The Game - Season 2
Premieres: Monday, October 1st at 9:30 p.m. EST
Network:The CW
Creator(s):Mara Brock Akil
Starring:Tia Mowry, Brittany Daniel, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Pooch Hall, Coby Bell, Hosea Chanchez
Website: CWTV.com
The Game is a spin-off of the long-running CW series, Girlfriends. Mowry plays Melanie Barnett, a promising student who defers her acceptance to Johns Hopkins medical school in order to follow her boyfriend, Derwin (Hall), a professional football player, to San Diego.
The show’s first season dealt with Melanie’s adjustment to life as a NFL star’s girlfriend and her efforts to balance school with worrying about possible infidelity at away games and not being accepted by the NFL wives because she and Derwin aren’t married. After a pregnancy scare, Derwin proposes to Melanie during half-time at one of his games and, feeling pressured by the televised event, she agrees. At the end of the season, after they have an argument about their engagement, Derwin cheats on Melanie with singer Drew Sidora. Season two begins with Melanie showing up to pack her things and leave Derwin for good.
Guys, is it just me, or does this sound like the worst show ever? When I took this assignment, I thought it was for a new show that was premiering, not a returning sitcom. Turns out, I’m not the only one who was completely unaware of its existence. The Game has the distinction of being the lowest-rated CW series from last season to get renewed for this season.
Very rarely do TV shows raise my feminist hackles (I have a season pass for The Girls Next Door, for Pete’s sake!), but this bugs me. Following a guy anywhere is generally a bad idea, but if you’re working at Wendy’s or you’re looking to move anyway, maybe you can justify it. But if you’re accepted to Johns Hopkins freakin’ medical school, under no circumstances to you give that up to follow some dude across the country. You especially do not do this when the very nature of his career means that you’re going to be worried about him constantly cheating on you, because, duh, he’s GOING TO CONSTANTLY CHEAT ON YOU.
And it’s a sitcom. And there’s a laugh track. And wacky hijinks ensue on a regular basis. And this girl is ruining her life. And this is the crap that we get instead of Veronica Mars.
And I need to go lie down.
