‘The Game’ hopes to score with “Girlfriends” fans
“The Game” is the CW’s only new comedy, and it’s a “Girlfriends” spinoff — many of the characters were introduced on a “Girlfriends” episode. It focuses on the women who are involved with the pro football players on a fictional team, the San Diego Sabers. Mara Brock Akil, who created “Girlfriends” and is executive producer of “The Game,” was on the panel, as well as numerous cast members.

The show made two major casting changes after the pilot shown to critics was sent out – not usually a good sign. But one of the casting changes allowed them to bring in Brittany Daniel, who played bad twin Jessica Wakefield on “Sweet Valley High,” which allowed me to get that show’s catchy and annoying theme song stuck in my head throughout this panel. (“Look right down in a crowded hall…you’ll see there’s a beauty standing. … could there be two different girls who look the same?”)

While the cast is mostly African-American, Daniel’s character is a white woman married to a light-skinned black man. “He’s light, bright, and damn near white,” says one character in the pilot. Mara Brock Akil said she wanted to deal with that issue right away, saying “the show is not about race, but there’s an aspect that we will talk about.” (Cast member Coby Bell had fun with that, mock-asking: “So, what, um, Brittany’s white?”)

This panel was a fun one, with the cast obviously at ease with each other and each of them willing to crack jokes and jump on each other’s lines. I don’t know if the show will make it, but the CW is placing it after “Girlfriends” on Sunday, so the audience for one might appreciate the other.

Playbook for “The Game”

• Mara Brock Akil mentioned that “The Game” might reach out to singers and actresses to play fictionalized versions of themselves, since star football players often date them. “Can we get Beyonce? That’s all I want to know,” cracked star Hosea Chanchez.
• Wendy Raquel Robinson plays a player’s mother who had him at just 15, and is only 39 herself. She’s also his “momma-ger” – football code for a mother-manager. One plotline may include the ubiquitous Campbell’s Soup commercials featuring football players’ mothers, and Robinson’s character’s attempt to land such an ad.
• Brittany Daniel has a twin, but so does star Tia Mowry. Star Coby Bell snarked “If anything should happen to either of you, we have backup.”
• Detroit News reporter Mekesia Madden Toby asked if the show would deal with the “downlow,” the name used when African-American men have secret gay relationships. Brock Akil said there may be gay football players introduced, but none of the main characters. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” blurted out Bell, citing the famous “Seinfeld” line about being gay.