It's not often that a show gets booted off a network, disappears for more than a year, and then re-launches on a new network, with the entire cast in tact to boot.

Yet that's the journey "The Game" (BET, 10 tonight) has taken, and so consider this premiere a cause for celebration for all fans who've had a favorite show dropped without satisfying resolution.

If you're not familiar with the show, it chronicles the life and times of the players of a San Diego pro football team, The Sabres, and their families and hangers-on. It's billed as a half-hour comedy, but it's better described as a dramedy. There are comic moments for sure, but "The Game" isn't afraid to tackle serious/timely issues like gay athletes, interracial relationships, workplace sexism and politics.

Black History Month often means a lot of programming featuring African-Americans but not a lot of actual history.

But tonight at 9:30, VHI premieres "Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America" a documentary on the iconic show that gives plenty of history, culture and nostalgia.

I luuuved it!

Here's a sad piece of news for a cold week, Willie Mitchell has passed on at age 81. Even if you don't know Mitchell's name, you know his sound. Mitchell discovered Al Green and produced his signature '70s hits, conjuring up one of the most inviting catalogs in all of popular music. And Mitchell might not be around anymore, but we'll be hearing his work for the rest of our lives. So dig it.

Maybe you don't have tickets to Saturday's Soul Picnic or maybe you like to shake your groove thing privately.

Fear not.

Tune in to TV One on Sunday at 8 pm for "TV One Night Only: Live From the Essence Music Festival."

It's a two-hour sampling of performances from the 15th annual New Orleans gathering.

The lineup: Beyonce, En Vogue, Ne-Yo, Jazmine Sullivan, Salt N Pepa, John Legend, Charlie Wilson, the Rev. Al Green, Teena Marie, Anita Baker, Robin Thicke.