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One of the most popular shows on cable television returns tonight to the network BET. "The Game" is about the people who really run pro football - the players, wives and girlfriends. NPR's Neda Ulaby says the creator of "The Game" is a Hollywood rarity.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Mara Brock Akil is black, Muslim and a mother of two. She's been one of television's most powerful women since 2000, when she created a show that ran on UPN then the CW Network for eight years.
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ULABY: "Girlfriends" was about a group of smart, funny women who talked about everything from Zora Neal Hurston to men - well, mostly men. Mara Brock Akil started working in television soon after graduating from Northwestern University and realized her fellow writers were missing something.
MARA BROCK AKIL: I started by, like, well, I don't think a woman would say. You know, I don't think that's really our experience or it's not every woman's experience. It really started with that. Then I was like, well, I don't think that - hey, wait a minute. Where is a black woman in this story?
ULABY: Black women are the heart of "The Game."
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ULABY: The main character is a medical student. Her boyfriend is a rookie wide receiver on an NFL team. He coaches her through exams.
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ULABY: But here's the catch: his success depends on how well she fits in with a smug sorority of football wives.
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ULABY: Glamour and wealth are part of "The Game"'s lure. But it's also about families, the sport's intense physical danger, and pro football's stew of race and class.
AKIL: Oftentimes you'll see that I hit the stereotype dead-on.
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AKIL: The stereotypes of a lot of athletes are they come from the ghetto, they buy their mama a house, they're loud and audacious.
ULABY: But Mara Brock Akil wants to create relatable characters, not cartoons. And she mixes in topical issues, like a player on the down low. When he comes out as gay, one teammate is horrified and needs to get talked down by the light-skinned captain.
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ULABY: "The Game" aired on the CW for three seasons, then it got cancelled.
AKIL: It was very humbling for me. I'm a winner, so to speak, meaning even if it doesn't look like I'm winning, I believe I'm winning. But that time, it was kind of rough.
ULABY: But then something happened that almost never happens: BET took on "The Game." TV critic James Poniewozik says the show drew almost eight million people when it started its fourth season.
JAMES PONIEWOZIK: That outdraws most of the regular run programming on NBC on any night, you know, excepting maybe football. Maybe it helps that "The Game" has football involved in it, although, you know, that also didn't help "Friday Night Lights."
ULABY: "The Game" is not a critical darling like "Friday Night Lights," but Poniewozik appreciates the perspective it brings. "The Game"'s mainly directed by Salim Akil, Mara Brock Akil's husband. Last year they surprised many in Hollywood with a hit movie.
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ULABY: "Jumping the Broom," like so much of the Akils' work, explores race and class. Mara Brock Akil says she and her husband brainstorm while they're driving around.
AKIL: You just go for a ride and we just start talking. You know, I was thinking - and the next thing you know you have this incredible character or a series or a movie idea or whatever. It really happens a lot just driving around, grab a coffee, grab a tea.
ULABY: Mixing the serious with the silly is Mara Brock Akil's stock and trade. But she has yet to write a character who shares her deeply felt Muslim faith.
AKIL: It has to be the right moment, the right character at the right time. And I do think it's coming close.
ULABY: First, though, the Akils are remaking the movie "Sparkle" from 1976; that's loosely based on the story of the Supremes. Then a new TV show about black women and marriage. Mara Brock Akil says there's a powerful conversation to have about that topic, and she says TV is a powerful way for her to lead it. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.