''surpassed'', those of the CW’s lineup at the time]].

%% You just lost The Game %%

Back in 2006, ''The Game'' was one of the first TV shows that debuted with the newly-merged Creator/TheCW network. The series centers on a trio of football players who play for the San Diego Sabers, and the women who support them. Derwin Davis is the engaged rookie receiver who's trying to resist the temptation filled life the NFL offers, while veteran quarterback Malik Wright already indulged into those same perks by building his own strip club and sleeping with enough women to fill a personal library of amateur porn (no, really). Aging wide receiver Jason Pitts has already experienced his fair share of the high life, but with his years in the league being numbered, he’s obsessed with winning an NFL championship ring to escape his father’s shadow. Jason’s also determined to avoid bankruptcy that affected his father and indirectly, himself, even though his actions are placing a strain on his own family.

The women are various modes of supportive, even when going through their own personal crises. Melanie Barnett, like fiance Derwin, is practically wide-eyed when adapting to the world of professional sports, along with the additional pressure of finishing medical school and eventually practice medicine. Former teen mom Tasha Mac doubles as Malik's manager, and often puts herself in compromising situations to support her troubled dating life, her career, and her son. Ex-cheerleader Kelly Pitts is often forced to balance her family life with husband Jason and their daughter Brittany, while navigating her way back into the working world and becoming more independent. However, obligations to her family and the Sabers organization often impede her in the worst ways.

As ''The Game'' progresses, it becomes clear that being involved in the professional sports world comes with a personal price. All three couples get into conflicts between family and business. Fallouts between friends and even loved ones are pretty common, and the ubiquitous media presence sometimes catches too many unauthorized glimpses of the resulting carnage. Ironically enough, ''The Game'' preceded several reality shows that focus on famous athletes and the women behind them, which makes the show all the more prophetic, if not necessarily surprising.

However, ''The Game'' isn’t perfect. It often suffers from an overabundance of guest stars, mainly used as [[DeusExMachina plot conveniences]] ([[SpecialGuest Rick Fox’s extended role]] comes to mind). Also, its [[TakeThat declarations]] against the [[RealLifeWritesThePlot controversial real life sports stories]] are anything but subtle, its portrayal of the male-centric and/or racist administrative side of the sports world isn’t handled very deftly, and most of the non-primary white characters are portrayed rather idiotically. ''Series/TheWire'' of the sports world, it is not. But overall, ''The Game'' shows a surprising amount of depth with the professional sports world’s uglier side. One could make a case that [[CrapsaccharineWorld beyond the glitz and glam, it’s a dog-eat-dog cutthroat environment]].

For some, ''The Game'' reminds viewers of the [[ShortRunners ill-fated]] but scarily realistic ESPN drama ''Playmakers'' (which also involves NFL players and their controversial lives), even though it avoids the grimness of ''Playmakers'' by [[LighterAndSofter mixing a good balance of drama and humor]]. The third and (especially) fourth seasons get progressively darker, but never quite extinguish the lighter elements that made the show a delight for fans early on. It might be a reason why ''The Game'' didn’t offend the NFL the way ''Playmakers'' did. Then again, ''The Game'' didn’t get much attention in the sports media world, possibly because of the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/FridayNightLights ''other'' major football show on NBC]] or perhaps because of the [[UnfortunateImplications ugly stigma that often follows shows with mostly black casts]]).

Alas, that attitude was present within The CW itself, and it eventually caused [[ScrewedByTheNetwork The Game’s cancellation after three seasons]]. Many black viewers feared that might happen after the WB merged with UPN – the only network rife with black-casted comedies – because the WB's half might whitewash UPN's side. Three seasons after both the CW and ''The Game'' debuted, that’s exactly what happened. Hence, minority viewers’ backlash against the big networks for the lack of racial balance with their shows (''Series/EverybodyHatesChris'' getting canceled with ''The Game'' and ABC’s ''Series/UglyBetty'' getting canceled months later didn’t help).

Fortunately for ''The Game'', [[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/business/media/17bet.html?_r=1 BET wasn’t deaf to the acrimony]], and met with the show’s producers to [[UnCanceled resurrect the canceled sitcom]]. Thanks to the growing interest in cable programming, Creator/{{BET}} already re-structured its schedule to re-air black sitcoms for reruns - and that included ''The Game''. BET’s reruns of ''The Game'' consistently got higher ratings than its original airings on the CW, and the fanbase grew exponentially during this period. The network also needed a vehicle for its own original scripted programming - with sitcom ''Let’s Stay Together'' being its first live-action scripted comedy [[note]]The 2001 animated series, ''Hey Monie!'', was BET's first scripted series [[/note]] – [[NetworkToTheRescue which made The Game a perfect candidate]].

