“The Game” used to be a loser.
In its three seasons on the CW, the comedy about women involved with players of a fictional
pro football team had a devoted but small following. When producers
offered to revamp the series to make it more compatible with the CW’s
long-form, youth-oriented direction, executives declined, eventually
canceling “The Game” in 2009.
Less than two years later, “The Game” has turned into a winner with a fresh start on
scoring record ratings in its debut that outdistanced the heavily
promoted January premieres of several series, including FX’s “Lights
Out” and
But more significantly, “The Game,” which airs Tuesdays and features the original cast, including
Since its launch in 1980, the urban-oriented network has been
constantly shadowed by charges from critics of perpetuating negative
images and falling short of the hopes that it would become an
all-inclusive bellwether of contemporary African-American culture.
and its companion romantic comedy “Let’s Stay Together” has ushered in
a new era for the network, which used to rely primarily on music
videos, reality shows and award ceremonies. The network plans to move
more aggressively into developing scripted shows, launching at least
two more series by the end of the year. More than eight series are in
development.
“It’s proved what we’ve been saying for years — that
if we have the resources to produce quality programming, the audience
will show up,” said BET Networks Chairman and Chief Executive
Lee was also pleased that the network had developed an efficient business model for the new shows, producing them in-house at
viewers through social media rather than buying billboards and ads in
mainstream media. Among the projects planned for this year is a family
comedy, “Reed Between the Lines,” starring
Cable TV analyst
is now a player in scripted TV, and gives them the incentive to do
more. And they accomplished this all without major advertisers. That’s
astonishing.”
Ratings for the premiere of “The Game” topped 7.7
million total viewers, making it the top-rated ad-supported sitcom
broadcast in cable history. “Let’s Stay Together,” a romantic comedy
developed by
Entertainment, said, “Not in our wildest dreams could we have expected
this. But Debra had a vision that scripted shows was what our viewers
wanted, and I knew from a strategic point of view that we needed to go
in that direction.”
The celebration over the success continued, even
though the audience for “The Game” took a sizable tumble of almost 25
percent in its second week. Just under 6 million viewers tuned in for
the second episode. Lee and Jones said they were not concerned, saying
the series’ fan base remains devoted.
Longtime observers of the network are impressed.
said: “What BET has done is recognize explicitly who their audience is,
which is 14-to-25-year-old urban youths. In terms of management
decisions, they’ve made some great decisions over the last several
years.”
Some of the highest praise has come from the executive who canceled “The Game” on the CW.
“We were so happy for them,” said
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