“I’ve never been in an experience where everybody wanted so bad for it to work,” said Hosea Chanchez, who plays the manchild lothario quarterback Malik Wright. “We were more than colleagues, we were literally a family trying to imprint its fingerprint in society and show the world that we’re here.”  None of it worked, though, and “The Game” was left in limbo. Ms. Akil became a consulting producer on “Cougar Town,” and Mr. Akil directed his first feature film, “Jumping the Broom,” scheduled for release in the spring. Coby Bell, who plays the spendthrift wide receiver Jason Pitts, became a regular on “Burn Notice,” and Pooch Hall, who plays the rising star Derwin Davis, took a role on “Accidentally on Purpose.” Tia Mowry, who plays Derwin’s wife, Melanie, worked on a TV movie and reality series with her twin sister, Tamera, with whom she starred in the 1990s sitcom “Sister, Sister.”  Though Mr. Chanchez filmed roles in three movies, he said: “I felt like I had a death in the family, to be honest with you. For me, it was more of a deep depression I sunk into.”  A few weeks after the cancellation was official, the Akils were approached by BET, looking to expand its original programming.  “I thought, ‘Duh, we can do something about this,’ ” said Loretha Jones, BET’s president for original programming. BET was already showing reruns of “The Game,” with great success. “We had bigger numbers for our runs of the shows than the CW ever got,” Ms. Jones said.  A deal was not quick in the making though. BET had no significant track record in original programming, and the show’s owner, CBS Paramount Network Television, was skeptical. “They did not know us to be a producer of original series at the level they produced the show,” Ms. Jones said. Nevertheless BET was able to secure the license, giving “The Game” a second chance.  The cast was reunited, but some sacrifices had to be made. “We are doing scripted at a price point that is better than other networks do reality,” Ms. Jones said. For the Akils that meant changes. They now shoot out of sequence, for efficiency; have a slimmer writing staff, drawn from the original team; and have moved production to Atlanta from Los Angeles to take advantage of tax breaks. (Atlanta is also a hub for black celebrity life. Being there, Mr. Akil said, allowed the cast “to experience their celebrity in full bloom.”)  But these adjustments were small compared to the ones the Akils had envisioned when trying to reimagine the show as an hourlong drama. No amount of tweaking could have turned the show’s cast members into moody, misbehaving teenagers or moody, misbehaving vampires.  Or make them white. Scripted shows with predominantly black casts are virtually nonexistent on contemporary network TV. Apart from the slate of TBS comedies under Tyler Perry’s umbrella, they’re hard to find on cable too. “Are we that insignificant and don’t matter, and it’s O.K. that we’re disappearing from the screens?” Ms. Robinson asked.  Mr. Chanchez, who recalled watching diverse black characters on network shows while growing up, said: “I’m saddened for the generation of young black men that come behind me. TV exposes you to a world outside your own. I knew about complex relationships because of ‘Martin.’ I learned there were black doctors because of ‘The Cosby Show.’ ”  For now, then, there’s “The Game,” a happily heretical and saucy show that has always joyfully poked at racial orthodoxies, giving Jason Pitts a white wife, Kelly (Brittany Daniel), and once importing Prof. Michael Eric Dyson to dress down Malik for his oafish behavior. Mr. Akil likens the show’s frisky treatment of race to the tone of “All in the Family”: “The reason people like it is they hear some of this stuff in the privacy of their homes.”  It’s bold, especially for BET, which is better known as a home for music videos and, lately, hand-me-down reality show concepts. “We want to shine for BET,” Ms Akil said. “They’ve gotten a lot of criticism over the years.”  For BET taking on “The Game” is a significant financial outlay, and also a leap of faith that the show can keep the trust of an already loyal audience. “If we mess that up,” Ms. Jones said, “it will be hard to convince them to stay with us for future shows.” (The return of “The Game” coincides with the debut of the original BET sitcom “Let’s Stay Together.”) BET hasn’t formally committed to a second season, but, Ms. Jones said, “I’ve informally let them know that we’re interested in more scripts.”  Ms. Jones said she hoped original programming would “live in tandem” with BET’s reality offerings. Or maybe “The Game” can cover both. This season’s masterstroke may be the inclusion of a reality show within the show. Jason’s ex-wife Kelly, living fat off her divorce settlement, is trailed by cameras throughout the premiere episode — another sharp reminder of who got there first, and that fiction is the lie that tells the truth.  A version of this article appears in print on January 9, 2011, on Page AR22 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Game’ On: More Real Than Reality TV. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
“The Game,” which is returning to television on BET, was an inadvertent precursor to reality television about the semi-famous.