Could 'The Game' Be Saved For The Second Time?

Thanks to streaming services like Hulu and Netflix, it seems that quality cancelled shows rarely stay cancelled for long these days. So could BET's highly deserving series The Game be picked up by another network? It was already sold to BET after being cancelled by The CW, which is when the series transitioned from a pretty good three-camera sitcom with a laugh track to a single-camera, 30-minute drama with much odder jokes only tangentially connected to the world of professional football.

Even though The Game's current form is even better than it was after Season 3 when BET jumped in, unfortunately, the show's journey will be ending on Aug. 5. The cancellation was a long time coming, with the announcement broken by Deadline in fall of 2014 that the show would end after nine seasons. So the writers have had a significant amount of time to plan for an ending, and are tying up loose ends all over the show. Kelly and Jason finally got remarried, Tasha's forced to choose between Rick Fox and Pookie again, and they're even bringing back long departed characters like Tia Mowry's Melanie Barnett, who used to be the protagonist until she left the show in Season 5.

And while that's a disappointment — I truly thought this was one of those shows that would run forever — the creator of The Game and the show it's spun off from, Girlfriends, already has a new show. Mara Brock Akil isn't as famous as Shonda Rimes, but just like the ABC showrunner, she's working on creating a cohesive block of programming for BET, with Being Mary Jane a solid entry in the drama category. Though losing The Game is a disappointment, it's an old show, and Akil has proven that she has the ability to craft great characters for black women to play, while BET has demonstrated that it believes in Akil. Hopefully, she'll have another series filled with these great characters in development soon.

Since there isn't any third life planned for The Game, the best you can do is take advantage of the fact that the first five seasons are available on Hulu. And I know what you're thinking, but no, Hulu hasn't expressed any intentions of picking up The Game. I think ending after nine seasons is a good move. After all, it's netted huge ratings, became enduringly entertaining and incredibly weird after it made one network switch, and has a bench of characters that could literally make up a football team. What's wrong with going out on a high note?

Images: BET (2)