Pigskin sitcom tackles chauvinist pigs

BY DIANE WERTS | Newsday Staff Writer

September 29, 2006

Throw the penalty flag on the new CW network for "The Game," its lame new sitcom about pro football wives and mamas trying to hold on to their men in the face of babe "image consultants" and "away-game hoochies." This so-called "Girlfriends" spinoff is a groaner from beginning to end, as synthetically superficial as the spouse who gets herself new "chest grenades" as "relationship insurance."

Tia Mowry arrives new in the mix as student girlfriend to a hot San Diego rookie (Pooch Hall), whom she trusts until she's warned by other wives who apparently have nothing better to do than show up in their men's hotel rooms sniffing the sheets for "body wash" and shining black light on the bedspread. And the one who does that (Brittany Daniel) is the one whose husband is the "good" man (Coby Bell of "Third Watch").

They're an interracial couple, which is as daringly modern as "The Game" gets, unless you count the quarterback (Hosea Chanchez) who has his mom (Wendy Raquel Robinson) as his manager. Otherwise, the women mostly bare their claws retro-style in snippy fits of jealousy, leaving their men to set them straight, even though they're the ones apparently prone to misbehavior in the first place.

The height of comedy here is watching Mowry practice her "A-ha!" accusations in her guy's hotel room. His return sends her scurrying to hide in the closet. Her cell phone then rings to reveal her. That makes it fourth down and a mile. Time to punt.

THE GAME. Pro football wives doubt their men's fidelity. We doubt network executives' sense of humor. Sitcom premieres Sunday at 8:30 p.m. on CW/11.