Melanie Barnett

The Game, which aired on The CW Television Network and BET, Melanie Barnett aspires to be a doctor and is admitted to the medical school at Johns Hopkins University. Against Joan's objections, Melanie decides against attending Johns Hopkins in favor of moving to San Diego to support her boyfriend Derwin Davis' career with the San Diego Sabers, a fictional National Football League (NFL) team. Melanie enrolls at a local college and becomes a close friend of Tasha Mack, a single mother and manager of quarterback Malik Wright, and Kelly Pitts, the trophy wife of the team's captain, Jason Pitts. She struggles to be accepted by the wives and girlfriends of the San Diego Sabers, who have formed a group named "The Saber Sunbeams". She turns to Tasha and Kelly for help in handling the stress of being in a relationship with a professional football player; Tasha and Kelly's advice includes the idea of using an ultraviolet light to check for fluids on hotel bed sheets. Halfway through the show's first season, Derwin proposes marriage to Melanie on live television, during the halftime of a Sabres game. Even though she has concerns, she accepts. Melanie considers returning to her hometown rather than continue "life as a football girlfriend". Melanie eventually reconciles with Derwin, and the couple marry. She has a strained relationship with her stepson, as she views him as a reminder of Derwin's past infidelity. As a result, Derwin considers her to be an unfit parent and allows her only limited contact with the child. Melanie returns for the series finale, in which she nears the end of a high-risk pregnancy and gives birth to twins. ==Development==

Creation and casting (pictured in 2013) praised her audition and her commitment to the character.|alt=A woman with curly black hair is talking into a microphone. Producers Mara Brock Akil and Kelsey Grammer developed The Game as a spin-off of the sitcom Girlfriends. Brock Akil originally conceived the show and the characters of Melanie and Derwin to give viewers access to the world of professional football, a sport she and her husband appreciate. From the series' inception, she intended to include story arcs relating to themes of race and celebrity. The New York Times' Virginia Heffernan wrote that one of the show's objectives was "to relieve ideological tensions instead of creating or ignoring them", citing its multi-ethnic female cast of characters as one of the means of achieving this goal. Melanie, and the rest of main cast of The Game, were first introduced in the Girlfriends episode "The Game". She later made a cameo appearance alongside Derwin in Girlfriends Season7 finale "It's Been Determined" as guests at Joan's engagement party. Cynthia Addai-Robinson was originally cast to play Melanie, but was replaced by Tia Mowry prior to development of the backdoor pilot. The CW Television Network did not provide a reason for the casting change. and Brock Akil referred to Melanie and Derwin as "the heart" of the series. Mowry's twin sister Tamera Mowry accompanied her to her audition. On hearing of the twins' interest in the show, Brock Akil asked them if their management was aware of her writing style. Brock Akil said Tia won the role over Tamera because she had a more "serious personality" and "made all the necessary adjustments to get this part". Mowry felt playing the role of Melanie would enable her to be perceived as more mature following her appearances as Tia Landry on Sister, Sister. When discussing her reasons for auditioning, she said she wanted to take on a more difficult role. Mowry believes the character's imperfections allowed her to grow as an actor. Vibe Vixen's Jennifer Hickman referred to Melanie as "bookwormy", and Virginia Heffernan characterized her as "wholesome and a good student" in the pilot. Picked up by BET, the show aired for six more seasons. Mowry and Hall left The Game in 2012 Brock Akil said she provided closure to Melanie and Derwin's story arc through their exit, explaining: "They're together, and we were able to put a period on their story." but Ellis and London objected to comparisons made between Melanie and Derwin and Bryce and Lauren, believing the two pairs were separate characters. Following Mowry's exit, actress Keke Palmer was offered a lead role in the series but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with the development of her daytime talk show Just Keke. Brock Akil described the changes made to The Game as a "true resurrection", with Wendy Raquel Robinson (Tasha Mack) saying future episodes would be "completely different, crisper and edgier and sexier". In 2021, Paramount+ premiered a revival of The Game, which takes place in Las Vegas and addresses social issues such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy in sports. Mowry chose to not return for the revival as she believed Melanie's storyline was complete and she wanted to focus on new projects. ==Critical reception==

Response to Melanie Melanie Barnett has been negatively received by television critics. Melanie McFarland of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer panned the character along with the show's main premise ("A woman on a professional track kicks it all aside to chase a football player"), feeling they were contradictory to the message of the parent show Girlfriends. Echoing McFarland's assessment, The San Francisco Chronicle's Tim Goodman found Melanie's decision to be "a bleak little life lesson". When discussing the transition to BET, Britney Wilson of Clutch was critical of the deterioration of female friendships on the show, citing "the disintegration of the female identity" as signs of The Game declining quality. Fans reacted positively to the characters' relationship, and dubbed the couple the portmanteau "Merwin", and Mowry attributed the positive fan response to her chemistry with Hall. She said the following about the character's reception in The Washington Post: Response to Mowry Mowry's performance received positive feedback from critics. While discussing her career in his 2010 book Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television, author Bob McCann wrote that Mowry demonstrated maturity through her more dramatic role in the series. Though critical of the overall show, the Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan was pleased with Mowry's charismatic performance. Mowry received two nominations for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series at the 39th and 43rd NAACP Image Awards. She was also nominated for the Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress Comedy in the 2007 Teen Choice Awards. ==References==