By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, filed January 11, 2011
BET's "The Game" returned with a bang Tuesday night with an impressive 7.7 million viewers, more than double the typical audience when the show aired on the CW.
It's also by far the biggest debut for any show in BET history.
If it can hold anywhere near those numbers the rest of the season, this could effectively be a "Game" changer for BET, known until now for sitcom repeats, recycled films, music programming and reality shows.
The network has been heavily promoting the scripted comedy on billboards and on BET itself. A marathon of old "Game" episodes a few days ago drew strong numbers as well.
"The Game" was a popular spin-off of "Girlfriends" from 2006 to 2009 but its numbers drooped when the CW shunted it (and its other 30-minute sitcoms) to Friday nights in 2008-09.
The executive producers, in an interview last week, were hoping for an opening along these lines and they got it.
Its 7.7 million was bigger than several original network shows last night, including ABC's 'No Ordinary Family," Fox's "Million Dollar Money Drop," NBC's "Parenthood" and ABC's "Detroit 187."
The debut of BET's original scripted 30-minute sitcom"Let's Stay Together" also drew 4.4 million viewers at 11 p.m. last night. Based on feedback on this blog, response has been mixed for both "The Game" and "Let's Stay Together" episodes Tuesday.
BET shot both shows in Atlanta.
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By Rodney Ho, rho@ajc.com, AJCRadioTV blog
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