The Game is a spin-off of UPN's Girlfriends, the series premiered on its successor network The CW on October 1, 2006. The show aired for six seasons on BET, being renewed for its final two in 2014 and concluding its run on August 5, 2015. In season one, Melanie Barnett is a medical student who gave up the chance to attend Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to move to San Diego with Derwin Davis. As Melanie learns to balance her new roles as both a med student and the partner of a professional American football player.
For the first five seasons, The Game was centered around Joan Clayton's first cousin, Melanie Barnett (Tia Mowry), who was first introduced in the 2006 Girlfriends episode of the same name. Melanie is a first-year medical school student who has given up an offer of admission to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore to follow her boyfriend, Derwin Davis, to San Diego.