You Should Be Watching This

The Game is a television show that airs on the CW network on Friday nights at 8:30/7:30c. It features a diverse cast, and is centered around professional football players and their relationships with the business, their family, and significant others.

Yes, I know, it’s a black cast and it's about sports, and it's also from the bastard child of the networks that brought us The Wayans Bros., The Parkers, and other step n fetchit shows, but don’t let that deter you. The Game was spun off from Girlfriends, the other brain child of creator and writer, Mara Brock Alil, who in my opinion, has definitely stepped her game up with this series, no pun intended. It’s been given a death sentence by being moved to Friday nights, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that it will survive a little while longer.

Here are a few reasons why you should be watching The Game:

1. They aren’t glamorizing athletes or their lifestyles- It is apparent from watching this show that the main characters are all wealthy, perhaps too wealthy, but unlike The Real Housewives of Atlanta, this show is not about glorifying greed, but presenting the real issues that athletes live with. Love, loss, misogyny, infidelity and failure are all constant themes in this series. Wealth and materialism remain in the background, while realistic characterization remains in the foreground.

2. The cast can act- I don’t know where they found some of these actors at, but they do an amazing job. Some of the faces are familiar, like the one half of Sister/Sister, or Regina from The Steve Harvey Show, but others are relatively unknown.

Now, be forewarned that the women steal the show, but the male actors are quite impressive as well. They manage to maintain their athletic frames while being able to convey the emotions of living through such situations as steroid addiction, becoming a baby daddy, and bearing the weight that “NFL” owners put on their players.

I’d like to give a special nod to Tia Mowry-Hardwick. I’m not sure what she was doing in that off-time in between Sister/Sister and this, but she knocks it out of the park on a weekly basis. Between me and you, I think she has been taking some pointers from Tracee Ellis Ross. Hell, they’re even able to make the impossible, possible by pulling a solid performance out of Robin Givens.

I know this may sound ridiculous, but this cast blows the cast of Friends out the water. If this were an all-white cast, Mowry would be considered as the next Jennifer Anniston.

3. It’s real- From the black athlete with the white wife who can’t figure out how to do her mulatto child’s hair, to the over-bearing mother that is the first to pop a neck roll if she feels like someone is trying to take advantage of her “baby”, all of the typical sports personalities are here and accounted for. While the story arcs are multifaceted, this show has managed to put a twist on all of the stereotypes.

4. Wendy Raquel Robinson- She must be on the same stuff that Vanessa Williams is on. I remember Robinson from when I was in high school and she was the playing the role of the stiff but sexy principal on The Steve Harvey Show. That show went off the air in 2002 after 6 seasons, and Robinson looks better now than she did back then. Women like her, Angela Bassett, and Jaleesa from A Different World are definitely proving that theory that “black don’t crack”.

5. Mara Brock Alil- This woman is a terrific writer. While Girlfriends was a bit overdramatic at times, and their weave budget was apparently larger than it should’ve been, it was a pretty good show. Now that Alil has added this wonderful show to her resume, I wonder why she hasn’t blown up like Tyler Perry. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t always have a need to give her projects a religious overtone, or there’s no one parading around in drag, but Perry could learn a thing or two from Ms. Alil. Whatever it is that you’re doing, Alil, please keep it up.

The Game has a season pass on my DVR, and as long as they keep writing realistic and interesting storylines, it’s going to stay there. I’m just hoping that the CW doesn’t cancel them in order to show reruns of Gossip Girl, or worse, replace it with another version “Hey Professor Oglevee!”