# The Game (2006)

> A third-string NFL receiver's girlfriend enrolls in college to stay close to him while navigating the social world of players' wives and girlfriends.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/194

## Facts

- Seasons: 9
- Episodes: 146
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, comedy
- Created by: Mara Brock Akil
- Network: BET, The CW
- Cast: Tia Mowry, Pooch Hall, Coby Bell, Brittany Daniel, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Hosea Chanchez, Lauren London, Brandy Norwood
- TMDB rating: 6.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0772137/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: glossy, comedic, melodramatic, playful, sharp

## Synopsis

The Game (2006-2015) is a US comedy-drama soap series created by Mara Brock Akil for BET and The CW. Tia Mowry plays Melanie Barnett, who follows her boyfriend Derwin Davis (Pooch Hall), a third-string wide receiver for the fictional San Diego Sabers, by enrolling in a local college. While Derwin frets over his place on the roster, Melanie adjusts to a new life among the NFL wives, girlfriends and mom managers who use their image and social savvy to keep their men on the field and close to them. Principal players include Coby Bell as Jason Pitts, Wendy Raquel Robinson as Tasha Mack and Hosea Chanchez as Malik Wright, whose relationships tangle with the team's politics and their own ambitions. Spanning nine seasons and 146 episodes, the show is a serialized soap in which romance, rivalry and career pressure feed one another from week to week. Its tone blends glossy sitcom banter with melodramatic romance, and its atmosphere is warm, sharp and social, with the locker room and the gossip circle as its twin arenas. Fans of Girlfriends, Being Mary Jane and Ballers will find a similar blend of Black urban ambition, friendship and sports-world romance.

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