When ''The Game'' finally returned on Jan 11th, 2011, nineteen months since the CW’s cancellation, the ratings hit an unprecedented ''7.7 million'' viewers during the premier, the largest viewing audience in cable history. The numbers dwindled to a steadier 4.4 million, come the season four finale, but it’s still much higher than the CW broadcasts. In fact, [[LaserGuidedKarma The Game’s ratings on BET often matched, or even ''surpassed'', those of the CW’s lineup at the time]].

MoralOfTheStory: treat your audience like they matter, and they’ll reward you.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: After all the infighting, arguments, backstabbing, and punches to the face are done, most of the main
characters do wind up coming to a moment of reconciliation with each other in the end.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: After all the infighting, arguments, backstabbing, and punches to the face are done, most of the main characters do wind up coming to a moment of reconciliation with each other in the end.

* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: The central conflict that Melanie has with Derwin, Janay, and D.J. is a nagging feelings that D.J. isn't Derwin's biological child. As such, she secretly swabs D.J. to get a DNA test and the results show that neither Derwin nor D.J. are related. [[SubvertedTrope Until]], Melanie receives news that the lab made a mistake and they ''are'' related but she [[WhatYouAreInTheDark keeps it to herself]] until Janay was about to deliver the news.

* PapaWolf:
** Jason beats up Kelly's BastardBoyfriend not only for scaring Brittany but for also calling her a "bitch".
** Derwin is fiercely protective over D.J. and was ''furious'' at Melanie for lying about D.J. being his son. How angry was he? Derwin was close to asking for a ''divorce''.

** Jason beat up Kelly's BastardBoyfriend not only for scaring Brittany but for also calling her a "bitch".

**

** Tasha: "I got your X in my trunk"
** Derwin: "That's what up"

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Happened in season 4 when Parker (played by Meagan Good) blackmailed Malik into sleeping with her [[HypocriticalHumor by saying she would tell everyone he raped her if he didn't]]. As you know, Malik is a football player, and this would likely destroy his life completely, especially since he has done many questionable things already. Anyway, after they slept together(the show never acknowledges that this is rape, even with the look of despair on his face) she hits him in the back of the head and makes him [[LampshadedDoubleEntendre go another round]]. Cue LaughTrack... She never got called out on this, got a FreudianExcuse, and even walked out of it [[KarmaHoudini relatively cleanly]], much cleaner than Malik himself did.
** Not quite a KarmaHoudini, since season five revealed that Parker was divorced and financially cut off from her husband.

* AwwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: After all the infighting, arguments, backstabbing, and punches to the face are done, most of the main characters do wind up coming to a moment of reconciliation with each other in the end.

* AwTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: After all the infighting, arguments, backstabbing, and punches to the face are done, most of the main characters do wind up coming to a moment of reconciliation with each other in the end.

* WhatTheHell,Hero?: Tasha, in season 6, [[spoiler cheated on her boyfriend and childhood friend, Pookie, with her old flame Rick Fox. The way she strung both men along and the way she treated Pookie throughout the whole thing just to avoid telling the truth]] comes across as this.

* IDidntMeanToTurnYouOn: Tasha (episode Breakthrough) takes a celibacy class so she can avoid having sex with a man she is attempting to build a relationship with. Pookie, however, is unaware and attempts to be romantic, all the while Tasha is confusing him with her body language and comical displays avoidance.
* JerkJock: Malik is the best example.
* LaughTrack: Used here just as often as other TV comedies. The fourth season, however, doesn't use it as often.

* OnlySaneMan: T.T. is also the only character that seems to always have himself together, while at the same time keeping other characters from going of the rails. With one exception that wasn't even his fault.

When ''The Game'' finally returned on Jan 11th, 2011, nineteen months since the CW’s cancellation, the ratings hit an unprecedented ‘’7.7 million’’ viewers during the premier, the largest viewing audience in cable history. The numbers dwindled to a steadier 4.4 million, come the season four finale, but it’s still much higher than the CW broadcasts. In fact, [[LaserGuidedKarma The Game’s ratings on BET often matched, or even ''surpassed'', those of the CW’s lineup at the time]].

* ConvictedByPublicOpinion: Given how the show is focused around the NFL, the press and fans often perceive the players' actions differently from what viewers see them do in their everyday lives, or assume the worst of their actions when things go wrong for the players and/or their respective Sabers team. In the latter category, this is taken to the extreme when [[spoiler: Derwin left the Sabers' rookie quarterback vulnerable to a knee injury by blatantly missing an easy tackle. The media and Sabers fans intensely express their disdain for Derwin afterward, especially when some reporters brought up the disagreements between Derwin and the QB prior to the injury. Ironically enough, this happened during a post-interview game the Sabers ''won'', despite the team getting trounced in a CurbStompBattle before Malik came in as the backup QB.]]

** TheOtherDarrin: The ''Girlfriends'' episode features different actors in the roles of Kelly and Jason Pitts. The parts would be recast when ''The Game'' was picked up as a series.
* PutOnABus: Kelly went off to "find herself" halfway through season 4. She wouldn't return until season seven.