To very little surprise, the CW has cancelled one of its few remaining sitcoms, The Game. Is this the end for the series or could it still return?
Created by Mara Brock Akil, The Game began as a spin-off of Akil’s long-running comedy, Girlfriends. The series centers around a first year medical student (Tia Mowry) who chooses to follow her pro-football boyfriend (Pooch Hall) to San Diego. Others in the cast include Brittany Daniel, Coby Bell, Hosea Chanchez and Wendy Raquel Robinson.
The first sitcom to debut on the CW network, The Game averaged 2.3 million viewers in season one. For season two, the ratings dropped to 2.07 million and a .96 rating in the 18-49 demographic. This season, it’s fallen to an average of 1.68 million viewers and a tiny 0.7 rating in the demo, in part because it was given a Friday night timeslot.
The CW is essentially getting out of the sitcom business and has cancelled The Game after 64 episodes. There had been talks about changing the show’s format to an hour-long dramady, to make it more compatible with the network’s other programming. That was seen as a long-shot at best and actually would have created its own set of challenges for syndication.
Though The Game only has 64 episodes, BET recently signed a syndication deal to air the first two seasons and season three will be added this Fall. To increase the show’s number of episodes, there have been discussions between the cable channel and CBS (the show’s studio) about co-funding original episodes. The deal would likely come with some cost-cutting measures.
There’s been no further word on the potential deal with BET so, as of right now, “The Wedding Episode” is the series’ last.
If The Game isn’t rescued from cancellation, are you satisfied with the way the sitcom ended — with Melanie and Derwin finally getting married?
Image courtesy CW.
I absolutely love this show!! It cannot get cancelled! I don’t like how things ended off, and Kelly and Jason just HAVE to get back together! I really hope one of the networks picks it up! I am so addicted!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO IF U CANCELL THE GAME NOBOdY WILL EVEr WACH BET AGAIN NEVEr AGAIN
I am so upset. I loved this show. I would TiVo it every Friday. What can we do to bring it back. I loved the diversity of the Characters and the story lines. Please bring it back.
What were they thinking about? This was the just the perfect show I couldn’t wait till Sunday nite when the show would air. Then some fool went and put it on Friday nite. I could barely keep up with it, by the time I would remember that the show was on, it was about to go off. Bring ” THE GAME” back.
i love the show and the cw was crazy for moving it to friday nights knowing people are clubbing…. and bet would be a fool if they didnt negoiate a contract so that they can continue the show on bet
TV is getting so boring because they are erasing all of the black shows! If this doesn’t change, I am going to stop paying for all theswe boring channels I don’t watch and just watch movies.
The Game is the best show on the CW! I would not even watch the channel if not for The Game. The problem is they always messing with stuff. When you change something and it doesn’t work. Change it back. KISS (keep it simple stupid). Move The Game to BET and keep it going!
it’s a shame that the only time that a black show survives on tv is when the characters are living lives that portray them as uneducated and all the other stigmas associated with african americans. This is a very clean and entertaining show and i think it should last way longer than it is now.
This seems to follow a familiar pattern. In the early days of the Fox network there were numerous shows featuring black casts – Roc, Martin, Living Single, etc. which helped the network gain viewership and a stronger presence in the market. One by one, these shows were eliminated, replaced by shows with more ‘mainstream appeal’. It appears that the CW network is following the same script.
I LOVE!!!!! this show. I didn’t find out about it until it went on BET. I think that it was not marketed properly. The show is clean, funny, great episodes, and all the main characters are Excellent actors. I searched google to find out where I could express my opinion, I would love to see new episodes of this fabulous show! If this show is not advertisted with commercials people will not know about it. The writers are great. Please keep this show going, it’s an Excellent show.
The Game is my favorite show on tv. Im always lookin forward to tha new season. Their life is so much like mine it crazy. I was so mad about derwin gettin another girl pregnant. I watch it all tha time on bet. I can watch them ova and ova again. I want to see how their marriage is gonna be like how everything is gonna work wit him havin a new baby & bein a married man. They really need to bring tha show back don’t cancel it.
I absolutly love the game !
I am very upset at the decision they made to cancel it.
I know there is a lot more they could do with the show. I’m not satified with the way it ended I wanna know how melanie and derwins marriage turns out and if janays baby is his so I am hoping BET picks the show up !
I recently started watching The Game when it started airing on BET. I watched one episode and was hooked. I didn’t know that it has been on air since 2006. Now that it’s on BET I think the word is spreading. The CW didn’t market the show like it should have. I hope the show doesn’t cancel and am hoping for Season 4. I also hope that gets a DNA test and the baby comes out to be someone else’s. Bravo to the writers. The scene where Kelly socked Tasha in the nose was priceless.
I really loved The Game it’s a great t.v. Show I hope bet or cbs takes it up because the CW play crappy shows anyway. The Game was the best one!
Please renew the Game- Its my favorite show!!!